Savannah Guthrie’s heartbreaking ‘Today’ interview with Hoda Kotb could ‘terrify’ mother Nancy Guthrie’s kidnappers as the mysterious case draws more attention.
Former FBI agent Jason Pack exclusively told Page Six, “This interview does nothing to hurt the investigation. It’s about keeping Nancy’s name in the news at the very moment when national attention began to emerge. The entire country has been praying for this family.”
“Every time Savannah speaks, we hope she gets a little closer to someone listening and answering the phone,” he added.
Pack went on to explain how the kidnappers now have “the FBI, a million dollar bounty, and the whole country looking for them.”
“In my experience, suspects who do something like this are usually scared. They’ve been scared for two months,” Pack said.
“Every knock on the door, every slow-moving car. They’re waiting for that one piece of information that will bring law enforcement right to their doorstep and finally tell the world what happened to Miss Nancy,” he said.
Puck sees Savannah as a “daughter who loves her mother.”
“This is not necessarily a law enforcement strategy,” Pack said in an interview with “Today.” “This is what grief looks like: a family carrying something too heavy to carry alone, and a woman who decided it was time to carry it in silence. Think about who she chose to sit with: Hoda Kotb. Her friend. Her co-worker. The person she trusted with her life. Savannah did not step into the press room.”
“She went into a safe space and accepted that she was human, and that’s what grief looks like when she finally has room to breathe,” Pack added.
On Wednesday, clips of Kotb’s interview with his former co-host were aired in preparation for a two-part interview scheduled to air Thursday and Friday.
“Someone’s got to do the right thing. We’re suffering. We’re suffering. It’s unbearable,” Savannah, 54, said through tears.
“And to think about what she went through, I wake up in the middle of the night every night and imagine her fear in the dark. It’s unthinkable, but those thoughts need to be thought of, and I’m not going to hide my face, but she needs to go home now,” she said.
Kotb explained that the rest of the interview will be spent discussing the investigation, his faith, and how his best friend is coping with the situation.
The interview came days after Savannah accused her kidnappers in a statement to the KVOA television station, and Pack told Page Six that this was a “deliberate” move because staying relevant in the news cycle has been an “uphill battle” and law enforcement has “not been cooperating in keeping this case in front of the public.”
“Law enforcement had not held a press conference in over a month, and as of Saturday night, nearly three weeks had passed since the family’s last public complaint,” Pack said. “As the investigators go dark and the media continues to report, the amount of snitching will probably go down. That’s just the nature of it.”
Nancy was reported missing on February 1st after failing to show up for virtual church services.
The 84-year-old woman was abducted while she was sleeping and was “harmed” in the process, but authorities said bloodstains found outside her home were identified as hers.
Video and photos of a masked person were released on February 10, and the images showed the person entering Nancy’s home with gloves and a backpack.
Authorities have not made any arrests in the case, but multiple people are being questioned. The investigation is still ongoing.
Savannah and her siblings, Annie and Camron, have made many public pleas for the safe return of their beloved mother.
