This is a developing story
Savannah Guthrie posted a video to her social media on Thursday of her brother, Camron, asking whoever has his mother to contact the family.
"This is Camron Guthrie speaking for the Guthrie family. Whoever is out there holding our mother, we want to hear from you. We haven't heard anything directly. We need you to reach out," he said.
Earlier that day, the FBI announced a $50,000 reward for information that leads to the recovery of Nancy Guthrie as well as the arrest and conviction of those responsible for her disappearance.
The 84-year-old mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie was allegedly taken from her home sometime in the early hours of Sunday morning.
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Savannah Guthrie (@savannahguthrie)
Pima County Sheriff’s Department is working jointly with the agency and additional intelligence and agents have been allocated from the FBI Phoenix Division to assist with the case, said Heith Janke, special agent in charge.
“Members from our cellular analysis survey team are here and they continue to collect and process digital information,” Janke said.
The Pima Regional Critical Incident Team, known as PCRIT, is assisting in the investigation, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos announced. PCRIT is a consortium of southern Arizona law enforcement agencies.
A critical incident response group from Quantico, Virginia, has also been brought in to assist the investigation.
The FBI is continuing to analyze information from all digital sources such as banks, social media companies, phone companies and other organizations where a digital footprint could have been captured.
Janke said that the bureau is aware of the ransom letter that was sent to news outlets and officials continue to pursue all leads.
“We advise and recommend from a law enforcement perspective, any action taken on any ransom is ultimately decided by the family,” Janke said.
Janke announced that the FBI has also made an arrest of an alleged imposter who had made a ransom demand and stated that a complaint would be presented to a magistrate judge later on Thursday.
Federal prosecutors announced Thursday afternoon that charges were filed against a man accused of sending ransom-related text messages to members of Nancy Guthrie’s family after her disappearance Sunday.
“To anyone that may be involved, do the right thing,” Janke said. “This is an 84-year-old grandma that needs vital medication for her well-being.”
Guthrie depends on daily medication: In a video that the Guthrie siblings posted on social media Wednesday, Savannah Guthrie stated that her mother’s health and heart are fragile.
“She lives in constant pain,” Savannah Guthrie said.
Savannah Guthrie attended the University of Arizona and worked for Arizona Public Media’s Arizona Illustrated in early journalism career. Her mother worked for the university from 1990 to 2007, a spokesperson confirmed.
Nanos said the department and partners with the FBI have been working around the clock.
“We just want mom back,” Nanos said on Thursday. “We just want her home.”
Nanos shared a timeline with the press that law enforcement has developed which shows that on Saturday afternoon, Jan. 31, Guthrie had traveled to her daughter Annie’s house, via UBER and had returned to the house before 10 p.m. that night.
Data that the investigators have pulled from the garage show that the door closed at around 9:50 pm. and at 1:47 a.m, the doorbell was disconnected.
At 2:12 a.m. a person was detected on the camera but no video is available, officials said. Nanos said it was possible that this could’ve been an animal.
Data shows that at 2:28 a.m. Guthrie’s pacemaker app was disconnected from her phone, Nanos said.
The Guthrie family arrived at her home at 11:56 a.m. Sunday to check on her and discovered her to be missing.
Nanos said that at 12:03 p.m. a 911 call was made and 12 minutes later law enforcement responded.
Law enforcement is not confirming whether any cameras were smashed or destroyed at the house however, Nanos did confirm reports that there was blood on the front porch that was Guthrie’s.
