![\"Sheriff](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1dc07ccc7dff1d498127f33cb1efb1f2.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nNBC’s Today show host Savannah Guthrie says her family is ready to talk to people holding their mother, but they want to see proof that she is alive.<\/p>\n
Ms Guthrie said in a recorded video posted on Instagram that her family had heard about a ransom letter in media reports.<\/p>\n
“We are ready to talk. However, we live in a world where voices and images are easily manipulated,” she said.<\/p>\n
“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.”<\/p>\n
Authorities offered no detailed update on Wednesday, local time, as investigators try to piece together the moments before and immediately after the disappearance of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie from her home near Tucson, Arizona.<\/p>\n
Loading Instagram content<\/p>\n
“Is there somebody out there who’s kidnapping elderly people in the middle of the night, every night?” Pima County sheriff Chris Nanos said on Tuesday, local time.<\/p>\n
“We don’t believe that’s the case. We believe Nancy was taken from her home against her will.”<\/p>\n
The sheriff suggested there was video from some cameras, although he did not elaborate, adding: “That’s all been submitted and we’re doing our best with the companies that own those cameras or built those cameras.”<\/p>\n
No suspect identified<\/p>\n
Mr Nanos’s office said detectives were still speaking with anyone who had had contact with Nancy Guthrie last weekend, but that no suspect or person of interest had been identified.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The home where she lived alone has been turned back over to family.<\/p>\n
There were signs of forced entry at the home in the Catalina Foothills neighbourhood. Nancy Guthrie has limited mobility, and officials do not believe she left on her own.<\/p>\n
\u00a0A sheriff’s dispatcher talking to deputies during a search on Sunday indicated that she has high blood pressure, a pacemaker and heart issues, according to audio from broadcastify.com.<\/p>\n
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Chris Nanos spoke at a news conference on Tuesday, in Tucson, Arizona, to provide updates on the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie. (AP: Sejal Govindarao)<\/p>\n
Jim Mason, longtime commander of a search-and-rescue posse in Maricopa County, is not involved in the search for Nancy Guthrie, but said desert terrain could make looking for missing people difficult.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said it could be hard to peer into areas that were dense with mesquite trees, cholla cactus and other desert brush.<\/p>\n
“Some of it is so thick you can’t drive through it,” Mr Mason said.<\/p>\n
Multiple media organisations reported receiving purported ransom notes on Tuesday that they handed over to investigators.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The sheriff’s department said it was taking the notes and other tips seriously but declined to comment further.<\/p>\n
Nancy Guthrie was last seen on Saturday around 9:45 pm when she was dropped off at home by family after having dinner with them, the sheriff’s department said.<\/p>\n