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Savannah Guthrie’s recent public appeal concerning her missing mother, Nancy Guthrie, has sparked a significant question, according to an expert in the field.
In a poignant Instagram video shared on Saturday, Savannah addressed the abductor of her 84-year-old mother, who was taken from her Tucson, Arizona home the previous weekend. The 54-year-old “Today” show anchor, appearing alongside her siblings Annie, 56, and Camron, 61, conveyed a direct message to the captor, stating, “We received your message, and we understand.”
Guthrie continued with an emotional plea, urging, “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.”
Tracy Walder, a former CIA operative and FBI special agent, remarked on the nature of Guthrie’s statement to Page Six. Walder suggested the language used in the message seemed “very contrived” and “also scripted.”
Walder elaborated, observing, “I feel like they use a lot of coded language in there: ‘This is very valuable to us.’ ‘So that we can celebrate her.’ … That’s not normal words we use to describe a situation like this.”
Therefore, the NewsNation contributor wondered, “Is this a ransom for a dead body? Are we paying to get a body or human back?”
Walder went on to compare Saturday’s video with the one Savannah and her siblings posted Wednesday, noting that in the first one, the trio “humanized their mom in present tense.”
The new one, she argued, is more “muted” and “somber” and does not “humanize their mom at all.”
She continued, “It’s matter of fact, to the point. They’re being methodical. They’re deliberately answering [the abductor] back. Using words like ‘celebrate’ infers memorial or funeral, but it also infers they want to have a party when she comes home.”
Walder pointed out that Savannah, who is the only one who spoke in the new video, now “looks defeated” and not “hopeful.”
She also said that the broadcast journalist’s willingness to pay is “not surprising” given that “any person would pay to get their 84-year-old mom back.”