A former senior FBI official has cast doubt over whether Savannah Guthrie's 84-year-old mother, Nancy, is actually still alive and being kept captive by those who allegedly abducted her, according to a new report. "I'm very skeptical of this," former FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker told Fox News' "The Big Weekend Show" on Sunday.
"Is this really a kidnapping? Does somebody really have her, and is she really alive?" he said of the fiends claiming to have been holding her captive. The ex-FBI heavyweight shared his doubts after Savannah Guthrie and her two siblings went public on social media, desperately appealing to whoever took their mother to bring her home.
Dead or Alive?
In their plea, Savannah Guthrie and her siblings also said they were willing to pay the kidnappers' $6 million ransom demand. "If this was a kidnapping, it would be a very simple matter to authenticate and provide proof of life," Swecker said, noting that no evidence had been "credibly authenticated at this point."
"You have to allow for the possibility that this was something more or something other than a kidnapping."
Swecker also drew attention to the ransom amounts being mentioned, noting that the demand reportedly jumped sharply from $1 million to as much as $6 million within just a few days.
"Remember now, it was 1 million not too long ago. All of a sudden, it's 6 million," Swecker told the outlet.
"I really think there's a third party here that's just playing with them, opportunists who think they can exploit this situation."
Since the "Today" show anchor's frail mother vanished from her Tucson home, at least two messages claiming to be ransom notes have emerged.
The first alleged note, sent to several media outlets about a week ago, outlined two separate deadlines — one set for Thursday that has already passed, and another scheduled for Monday, according to FBI officials.
Still No Clue
This comes as Savannah Guthrie and her family face immense pressure as a frightening deadline approaches later Monday. The ransom note set a deadline of 5 p.m. Arizona time (7 p.m. ET), demanding payment to a bitcoin account and warning of severe consequences.
The demand came nine days after the family believed the 84-year-old matriarch was taken from her bed inside her million-dollar Catalina Foothills home.
Investigators looking into Nancy Guthrie's disappearance may have also searched her septic tank for possible evidence that could have been flushed away, according to a former law enforcement official.
On Sunday afternoon, three investigators were seen inspecting the tank in the backyard of Nancy's Tucson, Arizona, home as the search for the "Today" show co-host Savannah Guthrie's 84-year-old mother entered its eighth day.
"A lot of people forget that having a septic tank means wastewater doesn't go into a city sewer, it goes into the tank," former SWAT team captain Josh Schirard told the Daily Mail.
"So somebody may have flushed something thinking that would get rid of it, but instead it would actually just be deposited in the septic tank. It is a possibility that [investigators] are now trying to make sure that there's nothing in there that could indicate any kind of guilt," he continued.
