Savannah Guthrie's Mom Nancy Was Targeted by 'Attention-Seeking' Suspect Who Craved 'Notoriety,' Speculates Forensic Psychologist

Nancy Guthrie's kidnapper may have wanted a piece of her daughter Savannah Guthrie's fame, a forensic psychologist theorized.

"What happens when you target a celebrity or somebody tied to them is that, forever... you look up the well-known person, [and] the name of the offender [who] targeted them is attached in eternity, in perpetuity," Dr. Gary Brucato said during the CW special NewsNation Presents: The Nancy Guthrie Mystery on Wednesday, May 6.

"You can’t look up Abraham Lincoln without seeing John Wilkes Booth," he explained, referring to the man who fatally shot the 19th century president. "And so, you get this parasite quality that also can happen with some of these people. And I wonder also about that, that if attention seeking and resentment of somebody’s notoriety is not embedded somehow in the story."

Nancy, who was reported missing on February 1, is believed to be the victim of a targeted kidnapping.

Per the reported timeline of events, she was most likely abducted around 2:30 a.m. that Sunday when her pacemaker disconnected from her cellphone, which was left behind at her Tucson, Ariz., home.

A masked suspect was captured on her front porch via a doorbell camera approximately 45 minutes earlier. The individual appeared to be tampering with the surveillance device.

When authorities arrived at the retiree's upscale Catalina Foothills home that afternoon, they found blood later confirmed to be hers outside.

The NBC anchor admitted her celebrity status could have led to her mom's disappearance.

During a tearful interview with Hoda Kotb on the Thursday, March 26, broadcast of Today, Savannah, 54, reflected on a hard conversation with her brother, Camron, who worked in military intelligence, about why their mom was taken.

"I said, 'Do you think [it was] because of me?' And he said, 'I’m sorry, sweetie, but yeah, maybe,'" she recalled as she broke down in tears. "But I knew that. I hope not. I mean, we still don’t know. Honestly, we don’t know anything. So, I don’t know that it’s because she’s my mom."

The morning show personality went on to say, "It’s just too much to bear to think that I brought this to her bedside. That it’s because of me. I have to say, 'I’m so sorry, Mommy. I’m so sorry.' I’m sorry to my sister and my brother and my kids and my nephew and Tommy, my brother-in-law. I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry. If it is me, I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry."

"Someone needs to do the right thing. We are in agony. … It is unbearable," she added. "And to think of what she went through. I wake up every night in the middle of the night. Every night. And in the darkness, I imagine her terror. And it is unthinkable. She needs to come home now."

Savannah admitted in an emotional Instagram video posted about a month after Nancy vanished that she may be dead — however, the family is still praying for her "recovery."

She also announced the reward for information leading to her mom's return had been raised to $1 million.