Nancy Guthrie live updates: No ongoing talks between family and suspected kidnappers, FBI says

Hoda Kotb, filling in on the "TODAY" show while Savannah Guthrie remains in Arizona, sat down with the family's pastor to discuss Nancy Guthrie's disappearance.

Nancy Guthrie was supposed to go to a friend's house on the morning she went missing to watch the church service being streamed online, a source told NBC News. When she didn't arrive on Feb. 1, friends notified her family that she was not there.

Guthrie Family Pastor Shares Message of Faith and Hope

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Michael Rudzena, Pastor of Good Shepherd New York, said Guthrie would visit the church before the pandemic and that, during lockdown, the church began filming and posting services and sermons online.

She is a "strong woman, and she is fiercely loving," Rudzena said. "Over the years, we've gotten to know what makes her tick."

Rudzena said his heart goes out to Guthrie and her family and insisted "we don't know what we don't know." He added that he hopes faith can be a guiding light for the family.

"Prayer opens up possibilities in our own hearts," he said. "Leaving a door open for hope is a way to fight against that fatality."

A source close to the family is revealing to NBC News how the Guthrie family first discovered their 84-year-old mother went missing over a week ago.

The source said that Guthrie and her friends regularly gathered to watch church services online together. When Guthrie did not arrive at her friend’s house for church on the morning of Feb. 1, that friend called her daughter, Annie Guthrie, the source said.

An active law enforcement presence is expected to continue at Guthrie family homes today, a spokeswoman for the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said yesterday.

The spokeswoman described the activity as part of an ongoing investigative process that includes an expansion of investigators’ search and follow-up on new leads.

The spokeswoman declined to provide additional details about the investigation.

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has said Guthrie does not have cognitive issues, characterizing her as “sharp as a tack.” However, he said, she has limited mobility and needs to take medication daily or “it could be fatal.” Nanos said he does not know whether Guthrie’s medication was still at her home.

“She is mobile. It’s a challenge for her to get, as the family says, she couldn’t walk 50 yards by herself,” he said.

She has a pacemaker — a device typically implanted under the skin to regulate the heartbeat — which disconnected from its monitoring app on her phone early Feb. 1.

In an emotional video posted to her Instagram page last week, Savannah Guthrie pleaded for her mother’s return, noting her health is fragile.

“She lives in constant pain. She is without any medicine. She needs it to survive, and she needs it not to suffer,” Savannah Guthrie said in the video, flanked by her sister, Annie Guthrie, and brother, Camron Guthrie.

An FBI billboard in California displays a missing person alert for Guthrie yesterday. Several additional states such as New Mexico and Texas have raised billboards for the missing 84-year-old who was last seen Jan. 31.

via KNBC

In an Instagram video yesterday, Savannah Guthrie called on the public to help her find her 84-year-old mother, who has been missing for more than a week.

“Law enforcement is working tirelessly around the clock, trying to bring her home, trying to find her. She was taken, and we don’t know where, and we need your help,” Savannah Guthrie said.

“I’m coming on just to ask you, not just for your prayers, but no matter where you are, even if you’re far from Tucson, if you see anything, you hear anything, if there’s anything at all that seems strange to you, that you report to law enforcement,” she added. “We are at an hour of desperation, and we need your help.”

Savannah posted a new urgent request hours before that final deadline in the alleged ransom note, pleading for anyone with information about her mother’s disappearance to come forward. NBC News’ Liz Kreutz has the latest on the investigation, what the Guthrie siblings are saying and what a former hostage negotiator thinks about the alleged ransom notes.

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The FBI said that its agents, analyst and staff continue to work around the clock — as they have done for more than a week — “to reunite Nancy Guthrie with her family.”

Officials said in a statement last night that they are “not aware of any continued communication between the Guthrie family and suspected kidnappers, nor have we identified a suspect or person of interest in this case at this time.”

The FBI continues to send additional personnel from field offices across the country to Tucson, it said.

“We are currently operating a 24-hour command post that includes crisis management experts, analytic support, and investigative teams. But we still need the public’s help.

“Someone has that one piece of information that can help us bring Nancy home. We need that person to share what they know. Please call us at 1-800-CALL-FBI.”