President Donald Trump said that Nancy Guthrie’s captors would face “very, very severe — the most severe” federal consequences, including capital punishment, if she’s killed.
Trump made the comments to The New York Post in a phone call on Monday as the search for Guthrie entered its third week.
The president was pressed by the media outlet on whether the Department of Justice would seek the death penalty in the case, saying: “The most, yeah — that’s true.”
The DOJ has the authority to bring about federal criminal charges in a high-profile kidnapping case if they find the individual violated federal statutes or if the captor transported the victim across state lines or international borders. According to the federal kidnapping statute, if a kidnapped person is killed, the perpetrator “shall be punished by death” or life imprisonment.
The president on Monday also touted the FBI’s involvement in the case.
“Nicole Parker, formerly of the FBI, is doing a great job of explaining, on FoxNews, the Nancy Guthrie investigation,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Others also, working so hard, with such expertise and knowledge. Hopefully there will be a positive result!”
Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie, disappeared from her home in an affluent neighborhood in Tucson, Arizona. She was last seen on Jan. 31 and reported missing on Feb. 1.
Trump has been watching the case closely, according to the White House.
The president, early in the case, said he spoke with Savannah Guthrie and offered to deploy any federal resources in the case.
The FBI has since released images showing an armed and masked man appearing to tamper with the surveillance camera at Guthrie’s front door the morning of her disappearance.
The suspect has been described as a male, approximately 5’9” – 5’10” tall, with an average build. In the video, he is wearing a black, 25-liter ‘Ozark Trail Hiker Pack’ backpack, according to FBI Phoenix.
Anonymous ransom letters have been sent to media outlets, including TMZ, however the authenticity or credibility of those notes has not been verified by authorities.
Savannah Guthrie over the weekend issued a new appeal on social media to her mother’s abductors
“I wanted to say, to whoever has her or knows where she is, that it’s never too late,” she said in a video posted to her Instagram account. “And you’re not lost or alone and it’s never too late to do the right thing.”
The reward for information leading to Guthrie’s captor or captors has doubled to $100K.
