Savannah Guthrie says two ransom notes were likely genuine in her first interview since her mother’s abduction

Savannah Guthrie said she believed her mother’s abduction was a kidnapping for ransom and that two notes demanding payment were most likely genuine.

Guthrie spoke in an interview that aired on the Today show on Thursday US time, where she is a host, and was conducted by her friend and colleague Hoda Kotb, who has been filling in for her.

It was the first interview Guthrie has given since her 84-year-old mother, Nancy, was taken from her home near Tucson, Arizona, nearly two months ago.

In it, a tearful Guthrie said the family still did not know for sure what might have motivated the kidnapping of her mother. But she said she believed the two ransom notes that were sent to news outlets and demanded payment in bitcoin were most likely from her mother’s abductor or abductors.

Guthrie and her two siblings responded to those notes by posting several videos on Instagram pleading for their mother’s release and saying that they were willing to pay for her return but that they wanted proof that the kidnapper had her. In a later video, Guthrie indicated one of the notes claimed that her mother was dead, and Guthrie suggested the family was still willing to pay for the return of her body.

Guthrie described getting the initial call from her older sister, Annie, saying their mother was missing.

The back doors of their mother’s home were propped open, Savannah Guthrie said, and her cellphone, purse and other belongings were still in the house. Her doorbell camera had been yanked from beside the front door.

“It just didn’t make any sense,” Guthrie said.

The family initially believed that Nancy Guthrie, who had back pain and other medical troubles, might have had an emergency and been taken out of the back doors by paramedics. They frantically called hospitals trying to find her but came up empty. Guthrie took medication that her family has said she could die without.

Savannah Guthrie said family members had tried, from the start, to make clear to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department that this was not the case of an older person wandering off.

“She can’t wander off,” Guthrie said of her mother, who is mentally sharp and has great difficulty walking.

Guthrie has repeatedly urged people to provide tips that could lead to her mother’s captor. And she has addressed her mother’s kidnapper, too. On Thursday, she reiterated that it was “never too late to do the right thing.”

Still, significant developments in the investigation haven’t emerged for weeks. The Guthrie family is offering a $US1 million ($1.45m) reward for information that leads to Nancy Guthrie’s return.

Savannah Guthrie described feeling guilt over the fact that her celebrity status may have, in a way, led to her mother’s abduction.

“To think that I brought this to her bedside, that it’s because of me,” Guthrie said, frequently dabbing at tears. “I’d just say: ‘I’m so sorry, Mommy. I’m so sorry.’”

“To think of what she went through. I wake up every night in the middle of the night, every night,” she said, tears streaming down her face.

“In the darkness, I imagine her terror. And it is unthinkable, but those thoughts demand to be thought. And I will not hide my face. But she needs to come home now.”

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department, which is leading the investigation along with the FBI, has faced criticism as the search for Nancy Guthrie drags on. But, asked by Kotb how her family felt about the investigation, Savannah Guthrie said only that many people had worked “tirelessly” trying to locate her mother.

Nancy Guthrie was taken from her home just north of Tucson early on February 1. The abduction quickly captured the nation’s attention and has stumped investigators.

She was most likely taken around 2.30a.m., when her pacemaker lost contact with her cellphone, which was left in the house. About 45 minutes earlier, her doorbell camera had captured a man wearing a ski mask approaching her front door with a holstered pistol.

In the following days, the FBI said that two potential ransom notes were sent to local news outlets and TMZ, the celebrity news website. Authorities have not said whether they believe the notes are actually from Nancy Guthrie’s abductor.

In addition to those two notes, there were also other notes sent to TMZ and elsewhere that Savannah Guthrie said were most likely fake.)

The Guthries have increasingly suggested that they understand Nancy Guthrie may no longer be alive but have said that they still are determined to find out what happened to her.

“We need to know,” Savannah Guthrie said.

On Thursday, Guthrie said that she was relying on her faith as she and her two older siblings deal with their mother’s disappearance.

Nancy Guthrie, who had retired from public relations work at the University of Arizona, also taught Bible study classes and, more recently, enjoyed playing mahjong with friends at home.

She was last seen on the night of Jan. 31, when she was dropped off at home after spending dinner and an evening playing games with Annie Guthrie and her family, who also live just north of Tucson.