President Donald Trump called NBC Today host Savannah Guthrie to offer his support amid the ongoing search for her missing mother.
The call took place Wednesday as the search for Nancy Guthrie, 84, stretched into its fourth day, according to Fox News.
NBC News anchor Tom Llamas acknowledged the call live on the air soon after, saying: ‘We also want to mention, after our interview, the president called Savannah Guthrie and spoke to her.’
Llamas said the president took the moment to ‘offer words of support for her and her family as they search for her mother.’
The call came the day after Trump announced additional federal support for the search, as he told reporters in the Oval Office he planned to call Savannah and said his thoughts were with the host amid the ‘terrible’ situation.
‘I’m going to call her later on, I think it’s a terrible thing,’ Trump said. ‘Very unusual situation, but we’re going to find out.’
The 84-year-old vanished after having dinner with her daughter on Saturday night, and was reported missing when she failed to show up for church the next morning.
Police said evidence at the home suggested Nancy had been ‘abducted’ in the night, including a trail of blood leading from her doorway and her doorbell camera removed.
On Tuesday, the case took a turn as TMZ and local Tucson outlet KOLD said they had received apparent ransom notes, demanding millions in Bitcoin in return for the return of Nancy. Authorities have not confirmed the legitimacy of the notes.
As of Wednesday, the search for Nancy has not yet yielded any suspects or arrests, with Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos saying he has not given up hope that she may be found alive.
Today host Savannah Guthrie’s mother Nancy, 84, disappeared from her Arizona home over the weekend, and a desperate search for her is ongoing
On Wednesday, President Trump called Savannah Guthrie to offer his support. The pair are seen together in September 2016
Sheriff Nanos offered an optimistic outlook on the search on Wednesday, telling NBC that he believes Nancy is still alive.
‘We have nothing else to go on but the belief that she is here,’ Nanos said. ‘She’s present. She’s alive, and we want to save her.’
He noted that his department is taking all tips and leads very seriously.
‘The leads we’ve got coming in are critical to us. They’re valuable, and we’re sharing those with the FBI and others,’ Nanos said.
Nanos said the last people to see Nancy alive before she vanished were her daughter Annie and husband Tommaso Cioni, who she had dinner with on Saturday night.
Exclusive Daily Mail images showed Annie and Tommaso looking tense as they were seen for the first time on Tuesday evening, with Annie trying to hide her face from passersby.
Savannah is believed to be staying with them at her home.
FBI agents visited the property around 2:30pm MT on Tuesday as they continue to investigate the kidnapping of Savannah and Annie’s mother Nancy. They left after two hours.
Pictured: An aerial view of Nancy Guthrie’s house, where she was abducted from
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos (left) told reporters at a press conference that investigators were ‘following all leads’ when asked if Nancy’s abductors had made any ransom demands
Blood was spotted on the walkway of Nancy’s $1million Tucson, Arizona home
Nancy’s Ring doorbell camera was also missing, though it is unclear whether it was removed prior to her disappearance
Without any suspects named by authorities, former NYPD hostage negotiator Wallace Zeins speculated that the raid could have been pulled off by a coordinated group of criminals.
‘I believe the possibility of more than one person,’ Zeins told CNN.
‘She’s 150 pounds, 5 foot 5, waking up in the middle of the night, not in the best of health — can’t walk or run, so I would think there’s more than one person involved in this particular crime.’
The law enforcement expert said although no suspects have been identified, reported ‘ransom notes’ sent to TMZ and local Tucson outlet KOLD may be a gift to investigators by offering new clues.
While noting that authorities have not verified the legitimacy of the notes, Zeins said that if they are legitimate, they can provide forensic evidence that could lead to the culprit.
He added that the notes reportedly made demands for payment through Bitcoin, and that ‘tells you that it’s some type of group that knows what Bitcoin is all about, and social media, and they know the system.’
Zeins said if the notes were written by hand they can offer DNA evidence, whereas ‘if it was on a computer, then that helps also because the FBI is so good at what they do when it comes down to electronic surveillance and electronic stuff of that nature.’
