United States news anchor, Savannah Guthrie, has announced that her family is offering a $1 million reward for information that could lead to the safe return of her mother, Nancy Guthrie, as the search enters its 24th day.
In an emotional video shared on Instagram, the NBC host said the family is “aching” for Nancy, who is believed to have been abducted from her Tucson, Arizona home.
“We still believe in a miracle, we still believe that she can come home – hope against hope,” Guthrie said.
She added: “We also know that she may be lost, she may already be gone, she may have already gone home to the Lord that she loves.”
The video, released on Tuesday morning, also revealed that the family would donate $500,000 to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
“Please, if you hear this message, if you’ve been waiting and you haven’t been sure, let this be your sign to please come forward. Tell what you know, and help us bring our beloved mom home, so that we can either celebrate a glorious, miraculous homecoming or celebrate the beautiful, brave and courageous and noble life that she has lived,” Guthrie continued.
The FBI’s Phoenix office urged anyone with “firsthand knowledge” of Nancy Guthrie’s whereabouts to contact the agency at 1-800-CALL-FBI. Previously, the reward for information had stood at $200,000, with $100,000 offered by the FBI and another $100,000 through Tucson Crime Stoppers.
Nancy Guthrie, 84, was reported missing around midday on 1 February after failing to attend church services. Authorities have said she was “taken from the home against her will, possibly in the middle of the night and that includes possible kidnapping or abduction.”
The family has made multiple public appeals for her safe return and requested proof of life. Nancy Guthrie suffers from mobility issues, has a pacemaker, and requires daily medication for a heart condition, authorities noted.
Investigators have released images of the primary suspect, captured on Nancy Guthrie’s Nest doorbell camera. A law enforcement source told CBS that the same man had previously appeared at her front door before she went missing.
Ransom notes demanding roughly $6 million in cryptocurrency have been sent to media outlets, including one whose deadline expired on 9 February. At least one note has been confirmed as fake, allegedly sent by a 42-year-old California man who has been charged.
The case has drawn intense global attention, turning Tucson, a normally quiet city popular with retirees, into a media hub. Amateur sleuths and curious onlookers have flooded the area, while detectives report receiving close to 40,000 public tips.
DNA was recovered from a glove found near Nancy Guthrie’s home, similar to one worn by the suspect captured on camera, but it produced no matches in FBI databases. Authorities have ruled out all family members as suspects, with Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos saying, “to suggest otherwise is not only wrong, it is cruel.”
Annotated satellite images show Nancy Guthrie’s residence in the affluent Catalina Foothills area, north of Tucson. Photos highlight her flat-roofed home, surrounded by shrubs and trees, last seen on 31 January. The doorbell camera was cut off at 01:47 local time on 1 February, and police later discovered her blood on the porch floor, confirmed to be hers.
