Interviewer (2:13)

Take me back to the day. It was, I guess, a normal weekend for you.

Savannah Guthrie (2:17)

Yeah.

Interviewer (2:18)

The weekend your mom went missing. Tell me what you were doing and what happened.

Savannah Guthrie (2:22)

I had given Mike for Christmas a boys trip to go play tennis. And so he had gone for the weekend. So I took my kids actually to Carson's and so we had a beautiful, fun night together. And then I came home and really it Just got home at the same time that Mike came home, and we were just saying hi, putting down our stuff, and the kids are running around. And my sister called me, and she said. I said, is everything okay? And she said, no. She said, mom's missing. And I said, what? Yeah. What are you talking about? She said, she's gone. And she was in a panic. I was in a panic. I'm like, Call 911. She's like, I did. We've called them. They're here. We thought that she must have had, like, some kind of medical episode in the night, and that somehow, you know, the paramedics had come because the back doors were propped open, you know, and that didn't make any sense. We thought maybe they came and there was a stretcher and they took her out the back, but her phone was there, and her purse was there and all her things, and it just didn't make any sense. So Annie and Tommy had already called all the hospitals, but then I'm like, I'm gonna call the hospital. So then I started calling the hospitals, and the police were there and talking to her at the same time, and it was just chaos and disbelief.

Hoda Kotb (4:01)

Within hours, Savannah was making the long journey home to Tucson.

Interviewer (4:06)

You saw Annie and Cam when you got to their house. Tell me about that moment.

Savannah Guthrie (4:13)

I mean, it's just like just disbelief and hugging each other. And I think we were on the phone with the sheriff and trying to, you know, really make clear us. I mean, from the very early moments, you know, Annie and Tommy were saying, this isn't. This isn't that case that you used to. Where someone wanders off. She can't wander off. My mom, she was in tremendous pain. Her back was very bad. She was trying to. On a good day, she could walk down to the mailbox and get the mail, but most days, not. So there was no wander off, and the doors were popped open, and there was blood on the front doorstep, and the ring camera had been yanked off. And so we were saying, this is.

Interviewer (5:11)

Do something.

Savannah Guthrie (5:11)

This is not okay. Yeah, this isn't. Something is very wrong here. Yeah.

Interviewer (5:18)

Did you guys talk about what possibly could have happened? Like, what could have happened? What went down? Did you.

Savannah Guthrie (5:27)

I think my brother. I mean, my siblings are so amazing. My brother, you know, he spent his career in the military and worked in intelligence and fighter pilot and is brilliant. And he saw very clearly right away what this was. Yeah. Yeah. And even on the phone when I called him, he knew.

Interviewer (6:06)

He knew.

Savannah Guthrie (6:08)

And he said, I think she's been kidnapped for Ransom. And I said, yeah, what? And then, I mean, it sounds so, like how, how dumb could I be? But I just, I didn't want to believe. I just said, do you think because of me? And I said, I'm sorry, sweetie. But yeah, maybe. But I knew that you did. I hope not. I mean, we still don't know. Honestly, we don't know anything. We don't know anything. I don't know that it's because she's my mom and somebody thought, oh, that girl, that lady has money we can get, make a quick buck. I mean that would make sense. But we don't know. But yeah, that's probably. Which is too much to bear to think that I brought this to her bedside, that it's because of me. And I just say, I'm so sorry, mommy, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry to my sister and my brother and my kids and my nephew and Tommy, my brother in law, just. I'm like so sorry. I'm so sorry. If it is me, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry.

Interviewer (8:10)

In the initial days, you and your sister and brother sat together. In all the despair, you sat and managed to think of words to say, things to convey. Were you able to do that in that moment?

Savannah Guthrie (8:29)

Well, my siblings are amazing and we are a unit. And I talked about how brilliant my brother is, but my sister is equally brilliant and also has special powers of intuition and faith and language and depth and heart. And I feel like we came together with all these beautiful gifts that came from our mom and dad and from God. And somehow together we did our best to come up with the words to say. And I haven't posted one thing or said one thing that the three of us haven't decided together. It is surreal. It's. How is it possible that we are having to make a video speaking to a kidnapper who took an 84 year old woman in the dead of night, in her pajamas, with no shoes, without her medicine, this little person to beg for mercy.

Hoda Kotb (10:14)

In the days that followed, multiple notes demanding payment were sent to various media outlets.

Interviewer (10:21)

The ransom notes or ransom requests came. Did you believe those to be real?

Savannah Guthrie (10:30)

There are a lot of different notes, I think that came and I think most of them, it's my understanding, are not real and I didn't see them. But you know, a person that would send a fake ransom note really has to look deeply at themselves.

Interviewer (10:53)

Yeah.

Savannah Guthrie (10:54)

To a family in pain. But I believe the two notes that we received that we responded to,

Interviewer (11:10)

I

Savannah Guthrie (11:11)

tend to believe those are real. Really?

Interviewer (11:15)

When the ring camera video surfaced and you could see who that person was. Just tell me what you thought when you saw. When you saw those images of the person who. Who took your mother.

Savannah Guthrie (11:36)

I mean, it's just absolutely terrifying. Yeah, it's just totally terrifying. And I can't imagine that that is who she saw standing over her bed. Yeah, I can't. That's too much.

Interviewer (12:00)

Yeah.

Savannah Guthrie (12:03)

And I'm glad and grateful to the investigators and the technology companies that were able to find that video to, I hope, at least with people of good heart and compassion, stop the irresponsible and cruel speculation that had started to swirl.

Interviewer (12:34)

Let's talk about that for a minute.

Savannah Guthrie (12:36)

I'm glad that people saw what came to our door. Yeah.

Interviewer (12:48)

When you talk about the cruel speculation, the whispers, the innuendo that it was somebody in your family, how did you weather that?

Savannah Guthrie (13:00)

It's unbearable. And it piles pain upon pain. There are no words. There are no words I don't understand. And no one took better care of my mom than my sister and brother in law. And no one protected my mom more than my brother. And we love her and she is our shining light. She's our matriarch. She's all we have.

Hoda Kotb (14:00)

Savannah and her family stayed together in Arizona for weeks as the media coverage grew more intense.

Savannah Guthrie (14:08)

We had to move houses many times because people came and not everyone disrespectful. Unfortunately. You know, there was a night we had to leave in the dark in the desert, holding hands. Me and my sister and brother and I get into a car waiting for us to. Because the people outside were closing in.

Interviewer (14:45)

But to have to be running from place to place.

Savannah Guthrie (14:47)

Yeah. So we found a place that was safe and then we couldn't really leave too much. Like those days are a blur.

Interviewer (14:59)

Yeah.

Savannah Guthrie (15:00)

Crying and praying.

Interviewer (15:03)

How did your family feel about the way the investigation was conducted?

Savannah Guthrie (15:09)

Well, it's still going.

Interviewer (15:11)

Yeah.

Savannah Guthrie (15:13)

And people have worked tirelessly. Tirelessly. And we see that. But we need answers. We cannot be at peace without knowing. And someone can do the right thing. And it is never too late to do the right thing. And our hearts are focused on that.

Interviewer (15:50)

You speak about your mom always in the present tense?

Savannah Guthrie (15:56)

Yeah. I mean, she is present tense to me.

Interviewer (16:05)

Do you feel her or have you heard her any moments?

Savannah Guthrie (16:15)

Yeah, a little bit.

Interviewer (16:19)

Tell me about your mommy. Just tell me about her.

Savannah Guthrie (16:22)

Yeah, my mom is. She's incredible. My mom is. She's. She's. She's resolute and strong. Quiet. Strength, quiet faith. Quiet Hard fought. She's funny and Belittle and mischievous, I would say, in her humor. She's a noble creature. She does what's right. She walks in faith, but not fake pious, put on faith, but like a grounded, earthy. She fought for it. Faith.

Interviewer (17:26)

When you posted Please pray in the beginning, the ocean of love and prayers,

Savannah Guthrie (17:37)

did you feel that?

Interviewer (17:38)

Did you sense what was happening?

Savannah Guthrie (17:42)

I do feel prayers. You know, I too, I believe that. I think she would have been just amazed, just truly amazed.

Interviewer (17:51)

One of the images that stayed with me through all of this was you and Annie and Tomas.

Savannah Guthrie (17:59)

Tomasso.

Interviewer (18:00)

Tomasso walking up and looking at the flowers and at the notes. As I saw that, I thought, I wonder if Savannah's going inside. And what that must have felt like for you to go inside of your mom's. Your. Your childhood home, your mom's house.

Savannah Guthrie (18:19)

Yeah. I mean, this is the house that we grew up in. It's really the only house I've ever known. And remember we moved there when I was about 4. I think it's the house where I came home on a Friday night at 16, and my mom and sister were on the couch praying and told me that my father had died. It's the house where all of our memories are good and bad. So it's hallowed ground. My mom loved and treasured that house. In good years and mean years, they were able to hold onto that house. That's my mom's safe haven. It was really hard to see that violation and the terror. The terror that she must have felt. Is that unbearable? It's unbearable.

Interviewer (19:36)

Tell me. While you were spending all this time in Tucson, your kids were home. What do they know?

Savannah Guthrie (19:47)

Well, it's so hard with kids because, you know, you want to protect them. Dale would write me all the time, Mama, Any leads? Any leads? You hear anything, you know, any hope? And I think that, you know, we tried to talk to them and try to give them a little more certainty. Yeah. Then we have to let them grieve. And for my little nephew, Omo, too, you know, he's. There's just a way in which this is even so much harder. And Annie and Tommy and Omo, because they're there.

Interviewer (20:44)

They're there. Yeah.

Savannah Guthrie (20:45)

And they were there every day for my mom. They made it possible for her to stay in the house we grew up in that she loved so much. I think she always stayed in that house because I think she still felt my father there. All our memories, you know, they were close.

Interviewer (21:10)

Yes.

Savannah Guthrie (21:10)

I let her have her space. And there's just a way in which this Is just. Even more excruciating for them and all that they've been through.

Interviewer (21:25)

You know, it was a hard decision for you and I know you told me about this was coming back here, leaving Arizona to come back to New York. Why was that so difficult, that choice?

Savannah Guthrie (21:41)

I looked out the window, the airplane. Scott, where are you?

Interviewer (21:44)

Yeah,

Savannah Guthrie (21:49)

that desert, that beautiful desert that she loves. Where are you? How could I leave you? But my mom taught me a lot about grief. Our family knows grief. My father passed when I was 16 years old. He was only 49. It was a shock. And I remember my mom saying in those early days when daddy died, like you have to get up and decide and do, just decide and do. She had read that in a book that meant a lot to her in her grief. And so I remember, I always remember that. So I'm trying to decide and do decide and do. Skid up and decide and do. Every day, you know, I've felt terrible grief and I felt unfathomable love and comfort. The goodness and kindness of God is remarkable. And in equal measure to my sorrow, she showed us how to survive the unimaginable. When she lost my dad, she was 46 years old. She had three kids. She had never worked outside the home. She had to get up, she had to find a job. She had to mother two teenagers and one young adult just starting making his way into the world. She took care of her mother, her brother who had down syndrome, she invited to come live with us. She worked part time. To make ends kind of meet. She found a way, another job. A job she turned into a full time job, a job she turned into a career. She had a second life of purpose and meaning. She had a million friends. She stayed strong for us. She was resolute. She was real. She grieved. I remember moments in my childhood and those days after my dad died, she was so strong. But some mornings before dawn when she thought we were still sleeping, I would hear her crying at my door. To not be alone in her grief. So she caught me to be strong. She taught me to be true. My faith is strong and resolute. But I early on felt that I heard one of the very few times in my life I did hear God speak to me. As I said to myself, I can handle anything. God, I can handle anything. I just can't handle not knowing. I can't handle not knowing. Yeah, I have to know. And I heard a voice and it said, you do know where she is? She's with me. She's with me. So whether she's on this earth still or whether she is in heaven. I know where she is. I know who she's with. But we need to know.

Hoda Kotb (26:53)

More of my conversation with Savannah after the break.

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Interviewer (29:13)

Did you did you wrestle with your faith throughout this? You're resolute and strong like your mama. But did you at some point during all of this have to wrestle with it?

Savannah Guthrie (29:25)

Yes. Yeah, and I'm not done. But God doesn't tell us not to wrestle with Him. This isn't some cheap faith and My mom taught me that God only requires our authentic presence and that he has. But I never doubted. My mom said. My mom's best friend told me that she had been going through a hard time, and. And she said to my mom, how. How have you kept your faith all these years? Why? Losing your husband, all the different things that my mom had been through. How, Nancy? How do you keep your faith? And my mom said to her, well, where else would I. Can I hold that with me? Where else would I go? But faith is how I will stay connected to my mom. God is how I'm holding hands with my mom. And I won't let sadness win. She taught me. I saw her grief. I saw her world shatter. I saw it. And I saw her get up, and I saw her believe. And I saw her love. And I saw her hope. And I saw her smile, and I saw her laugh. I saw her joy. I saw her love of the world and adventure. I saw her belief. I saw her faith. She taught me. She taught all of us. And I may not do it as well as her, but I will do it. I will do it for my kids. I will. I will not fall apart. I will not let whoever did this take my children's mother from them. I will not let them take my joy. They will not take my sister's joy. They will not take my brother's joy. They will not take our love. They will not take our faith. But our anguish is real. We need help. We need someone to tell the truth. I have no anger in my heart. I have hope in my heart. I have love. That this family needs peace.

Interviewer (32:53)

Yes. Yes.

Savannah Guthrie (32:55)

I don't think we deserve anything more or less than any other person. We don't say, why us? Why me? Why anything? If I say, why me for this horrible thing, then I have to say, why me? For all the beautiful blessings of my life? Well, then, yes, why? I don't know why. I'm grateful for my blessings. And I'm heartbroken for this sorrow. Yes, I'm heartbroken.

Interviewer (33:26)

Yes,

Savannah Guthrie (33:29)

I am crushed. But I am not abandoned. We are not alone. Do we need an answer? And someone has it in their power to help. It is never too late. And when you do, the warmth of love and forgiveness that will come will be greater than can be imagined. I know what it is to be forgiven.

Interviewer (34:05)

Yes.

Savannah Guthrie (34:06)

And there is no greater joy. And that joy awaits whoever can hear this and find it in their heart to help.

Interviewer (34:19)

You're focusing on people in Tucson. Somebody there must have seen or known something and maybe forgot about it or didn't pay attention to it.

Savannah Guthrie (34:28)

How can someone vanish without a trace? How someone knows something, even if that something is. Someone's been acting strange for the last seven, eight weeks. Even if it's just that somebody knows. And maybe somebody's afraid. I understand that. But our hearts are. In agony. We can't breathe. We can't live. We can't go on. We can't be at peace. We can't go forward. We have to know what happened to her.

Interviewer (35:23)

You talked about coming back to New York. One of the other enduring images for me was walking into Studio 1A and seeing you there, speaking to everybody. What was it like for you walking back in there?

Savannah Guthrie (35:41)

I really wanted to come and see everybody.

Interviewer (35:45)

Yeah.

Savannah Guthrie (35:48)

I just love this beautiful place that we call home where we get to come and be every day. And I know how much people have prayed for me and loved me. All the people that you see on TV and then all the people that you don't. All the notes and messages that I have received are just so beautiful. I just wanted to be with my family. They're my family, too.

Interviewer (36:32)

You said something when you were there, and you said, I don't know how to come back, and I don't know how not to come back.

Savannah Guthrie (36:41)

Yeah, that's how I feel when I look at the Today show, which is the answer to all my dreams. Actually better than my dreams.

Interviewer (36:57)

So how about coming back? I know everyone's wondering, so it's hard

Savannah Guthrie (37:03)

to imagine doing it because it's such a place of joy and lightness. And I can't come back and try to be something that I'm not. But I can't not come back because it's my family. I think it's part of my purpose right now. I want to smile. And when I do, it will be real. I will have joy. And my joy will be my protest. My joy will be my answer. And being there is joyful. And when it's not, I'll say so. And I have been so grateful to have this family. I consider this my family, my greater family. And when times are hard, you want to be with your family. And I want to be with my family. And so I don't know if I can do it. I don't know if I'll belong anymore. But I would like to try. I would like to try. I'm not gonna be the same. But maybe it's like that whole poem, more beautiful in the broken places.

Hoda Kotb (39:05)

For anybody with information that leads to the return of Nancy Guthrie. The Guthrie family is offering a one million dollar reward. The FBI is also offering a $100,000 reward and encouraging anyone with information to call 1-800-call-FBI. This episode was produced by Jennifer Long and Roberto Bailey. Our head of Audio production is Jessica Fenton. Libby Least is the Executive Vice President of Today and Lifestyle.

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