Savannah Guthrie, co-host of the popular NBC News morning show “Today,” has posted several video messages with her brother and sister, calling on their mother’s kidnappers for her return, asking for the public’s help in solving the case and even expressing a willingness to meet ransom demands.
Nancy Guthrie was last seen on January 31, when family dropped her off at her home after having dinner with them. Family members reported her missing the next day, authorities said.
Sheriff’s deputies, many in tactical gear, converged on a home Friday in an affluent Tucson neighborhood, less than two miles from Nancy Guthrie’s home, in what appeared to be a search warrant.
A sheriff’s spokesman said the activity was related to the Guthrie investigation.
CNN reported that no arrests were made during the operation.
Shortly after reports of the police operation surfaced, Baird Greene started trending on social media.
The reason Baird Greene became a trend on social media was because the house in Tucson where a SWAT operation took place was reportedly owned by the man.
It was also reported that law enforcement officers asked a man and a woman to leave the home. Unconfirmed reports suggest the individuals may have been renting the property from Greene.
Photos of a man named Manoj Saranathan were circulated with claims that he was being held at the premises because investigators identified him using technology that can recognize people from skull measurements. However, authorities have not confirmed the information.
Although Greene’s name has been widely circulated online due to the raid on his property, authorities have not named him as a suspect. The FBI recently doubled the reward for information on Nancy Guthrie’s whereabouts to $100,000.
Several discarded gloves found during the investigation, including some found about two miles from Guthrie’s home, underwent forensic analysis, the department said.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told Reuters that no evidence of life has emerged since the kidnapping, but he quickly added: “There is also no evidence of death whatsoever.” He said his working assumption is that Nancy Guthrie will live.
“Hope is sometimes all we have, really,” he said. “I have a team of 400 federal, state and local government agents. I have a community of a million people here who have invested in this and want it back. Sometimes all we have to do is have hope. I’m not going to destroy that.’
Meanwhile, speculation about Nancy’s identity and whereabouts continues online. A large number of social media users are convinced that the kidnappers could be someone they know or someone close to them.
Some people shared Nancy’s old posts on social media against US President Donald Trump, criticizing the government’s inability to get her back.
