The sheriff of Pima County, AZ said that family members of Nancy Guthrie, the mother of Today host Savannah Guthrie, are not suspects in her disappearance.
Sheriff Chris Nanos said in a statement on Monday, “To be clear…the Guthrie family — to include all siblings and spouses — has been cleared as possible suspects in this case. That fanily has been nothing but cooperative and gracious and are victims in this case.”
Nanos added, “To suggest otherwise is not only wrong, it is cruel. The Guthrie family are victims plain and simple…please, I’m begging you in the media to honor your profession and report with some sense of compassion and professionalism.”
Nanos’ statement appeared to be responding to various theories that have been floated about the case, which has drawn nationwide attention and has been the topic of extensive cable news punditry and social media speculation.
Nancy Guthrie disappeared more than two weeks ago, in what authorities believe was an abduction from her home. Savannah Guthrie and her family members have posted multiple videos on social media directed at their mothers’ kidnappers, asking for contact with them and for her return.
Lats week, the FBI posted video from Nancy Guthrie’s front entrance security camera, showing a masked individual.
When the images were released, FBI Director Kash Patel said the videos and photos showed “an armed individual” outside Nancy Guthrie’s front door on the morning she was reported missing. The person appears “to have tampered with the camera,” he said. Patel said that the brief second video was from the same camera as the first and “is just before the original video shared, with the individual approaching Nancy Guthrie’s front door.”
The FBI is awaiting DNA results on a glove found near the Guthrie home that appears to match the one worn by a suspect that was seen in surveillance video released last week.
Savannah Guthrie posted another video on social media Sunday, saying her family still has hope for her mother’s return.
“We still have hope, and we still believe,” she said. “And I wanted to say: To whoever has her, or knows where she is, that it’s never too late, and you’re not lost or alone. And it is never too late to do the right thing, and we are here. We believe, and we believe in the essential goodness of every human being.”