Nancy Guthrie’s best friends are, as you might imagine, distraught over her mysterious disappearance.
“This is like living in a nightmare! And it’s torture for this family! 💔,” Mary Tate Engels, of Tucson, Arizona, who is in the same book club as Guthrie, wrote in a Facebook comment Thursday morning.
Engels’ remarks were in response to a friend who pointed out that the situation was “very alarming” and “getting scarier by the day.”
In other comments, Engels stressed that she and Guthrie’s loved ones are extremely “concerned” by the “heartbreaking” ordeal.
She also described the missing 84-year-old man as “an important person.”
The exchange took place under a photo Engel posted on Tuesday showing religious statues in front of large stained glass windows inside a church.
“Wishing you a safe return!” she captioned some of the photos.
Guthrie, the mother of Today host Savannah Guthrie, has not been seen or heard from since Saturday night.
Nancy went to dinner with her daughter, Annie Guthrie, and Annie’s husband, Tommaso Cioni, and then dropped off her mother-in-law at her home in Catalina Foothills, where she lives alone, between 9:30 and 9:45 p.m.
Around 11 a.m. the next morning, a parishioner from Nancy’s church called her family to inform them that she had not attended that morning’s service, which was unusual.
The family then went to Nancy’s home to look for her and called 911 around 12:15 p.m.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said he and investigators, who now include local, state and federal law enforcement officers, believe Nancy was abducted while she was sleeping and was “harmed” in the process.
What appeared to be blood stains was seen right outside her front door, and the doorbell camera that had been installed near the entrance was also missing.
Nancy is mentally sound but has problems with her motor skills. She has heart problems as well as high blood pressure and is fitted with a pacemaker.
Nancy’s daily medication, along with her cell phone, wallet, keys and car, were all left behind.
A purported ransom note demanding millions of dollars and details about what Nancy was wearing and items in her home were sent to two different news outlets, but their authenticity has not been confirmed.
In a heartbreaking Instagram video uploaded Wednesday night, Savannah, 54, Annie, 56, and their brother Camron Guthrie, 61, publicly implored their mother’s alleged captors to return safely.
At the time of this article’s publication, the Pima County Sheriff’s Office had not identified any suspects or persons of interest in the incident.
