The “walls are closing in” on Nancy Guthrie’s kidnapper after Savannah Guthrie’s return to “Today” as her “national platform” will help keep all eyes on the case, according to an FBI expert.
“Every day that passes the pressure builds. Keeping a secret like this is exhausting. … and that gets harder with every morning that Savannah Guthrie sits behind that anchor desk,” former FBI agent Jason Pack exclusively told Page Six.
“Most criminals in cases like this count on the media moving on,” he continued. “They count on the family fading from public view. They count on people forgetting. This case is different. Savannah has a national platform and she shows up on it every single day. Every time a viewer sees her face, they think about her mother.”
Pack believes the more attention the case receives, the more “pressure on the people responsible goes up.”
“Add a reward of more than one million dollars and the full weight of FBI resources and you have a situation where the walls are not just closing, but they are closing from every direction at once,” he said.
Pack went on to urge Nancy’s neighbors to check their cameras — and contact authorities with any information on her disappearance.
“At some point, someone is going to have the courage to make that call,” he said. “One phone call from someone who decides the reward money matters more than their silence is all it takes to bring law enforcement directly to their front door.”
On Monday, two months after her mom was reported missing, Savannah returned to “Today.”
“Good morning, welcome to ‘Today’ on this morning. We are so glad you started the week with us and it is good to be home,” she told viewers cheerily.
Later on, co-host Craig Melvin brought her outside to greet their fans, gushing, “We are back at 8:30 on this beautiful Monday morning, and it’s a special Monday morning for us and for this crowd as well, because we are welcoming back our North Star. Come on out here! Come right out!”
Savannah, 54, walked out hand-in-hand with her co-anchor Jenna Bush Hager after sharing an emotional embrace.
She said to fans who welcomed her with thoughtful signs, “These signs are so beautiful. You guys have been so beautiful. I received so many letters, so much kindness, to me and my whole family. We feel it, we feel your prayers, thank you!”
Page Six was the first to report that Savannah would be returning to the NBC morning show in April.
Ahead of her return, she sat down for an emotional interview with Hoda Kotb to discuss the difficult ordeal — even blaming herself for her mother’s disappearance.
In the early hours of Feb. 1, Nancy was abducted from her Tucson, Arizona home while she was asleep.
Over a week later, authorities released video and photos of a masked individual to the public, which showed the kidnapper ripping off a doorbell camera and breaking into the 84-year-old’s home.
While authorities have detained and questioned several people in connection with the kidnapping, no arrests have been made.
