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TODAY Show anchor Savannah Guthrie is reportedly "livid" over early false claims that her brother-in-law, Tommaso Cioni, was a prime suspect in her 84-year-old mother Nancy's disappearance, according to conservative firebrand podcaster Megyn Kelly, who was a former colleague at NBC News.
Kelly claimed that she learned Guthrie was angered by fellow journalist Ashleigh Banfield's report that Cioni was somehow tied to Nancy's kidnapping on February 1 and reported that the TODAY Show anchor was planning to sue Banfield over the false allegation after the Pima County Sheriff's Department had publicly cleared all relatives of any involvement in the case.
“I have not been able to confirm that the Guthrie family wants to sue Ashleigh Banfield, but I have confirmed that Savannah is livid about that report and definitely does not suspect her or her brother-in-law,” Kelly said during an episode of The Megyn Kelly Show last week. “Can you blame her? I mean, of course, she loves her sister, I’m sure she loves her brother-in-law, and I’m sure she genuinely doesn’t believe they had anything to do with it.”
Cionni and his wife, Annie Guthrie, were reported to have had dinner with Nancy and were the last people to have seen her on the night before she was reported missing, according to investigators. Banfield went on air and cited a single law enforcement source who claimed Cioni was being considered as a potential suspect days into the investigation and later doubled down on her reporting, despite Sheriff Chris Nanos insisting that all of Nancy's relatives were cleared of any wrongdoing.
The investigation into Nancy Guthrie's disappearance has no clear suspects nor strong leads more than a month after being launched. Savannah, Annie and Cioni carried flowers while being escorted by Pima County Sheriff's Department deputies to the memorial site in front of Nancy's home in a video shared by NewsNation reporter Brian Entin earlier this month.
Savannah also shared a photo of flowers at the memorial on her Instagram account.
"We feel the love and prayers from our neighbors, from the Tucson community and from around the country 💛," Savannah wrote. "Please don’t stop praying and hoping with us. Bring her home."