Nancy Guthries Disappearance Sees FBI Offer $50K Reward For Significant Leads in Case

The FBI announced a $50,000 reward on Thursday for information that leads to the discovery of missing Arizona resident Nancy Guthrie, the mother of Savannah Guthrie, longtime co-host of NBC’s Today, who disappeared over the weekend from her home in what authorities have called an abduction. On Tuesday, the local sheriff said that they are treating the case as if Nancy Guthrie is still alive.

The bureau has been working on the case alongside local police in Tucson, Arizona, where the 84-year-old mother of three adult children vanished overnight on Sunday from the home where she lives alone.

“The FBI is now working this case jointly with the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, and we’re going to start today by announcing a $50,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of Nancy Guthrie and or the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in her disappearance,” Heith Janke, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Phoenix, said at a press conference held at the Pima County Sheriff’s Office.

FBI agents, analysts and professional staff have been deployed to work with the sheriff’s department in Tucson, along with the bureau’s critical incident response group from Quantico, Virginia, and its cellular analysis survey team.

Blood discovered on the porch of the home of Nancy Guthrie has tested positive as her own, authorities in Arizona told reporters on Thursday, as the race against the clock to locate the missing octogenarian enters its fifth day. Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said that the only DNA evidence they have found at her home was the blood discovered on her front porch.

Sheriff Nanos offered an update in the timeline of the missing grandmother, telling reporters that test results from the scene of the crime is slow to trickle in.

”We believe Nancy is still out there. We want her home. The sheriff’s department, along with all of our partners at the FBI, has been working around the clock, and we just want her home and to find a way to get to the bottom of all of this,”he said.

A security camera at Nancy Guthrie’s home detected someone or something approaching the property over the weekend, Sheriff Nanos said at the press conference, but the camera was removed, and the company that manufactured the equipment has exhausted all avenues to retrieve any of the footage.

The multiple ransom notes sent to various media outlets earlier this week were discussed at Thursday’s briefing, the second Q&A-style press conference the case has seen this week, and authorities said that an arrest has been made of the person believed to be behind a hoax note. Agent Janke indicated the individual behind the phony note was seeking to capitalize on the case, which has captured national attention. Janke indicated that one of the notes was more legitimate, as it mentioned an Apple Watch and a floodlight at the scene of the possible abduction; that note was sent out to be substantiated.

“As with every lead, we are taking it seriously. We are in communication with the family. While we advise and recommend, from a law enforcement perspective, any action taken on any ransom is ultimately decided by the family,” Janke said.

Thursday’s press conference came the morning after theToday co-host, alongside her brother Camron Guthrie and sister Annie Guthrie, released a video addressing the suspected kidnappers directly. Authorities have said Nancy Guthrie was likely taken against her will in a “possible kidnapping or abduction,” and her home is being treated as acrimescene.

Nancy Guthrie, who lives alone in Tucson, takes essential medications and has mobility issues. She was last seen by her son-in-law, Tommaso Cioni, Annie’s husband, when he dropped her off at her home on Saturday night. The following day, her family reported her missing after they were informed that she didn’t show up for church.

Sheriff Nanos has shot down media reports that Cioni is considered a prime suspect in her disappearance and had to inform the public that ransom reports sent to media outlets, including TMZ and local news stations in Arizona, have not been substantiated.

On Tuesday, Savannah Guthrie asked for prayersfor the safe return of her mother. She has stepped down from the NBC News team covering the Winter Olympics as the search for her mom approaches a full week.