Savannah Guthrie in NBC News interview appeals for help finding her missing mother

Savannah Guthrie gave an emotional interview with NBC and pleaded for help in finding her mother who was reported missing on Feb. 1.

A tearful Savannah Guthrie, in her first interview since her 84-year-old mother was apparently abducted from her Arizona home, said that “someone needs to do the right thing” and come forward with information to help the investigation.

“We are in agony,” she told NBC News colleague Hoda Kotb in a portion of the interview aired Wednesday on the “Today” show. She said she wakes up in the middle of each night thinking of what her mother went through.

NBC said Wednesday that a full interview with its “Today” show host will air on the program Thursday and Friday. It is Guthrie’s first interview since her mother was reported missing on Feb. 1. Based on security footage, authorities believe Nancy Guthrie was kidnapped or otherwise taken against her will.

Both Guthrie and Kotb were crying during the brief portion of the interview aired on Wednesday. Kotb, Guthrie’s former co-host, has returned to “Today” while her former colleague has been away.

Guthrie said that while it is unbearable to think of the terror her mother must have felt, “those thoughts demand to be thought. And I will not hide my face. But she needs to come home now.”

Savannah Guthrie has been a co-host of NBC’s morning show since 2012, and is expected to return at some point, although no date has been set as she spends time with her family.

Despite offering a US$1 million reward for information, there has been little movement in the investigation. Guthrie’s family last weekend appealed to neighbours in Arizona to search back through their memories for anything they might have seen that could help the investigation. “No detail is too small,” they said.

Kotb said Wednesday that “there is a desperation and a steeliness about Savannah. She hopes that somebody, whoever that person is, will say something.”

Little information about the investigation has been publicly released by authorities in recent weeks. The Pima County Sheriff’s Department and FBI said Wednesday that investigators continue to examine leads.

David Bauder, The Associated Press