Guthrie back at Today desk after mother’s disappearance
Savannah Guthrie returned to NBC’s Today show news desk for the first time in more than two months since her mother’s disappearance and said “it’s good to be home.”
“We’re starting whether we’re ready or not,” Guthrie said at the show’s opening on Monday.
“Let’s make the news.”
Guthrie acknowledged that he has changed and that it is difficult to move forward without knowing what happened to Nancy Guthrie, who authorities believe was kidnapped from her home in Arizona against her will.
Despite an intense search involving thousands of federal and local officers and volunteers, no trace has been found of the 84-year-old mother of three, who was reported missing on February 1.
In a video message released by the New York church on Easter Sunday, Guthrie spoke of feeling “moments of deep disappointment with God, a sense of complete abandonment.”
But the resurrection isn’t fully celebrated “if we don’t acknowledge the feelings of loss, pain and, yes, death,” he said.
Announcing his return to NBC’s flagship morning show, Guthrie said he wasn’t sure if he still felt like he belonged.
“It’s hard to imagine doing this because this is a place of so much joy and lightness,” he said on Today a week ago in his first interview since his disappearance.
“I can’t go back and try to be something I’m not. But I can’t go back because they’re my family.”
Guthrie, one of the most recognizable faces in morning television, had been co-host of Today since 2012, and there was much speculation about whether she would return.
The Guthrie family has offered a $1 million ($1.5 million) reward for information leading to their mother’s recovery.
Authorities believe Nancy Guthrie was abducted, abducted or otherwise taken against her will after blood was found on the doorstep of her home in the hills outside Tucson.
The FBI later released surveillance video showing a masked man on the porch that night.
But he was distracted by an investigation that had been declared a top priority for the FBI and local authorities.
Investigators have not released new evidence in weeks and say the number of leads is dwindling.
Initially, Guthrie said he and his brothers responded to two ransom messages that they believed were real and offered to pay.
Guthrie said his mother’s abduction may have been because she was famous, but the possibility was “too much to bear.”
