Savannah Guthrie on Monday issued a heartbreaking new plea for help as the supposed deadline to fork over $6 million for her mother’s safe return loomed — with her admitting, “We are at an hour of desperation.’’
“We believe our mom is still out there,” the “Today” show TV star said in the video posted to Instagramon Monday afternoon. “She was taken, and we don’t know where.”
Savannah Guthrie appears in a heartbreaking video on Instagram on Monday.Instagram/@savannahguthrie
Savannah begged anybody across the country — not just in her mother Nancy’s home state of Arizona — to report anything suspicious they think may have to do with the 84-year-old grandma’s disappearance.
“I’m coming on just to ask you not just for your prayers, but no matter where you are — even if you’re far from Tucson — if you see anything, if you hear anything, if there’s anything at all that seems strange to you, that you report to law enforcement,” she said.
How The Post told the story of Savannah’s heartbreak.
“We need your help,” she added.
The desperate plea came fewer than three hours before the supposed kidnappers’ final 7 p.m. EST deadline to fork over millions of dollars in return for Nancy’s safe return – demands Savannah and her siblings said Saturday they were ready to pay.
But the ransom-note senders still haven’t provided proof that they have Nancy and that she is alive, and law enforcement has also been unable to verify whether the note is real or the work of scammers looking to cash in on the Guthrie family tragedy.
“We believe our mom is still out there,” said Savannah — here with her mother — on Monday.Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images
Nancy hasn’t been seen since Jan. 31 around 9:45 p.m., when her son-in-law dropped her off at her Tucson home after a dinner with family.
She was reported missing the next day when she failed to show up for church, with police declaring a criminal investigation soon after.
A ransom note was then sent to news outlets Monday and Tuesday and provided two deadlines to fork over huge sums of bitcoin – last Thursday evening for a ransom of $4 million or Monday evening for a $6 million ransom.
Nancy’s safety would be in peril if the final deadline was missed, the note said.
Police have been “working tirelessly, around the clock” to find the missing grandmother, Savannah said in her Monday statement.
“Thank you so much for all of the prayers and the love that we have felt — my sister, brother and I — and that our mom has felt,” Savannah said.
