Savannah Guthrie has hit back at “cruel…whispers and innuendos” that her family is involved in the disappearance of her mother, Nancy Guthrie.
In her first interview since the 84-year-old’s disappearance, Ms Guthrie told Hoda Kotb that the speculation was “pain upon pain.”
She added: “I can’t stand it…I have no words. I don’t understand it and I never will.”
Savannah went on to defend her brothers, Camron Guthrie and Annie Guthrie, and her sister’s husband, Tommaso Cioni.
“No one cared for my mother more than my sister and brother-in-law,” the journalist claimed. “And no one was more protective of my mother than my brother.”
The family members, who were particularly “cooperative and kind,” were released as suspects on February 16.
Savannah went on to talk about the days she spent “in a daze” with loved ones in Arizona while waiting for updates.
“Unfortunately, people come, but not everyone is respectful, so we had to move houses a lot,” she recalled. “There was a night when we had to set off hand in hand in the desert in the dark and get into a car that was waiting for us.”
“People outside were coming closer,” Savannah said.
The Guthrie couple “couldn’t leave much after finding a safe place” and spent time “crying and praying.”
Savannah, who cried throughout the emotional interview, apologized to Nancy and admitted she was blaming herself.
“I don’t know if it’s because she’s my mom and someone thought, ‘Oh, that woman has money, she’s going to make some quick money,’ but it makes sense,” she said.
Savannah confessed that the possibility was “too great to bear.”
Nancy was last seen at her home in Tucson, Arizona on January 31st and disappeared overnight.
Savannah learned her mother was missing from a phone call from Annie and has been living in “disbelief and confusion” ever since.
On Thursday, Savannah revealed new gruesome details about the incident, including what happened in the house on Feb. 1 (the back door was thrown open and there was blood on the balcony) and how many ransom notes she believed were legitimate.
The investigation is still ongoing.
