Savannah Guthrie’s most recent message to mother Nancy’s supposed captors appeared to somberly shift in tone from the TV star’s first much more hopeful video just days earlier, a top NBC reporter acknowledged on her show Monday.
“I think it’s important to note what that video doesn’t say, as much as what it does say,” network law-enforcement reporter Tom Winter told the “Today” show — as the alleged 7 p.m. EST ransom deadline for the 84-year-old grandma approached.
“That video doesn’t talk about any sort of deadline,” Winter said of Savannah’s latest video. “There’s no longer any discussion of that.
“There’s a discussion of bringing Nancy home to us so we can have celebration with her. There is no further request for proof of life,” he said.
Savannah and her sibling released the latest video to the supposed captors Saturday saying they were ready to pay their demands to get their mother back.
“We beg you now to return our mother to us, so that we can celebrate with her,” Savannah said in the heart video as she sat by her sister Annie and brother Camron. “This is the only way we will have peace. This is very valuable to us, and we will pay.”
That latest video came after the supposed kidnappers allegedly sent a second note to a local TV station, although the missive’s contents have not yet been revealed. In a first note sent to several media outlets, they demanded $6 million.
But unlike the Guthries’ first message sent in response to the reputed ransomers’ original note, the family’s latest video did not request evidence that Nancy was safe.
“So when you look at this video, you say what was in the second note?” Winter said. “I have not personally seen it, but it does appear there has been a shift here, at least a shift in messaging.”
Law enforcement still have not confirmed whether the ransom notes – including the first, which demanded the $6 million in bitcoin by Monday in return for Nancy’s release – were real or scams.
