Berliner Tageszeitung - Top US news anchor pleads with kidnappers for mom's life

"We need to know without a doubt that she is alive and that you have her," Guthrie said, after noting that "voices and images are easily manipulated."

Flanked by family members, the 54-year-old NBC News co-host of the morning program "Today" addressed kidnappers directly, weeping.

"We want to hear from you and we are ready to listen."

Police in Arizona said Monday they believed Nancy Guthrie was kidnapped from her home in Pima County after she went missing Sunday under suspicious circumstances.

"She did not leave on her own, we know that," local sheriff Chris Nanos told a press conference Monday, describing the home as a "crime scene."

US President Donald Trump said on his Truth Social platform Wednesday he had spoken to the younger Guthrie "and let her know that I am directing ALL Federal Law Enforcement to be at the family's, and Local Law Enforcement's, complete disposal, IMMEDIATELY."

"We are deploying all resources to get her mother home safely," Trump added.

In the video she posted, Savannah Guthrie described her mother's fragile heart and health, saying "she lives in constant pain. She is without any medicine. She needs it to survive, and she needs it not to suffer."

The typically sunny news anchor confirmed that she had heard media reports of a ransom letter and her family was working to do "everything that we can."

She also addressed her missing mother directly.

"Mommy, if you are hearing this, you are a strong woman. You are God's precious daughter, Nancy," Savannah Guthrie said.

Nancy Guthrie was reported missing after she didn't show up to her regular Sunday church service, the New York Times reported.

H. Müller--BTZ