Savannah Guthrie’s family crisis is a true crime story viewed in real time

It’s been nearly impossible to watch “Today” without being reminded of the hole in its heart. Savannah Guthrie, the co-anchor of the NBC morning mainstay since 2012, was scheduled to host the network’s coverage of the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony with Terry Gannon.

She should be sitting with Craig Melvin and her former co-anchor Hoda Kotb in Milan, or flanked by Al Roker, Jenna Bush Hager, Carson Daly and Sheinelle Jones on their set in 30 Rock’s famed Studio 1A.

Instead, Guthrie and her siblings, Annie and Camron, are in the dark, praying for the safe return of their 84-year-old mother, Nancy, who was kidnapped from her Tucson, Arizona home on Feb. 1. We know this because the Guthries are sharing their anguish on Instagram, directing their messages toward the public, Nancy’s abductors and, ultimately and most poignantly, their mother.

“Our mom is our heart and our home,” Guthrie says in the first video, posted Feb. 4, where she goes on to explain Nancy’s fragile health condition. “She is without any medicine. She needs it to survive. She needs it not to suffer. We, too, have heard the reports about a ransom letter in the media. As a family, we are doing everything that we can.”

“We are ready to talk,” she continues. “However, we live in a world where voices and images are easily manipulated. We need to know without a doubt that she is alive and that you have her. We want to hear from you, and we are ready to listen. Please, reach out to us.”

Guthrie is shaken but composed as she says this. It’s when she says “mommy” that her delivery breaks.

Nancy Guthrie’s kidnapping is an extraordinary instance of a harrowing crime committed against a public figure’s family member playing out in real time on our TV and phone screens, in an age where parasocial relationships with celebrities have been normalized. That she is the mother of one of morning TV’s most beloved personalities adds an ache to our empathy.

But this awful situation also highlights TV’s ability to unite its otherwise fractured audience, despite years of scripted and unscripted content numbing us to the worst acts people commit against one another.

Regular true crime viewers and listeners seek familiar patterns of wrongdoing, often trying to outpace an episode’s narrator in concluding that a case’s central offense was spurred by passion or greed. And they might take some comfort in knowing such crimes happened to people they don’t know and aren’t likely to meet. By the time a story filters down to “Dateline” or Investigation Discovery, enough years have passed that the victim’s relatives, attorneys and investigators can be persuaded to revisit the worst chapter of their lives. This is how the scores of docuseries and podcasts populating the genre transform actual horror into digestible content.

But through her many years with “Today,” Guthrie has invited the audience to know and embrace her. Her real-time agony reminds us that tragedies like hers can happen to anyone, and that they are disorderly and unpredictable by their nature. Authorities are still seeking leads. They’ve scrutinized messages from people purporting to be the kidnappers, and on Tuesday, they questioned a man who was ultimately cleared and released.

That same day, the FBI released black-and-white surveillance photos and video from Nancy Guthrie’s doorstep showing a person wearing a ski mask, gloves and a backpack disabling the door camera. The images also showed that the person was carrying a holstered pistol.

Meanwhile, “Today” goes on, albeit with a dedicated purpose besides its daily mandate. Interstitials still feature polished pictures of Guthrie smiling and joking with her colleagues, and the contrast with her bare-faced, wrung-out appearance in the family’s Instagram reels is staggering, as it should be.

But her co-workers are in pain along with her. Kotb returned this week to serve as a reassuring presence, keeping the mood uplifted while reminding viewers that the Guthries remain at the fore of their thoughts.

The Guthries have released subsequent videos: One, posted on Feb. 7, suggests the kidnappers had made contact. Within, Guthrie begs for Nancy’s safe return and says, “This is the only way we will have peace. This is very valuable to us, and we will pay.”

She pleads for the public’s assistance in finding Nancy in a Tuesday reel that “Today” signal boosted by airing it in its entirety before Melvin, from the anchor desk, simply says, “We desperately need your help.”

On Thursday, the family shared a montage of home videos and photos of their mother, vowing in the post, “We will never give up on her. Thank you for your prayers and hope.”

Sadly, the Guthries haven’t been entirely free from trolling, even from other broadcasters. During a recent episode of “The Five,” Fox News’ Greg Gutfeld says that Guthrie should undergo a lie detector test and opines that the ransom reports are a ruse. He takes this ghoulish stance in the name of making “The Five” more entertaining.

“Our viewers miss the fun of ‘The Five,’ you know, and this is a serious topic, so I’ve decided to solve the case today, or tell you how to solve it,” says Gutfield, claiming supposed expertise based on years spent watching “Dateline,” “Forensic Files” and “Columbo.”

Most folks with souls, which describes the majority of the public, have rallied round the Guthries. Colleagues at CBS and ABC shared their sympathies during their newscasts. Viewers are flooding social media with concerned posts. In its way, “Today” has become a bright candle of remembrance and a symbol of communal care, along with a reminder that these broadly recognizable figures are still as human as the rest of us. CNN chief media analyst Brian Stelter recently reminded his newsletter’s readers that NBC used to promote “Today” as “America’s first family,” pointing out that “this agonizing week has shown why.”

Network morning shows are designed to be gentle companions as opposed to sobering authorities, the light and sweet accompaniments to our first cup of coffee as opposed to serving up the world’s latest woes black and bitter. Thus, morning anchors aren’t obligated to adhere to the neutral comportment we expect of their evening news counterparts.

Over the years, Nancy, Annie and Camron have each appeared with Savannah Guthrie on “Today” segments, proof of how intentionally personal these shows are. This comports with other morning anchors’ past openness about their hardships, such as “Good Morning America” anchor Robin Roberts’ on-air candor about her battle with myelodysplastic syndrome, a rare bone marrow disease, in 2012 and 2013, or Katie Couric’s groundbreaking decision to broadcast her colonoscopy in 2000 after her husband died of colon cancer. In 2020, Roker shared his prostate cancer diagnosis with “Today” viewers.

These were thoroughly produced disclosures about health issues over which they and viewers have some measure of control.

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Crime doesn’t grant that luxury to those it impacts, as former “Today” co-anchor Tamron Hall proved on her talk show and as the host of “Deadline: Crime,” which aired from 2013 to 2019. Hall dedicated that series to the memory of her older sister Renate, who was found bludgeoned to death in her Houston home in 2004. The case is still unsolved, although Hall believes one of Renate’s abusive partners is responsible. It took many years for Hall to discuss her sister’s death publicly; when she did, it happened on her own terms, including interviewing her nephew Leroy Moore on an October 2019 episode of “Tamron Hall” dedicated to Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

A common hope that the Guthries get a happier ending and the honest closeness of the “Today” crew only sharpens the tension of waiting for a break in the nearly two-week-old case.

In a Feb. 6 segment, Kotb reads well-wishes from their NBC News colleague Maria Shriver, Jennifer Garner and everyday viewers before admitting in a voice somewhat raspy with grief, “I think there’s, like, this helpless feeling. I mean, we’re all so close with her, and we all want to help her.” It’s a sentiment shared by millions who might otherwise believe themselves to be nothing like their neighbors and the famous people on their screens. Guthrie’s vulnerability collapses those barriers, at least for this dire time, joining people in a common hope for a resolution that will grant Nancy’s children and their extended TV family a measure of profoundly needed relief.

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