LEILA FADEL, HOST:
The FBI has confirmed the existence of a ransom letter for Nancy Guthrie, the mother of "Today" show host Savannah Guthrie.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
This was the letter that a few media outlets received earlier in the week. Nancy Guthrie was reported missing on Sunday from her home in Tucson, Arizona.
FADEL: NPR's Alana Wise has been following the story and joins me now. Good morning.
ALANA WISE, BYLINE: Morning.
FADEL: So, Alana, what's the latest with the case?
WISE: So the FBI said they are taking the ransom note seriously. Officials say that the ransomers have not made contact with the Guthrie family since the message was sent to the media. Heith Janke is with the FBI's Phoenix office. He said it's out of the ordinary at this stage in a kidnapping case for the kidnappers not to make additional contact to the family of the victim. Also, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said yesterday there was blood found on the porch of Nancy Guthrie's house. DNA testing confirmed the blood belongs to the 84-year-old mother of three. And the sheriff said investigators are operating as though Nancy is alive, and they're hopeful that she can be found and return home safely.
FADEL: Do they have any suspects?
WISE: No, and officials say they still don't know how many people might have been involved. The FBI said they're looking through information from banks, social media and phone companies to learn more about her disappearance. Sheriff Nanos gave this timeline of what happened on the night Nancy disappeared. Nancy had gone to one of her daughters' houses for dinner on Saturday night. She was dropped back off at her home around 9:48 p.m. At 1:47 a.m., her doorbell camera was disconnected, and a while later, her pacemaker disconnected from the app. The doorbell camera picked up some movement, but they haven't been able to restore the footage. Now the FBI is offering a $50,000 reward for any information that leads to Nancy Guthrie's recovery and/or the arrest and conviction of whoever took her. Here's the FBI's Heith Janke addressing the Guthrie family.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
HEITH JANKE: Please know that we are doing everything to bring your mother home.
WISE: And the case has gotten massive national attention. Earlier this week, President Trump said he had reached out to Savannah Guthrie and would dedicate whatever federal resources were needed in order to find her.
FADEL: And just recap for us what we've heard from the family this week.
WISE: Of course, there was this emotional video earlier in the week on Instagram where Savannah Guthrie and her two siblings were pleading with potential kidnappers to bring their mom home. They said they were, quote, "ready to talk," and they wanted clear proof that Nancy was still alive.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: We live in a world where voices and images are easily manipulated. We need to know without a doubt that she is alive and that you have her. We want to hear from you, and we are ready to listen.
WISE: The family talked about how Nancy is elderly, how she needs certain medications and she experiences daily pain. But they also talked about what she's like as a mother and a grandmother, and they talked about how much they missed her and wanted to see her come home. And just last night, Camron Guthrie, Nancy's son, issued a new plea in an Instagram video. In it, he said the family had not heard directly from any alleged captors.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
CAMRON GUTHRIE: We need a way to communicate with you so we can move forward.
WISE: The FBI has said that any decision to work with the ransomers would ultimately be up to the family.
FADEL: That's NPR's Alana Wise. Thank you for your reporting.
WISE: Thanks, Leila. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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