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Savannah Guthrie's TODAY Show colleagues were reportedly given instructions prior to her official return to the anchor desk on Monday (April 6) for the first time since her 84-year-old mother Nancy's suspected kidnapping, sources with knowledge of the situation confirmed to Page Six.
NBC staffers were reportedly told not to address Nancy Guthrie's disappearance or formally welcome Savannah back, as she anchored for the first time since January 30, two days before her mother was reported missing.
“It was supposed to be business as usual, [producers] said to act totally normal,” the source said. “‘Move forward’ is the vibe. It’s been a hard year and a draining time.”
NBC representatives reportedly felt that correspondents mentioning the situation would interrupt the flow of the program, requiring her to respond, though co-anchors Craig Melvin, Al Roker, Jenna Bush Hager, Sheinelle Jones and Carson Daly still welcomed her back during the course of the four-hour morning show.
“It is good to be home,” Guthrie said in the opening segment. “Ready or not, let’s do the news.”
Emotions were reportedly high behind the scenes as a second source told Page Six, “There were lots of hugs… Coming back to a routine brings a sense of normalcy. She’s prepared to go back to Arizona if there are major developments in the case, or wherever she’s needed.”
Savannah's TODAY Show return came hours before TMZ reported that it obtained a new ransom note claiming to know where Nancy Guthrie's body was. Two notes were sent by the same mystery person who had previously demanded one bitcoin in exchange for information regarding Guthrie after her February 1 disappearance.
“We got another letter today from this person, an email saying, ‘I know where her body is, and who the kidnapper is, give me half a bitcoin and I’ll tell you,'” TMZ founder Harvey Levin said on Monday, adding that one of the notes claimed "she is dead."
A second note came in to the gossip outlet claiming “I saw her alive with them in the state of Sonora Mexico.” TMZ confirmed that it had alerted the FBI about the two notes. The person vowed to surrender the information for half a bitcoin with another transferred to their wallet when a public arrest is made.
Levin claimed that the sender was "persistent" despite potentially being charged with a hoax by law enforcement, who had previously "disregarded" them "as a scam."
“It’s unbelievable that millions have been wasted and yet here I am willing to deliver them on a silver platter since the 11th of February for a bitcoin but I am disregarded as a scam … they are free and the case is frozen but the ego’s remain hot when it comes to me,” the first letter reportedly states.
There are no suspects identified in Nancy Guthrie's kidnapping, through the FBI had released doorbell camera footage of an armed and masked man outside her home on the morning she was reported missing. The bureau described the man in the footage as being 5 feet, 9 inches to 5 feet, 10 inches with an average build.