As Savannah Guthrie Tells Her Mother’s Kidnappers ‘We Will Pay,’ Ransom Note’s Monday Deadline Approaches

Last seen at her home on Saturday, January 31, Nancy Guthrie has now been missing for over a week. The 84-year-old mother of TODAY anchor Savannah Guthrie was abducted from her home just outside of Tucson, Arizona, late that night, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department says. But through local investigators and the FBI have investigated numerous tips, they have yet to identify any suspects, local police confirmed on Saturday. Complicating the investigation are a proliferation of ransom notes sent to local news outlets, some of which have been revealed as fake. But the latest note was soon followed by a message from the Guthrie family, which announced on Saturday that it would follow the kidnappers’ demands.

The newest message from Nancy Guthrie’s children follows a Thursday video featuring Nancy’s son Camron Guthrie, which was posted to his sister’s Instagram account. “Whoever is out there holding our mother, we want to hear from you,” he said then. “We haven’t heard anything directly. We need you to reach out, and we need a way to communicate with you so we can move forward.”

A new video, posted by Savannah, Camron, and sister Annie Guthrie on Saturday, suggests that this requested communication has occurred. “We received your message, and we understand,” Guthrie says, looking directly a the camera as she holds her siblings’ hands.

“We beg you now to return our mother to us so that we can celebrate with her. This is the only way we will have peace. This is very valuable to us, and we will pay.”

Speaking with CNN’s Dana Bash, Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said that “There is no question in my mind that every word of that statement was carefully honed with the assistance of the FBI experts who are advising the family.” McCabe says that he believes the Guthries are working with hostage negotiators as well as “very experienced agents” who “have dealt with many, many kidnapping and ransom situations.”

In between Camron’s plea for communication and the Guthrie siblings’ assurance that they would pay, Tucson television station KOLD received a ransom note and passed it along to authorities, the New York Times reports. The note’s contents have not been officially divulged, but during a Saturday broadcast on local station KGUN, reporter JJ McKinney said “It is unclear which letter the Guthries are responding to” in their latest message, as “Multiple ransom notes have been sent out to the media, including one that was sent to us.”