Savannah Guthrie Responds After Reports of Purported Ransom Note Saying Her Mother Is Dead

Savannah Guthrie is urging people to come forward after news agencies disclosed that a purported ransom note said the mother of the “Today” show anchor is dead.

“We need your help. We’re begging for your help,” Savannah Guthrie said on the show on June 23.

KOLD-TV and CNN reported on Monday that they received a purported ransom note in February that said Nancy Guthrie, Savannah Guthrie’s 84-year-old mother, had died.

KOLD-TV said it had withheld the detail until now “out of respect for the family and the investigation.”

CNN said it had agreed to a request from the Guthrie family and law enforcement officials not to report on the note “so any future communications with the kidnapper or kidnappers could be authenticated.”

The note allegedly said the kidnappers had not meant for Nancy Guthrie to die.

Savannah Guthrie said Tuesday that people should come forward with information and that they can remain anonymous.

“Please do the right thing for us, for our family, our children,” she said. “And we love our mom, and we’ll never stop looking for her, ever.”

Savannah Guthrie said family members “are in agony” and “cannot be in peace” without a resolution.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department and FBI did not respond to requests for comment by the time of publication.

Investigators said in May that they were still searching for Nancy Guthrie.

The elderly woman went out to dinner with family members on Jan. 31 in Catalina Foothills, a community of about 52,400 people just outside Tucson, before being driven home. Officials said that early Feb. 1, her doorbell camera detected movement and was disconnected. Nancy Guthrie’s pacemaker then vanished from a pacemaker application on her phone.

When Nancy Guthrie did not appear at church later that day, relatives reported her missing.

Footage and images released by the FBI showed an individual outside Nancy Guthrie’s home early Feb. 1. The person was armed and apparently tampered with Nancy Guthrie’s doorbell camera.

The FBI has been offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to “the recovery of Nancy Guthrie and/or the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in her disappearance.”

The bureau said on its website that Nancy Guthrie “is considered to be a vulnerable adult who has difficulty walking, has a pacemaker, and needs daily medication for a heart condition.”