One word of Savannah Guthrie’s new video plea broke my heart | Opinion

Savannah Guthrie’s family is offering a $1 million reward for information about her missing mother, Nancy.
In a new video, Guthrie made an emotional plea for any information regarding her mother’s disappearance.
Guthrie acknowledged the possibility that her mother may be gone but said the family needs to know where she is.

The news of Savannah Guthrie’s latest video is that her family is offering a reward of up to $1 million for information leading to the recovery of her mother, Nancy.

The soul is Savannah Guthrie again pouring out her heart in the hopes of someone coming forward, and doing so in a way even more personal ― and devastating ― than she has before.

It’s the word “daddy” that really captures the heart ― and the heartbreak ― of the frustration and agony of Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance, at least for me. Just one word has that power, to put a story this big and this frustrating into perspective.

Savannah Guthrie’s new video is even more devastating

Savannah Guthrie, a co-anchor of the “Today” show, posted a new video on the morning of Tuesday, Feb. 24. It was, like the videos that have preceded it, personal, emotional and heartwrenching. It was not how millions of “Today” viewers are used to seeing Guthrie in the morning. This was another desperate plea for something, anything, new to break in the case.

“I’m going to say it is Day 24 since our mom was taken in the dark of night from her bed,” Guthrie says in the Instagram post. From the start, she captures that Nancy Guthrie, 84, was taken by force, as Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has said, sometime in the early morning hours of Feb. 1.

Think of what has happened since then. What seemed like promising breaks in the case have come and gone without resolution. An entire Winter Olympics has taken place, an Olympics that Savannah Guthrie was supposed to cover in person, but obviously stayed behind as authorities, including the FBI, continue the search. (Meanwhile, FBI Director Kash Patel managed to make time to attend, drawing the ire of many.) And Donald Trump has suggested that media coverage should move on to other topics.

Investigations take time, as does responsible reporting, but it certainly feels like the case is going nowhere fast. Meanwhile, the Guthries wait.

“Every hour and minute and second and every long night has been agony since then, of worrying about her, fearing for her, and aching for her and most of all just missing her,” Guthrie continued. She thanked people for their prayers and said, “We still believe in a miracle. We still believe that she can come home.”

Guthrie acknowledged the worst possible outcome

Then, Guthrie acknowledged a possibility that has been on people’s minds since the start. But it was different to hear her say it.

“We also know that she may be lost,” she said. “She may already be gone.”

It was chilling to hear the words from Guthrie. And so sad. What she said next was even sadder.

“She may have already gone home to the Lord that she loves and is dancing in heaven with her mom and her dad and with her beloved brother Pierce and with our daddy.”

That word, “daddy,” it’s just devastating. This was not a rich and famous journalist speaking to the camera, as she has every morning for years with a smile on her face. This was an exhausted, scared child missing her parents, worried sick, facing the very real possibility that she would never see her mother again. Of all the videos and the stories and the podcasts and every other iteration this case has been the subject of, and there have been so many, nothing is more moving than this.

“If this is what is to be, then we will accept it,” Guthrie goes on. “But we need to know where she is. We need her to come home.” She announced the reward and then continued, adding that she knows other families face similar situations, and that her family is making a donation of $500,000 to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

“Please come forward, tell what you know and help us bring our beloved mom home, so that we can either celebrate a glorious, miraculous homecoming, or celebrate the beautiful, brave and courageous and noble life that she has lived,” Guthrie says to end the video. “Please be the light in the dark.”