On Wednesday, three days after Savannah Guthrie’s mother, Nancy Guthrie, was reported missing in Tucson, the family put out an emotional video pleading with the possible captors for her release. “We are ready to talk,” Savannah said in the video. “However, 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. Please reach out to us.”
CBS Mornings opened its episode on Thursday with the video, after which Gayle King spoke through tears about what the Guthrie family is going through. “We are all wishing that Nancy comes home,” King said. “It is an unimaginable situation for the Guthrie family.” King said having to make a video like that is “something that none of us can imagine having to do,” calling the situation “so frightening and so disturbing.” She said she was particularly affected by a moment in the video where Savannah referred to her mother as “Mommy.” “To hear a grown woman say, ‘Mommy, we’re all looking for you.’ Everybody’s looking for her,” she said. “Your heart can’t help but break for her,” she added.
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King, who has been friendly with Savannah throughout their careers, noted the tight bond Savannah has with her mother. “We all know how close she was to her mother,” King said. “We’re trying to make sense of something that makes no sense. And that’s why we keep struggling and grasping for something. Help us understand how this is happening, why this is happening, and what we can do about it? It’s so, so, so scary to me.”
King, along with a handful of Guthrie’s other fellow news anchors, have been tasked with covering the disappearance of their friend’s mother on live TV. On Tuesday, Savannah’s colleagues at the Today show spent an emotional piece of their segment on Nancy talking about their personal relationship with her daughter. Jenna Bush Hager described Nancy as “a woman who is deeply loved by everyone here” and urged anyone with information to contact the Pima County Sheriff’s Department. “Behind the scenes, we’re all rattled, we’re all shaking,” Sheinelle Jones said, adding that she’s having trouble sleeping. “We’re family around here.”
