Savannah Guthrie’s latest plea to her missing mother Nancy Guthrie’s kidnappers raises chilling questions, experts say.
On Saturday, in the second Instagram video since Nancy, 84, was taken from her home in Tucson, Arizona, over the weekend, Savannah, 54, publicly told her kidnappers, “We got your message and we understand.”
The Today show host, who was joined by her sister Annie Guthrie, 56, and brother Camron Guthrie, 61, added: “We now ask that you give our mother back to us so we can celebrate together. This is the only way we can have peace. This is very precious to us and we will pay for it.”
Tracy Walder, a former CIA official and FBI special agent, later told Page Six that the message felt “very contrived” and “scripted.”
She explained: “I feel like they’re using a lot of coded language there, ‘This is something of great value to us.’ “So that we can celebrate (with) her.” …These are not the usual words we would use to describe a situation like this. ”
So, a NewsNation contributor wondered, “Is this a ransom for a dead body? Are we paying to get a dead body or a human being back? Using words like ‘celebrate’ not only suggests a memorial or funeral, but also infers that she wants to throw a party when she gets home.”
Walder also compared Saturday’s video to the one Savannah and her siblings posted Wednesday, noting that in the first video, the three “personify their mother in the present tense.”
She claimed the new one was more “quiet” and “brooding” and “doesn’t humanize her mother at all.”
She continued: “That’s the essence of it. They’re methodical. They’re deliberately talking back to (prisoners).”
Walder noted that Savannah, who was the only one to speak in the new video, now “looks defeated” and “doesn’t have hope.”
She also said it was “not surprising” that broadcast journalists were willing to pay, given that “anyone would pay to have their 84-year-old mother back.”
Former FBI agent Jason Pack also weighed in on the new video, but unlike Walder, he believes the family is “reacting as if the mother was alive and being held,” which he called “the correct posture.”
Pack praised Savannah for coming forward with Nancy’s kidnappers, saying it “took courage” and telling him “everything” he needed to know “about who the Guthrie family is.”
“Savannah could have said a lot. She said she wanted to ‘celebrate’ with her mother. Now, you don’t use that word by accident when your mother is missing for a week. It’s like a family saying to the person in question, ‘We’re not out for blood. We just want her back.'” That’s as graceful as a human being can be under that kind of pressure. ”
Pack, who admitted the Guthries have been “baring their souls to the nation” over the past week, feels “the ball is no longer in their court”.
“The smartest thing anyone involved in this issue can do right now is to respond to the Guthrie family’s offer before that option is off the table,” he said.
Amid the frantic search for Nancy, multiple ransom notes were sent to media outlets with demands for large Bitcoin payments, along with deadlines and specific details such as her clothes and items in her home.
On Friday, the FBI and Pima County Sheriff’s Office announced they were “actively reviewing” “new messages regarding Nancy Guthrie.”
Shortly afterward, President Trump insisted to reporters on Air Force One: “I think we’ll get some answers pretty soon.”
“I’m not talking about a search. I’m talking about a solution. … A lot has happened in the last few hours. A lot has happened regarding that terrible situation,” he clarified cryptically.
Asked if authorities had a suspect, Trump said, “It could be definitive.” However, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos insisted there are still no suspects or persons of interest in the case.
Earlier that day, investigators seized a car parked in Nancy’s garage and a closed-circuit camera from the roof of her home after receiving a tip from one of her neighbors.
Nanos previously shared that on the night of January 31st, the Guthrie matriarch (who lives alone) took an Uber to Annie and her husband Tommaso Cioni’s house for dinner. Cioni sat down around 9:45 p.m.
At approximately 1:45 a.m. on February 1st, Nancy’s doorbell camera disconnected. After about 30 minutes, the software detected the person, but Nanos said there was no video available because Nancy had not paid for the subscription service.
Just before 2:30 a.m., her pacemaker disconnected from the app on her phone.
Then, around 11 a.m., parishioners from her church called her family to inform them that she had not attended the service that morning, which was unusual.
The family then went looking for Nancy’s home and called 911 just after 12 p.m.
Investigators believe Nancy was abducted while she was sleeping and was “harmed” in the process, with blood stains found just outside her front door.
The FBI is currently offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to Nancy’s recovery or the arrest and conviction of those responsible for her disappearance.
