In her first interview since Nancy Guthrie disappeared nearly two months ago, Savannah Guthrie recalled the “chaos and disbelief” of learning her mother had gone missing from her home.

In the first two parts of a three-part interview airing on TODAY March 26 and 27, Savannah said the back doors of her mother’s house in Arizona were found propped open when her family members first got there. She noted that Nancy had been living with “tremendous pain” that limited her mobility before police believe she was forcibly taken from her home.

She recounted to Hoda how she first learned on Feb. 1 that her mother had gone missing. Her husband, Mike Feldman, had just returned from a guys’ trip to play tennis that she had gotten him for Christmas, while she and her two children were back home after spending time with TODAY co-host Carson Daly and his family.

“And my sister called me. I said, ‘Is everything OK?’ And she said, ‘No.’ She said, ‘Mom’s missing,’” Savannah said. “And I said, ‘What? What are you talking about?’ She said, ‘She’s gone.’ And she was in a panic. I was in a panic.’”

Savannah’s sister, Annie, had already called 911, and the police had arrived at Nancy’s home.

“We thought that she must have had some kind of medical episode in the night, and that somehow the paramedics had come because the back doors (of Nancy’s home) were propped open, and that didn’t make any sense,” Savannah said. “We thought maybe they came and there was a stretcher, and they took her out the back. But her phone was there and her purse was there and all her things. And it just didn’t make any sense.”

Annie and her husband, Tommaso, called around all the local hospitals, and Savannah did the same.

“So then I started calling the hospitals, and the police were there and talking to (Annie) at the same time, and it was just chaos and disbelief,” Savannah said.

Savannah immediately arranged travel to get to Tucson to be with her family. Savannah then joined her two siblings, Annie and Camron, in Arizona as they tried to figure out what could have happened to Nancy. She said they conveyed to Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos that it was not a case of an older woman with dementia wandering off.

“Just disbelief and hugging each other,” she said. “And I think we were on the phone with the sheriff and trying to really make clear — from the very early moments, Annie and Tommy were saying, ‘This isn’t that case that you are used to where someone wanders off. She can’t wander off.’”

As Nanos noted in his initial press conference after Nancy was reported missing on Feb. 1, her mobility was severely limited.

“My mom, she was in tremendous pain,” Savannah said. “Her back was very bad. On a good day, she could walk down to the mailbox and get the mail, but most days not. So there wasn’t a wander off. And the doors were propped open, and there was blood on the front doorstep. And the Ring camera had been yanked off. And so we were saying, ‘This this is not OK. Something is very wrong here.’”

On Feb. 10, the FBI released images from Nancy’s doorbell camera of an armed and masked man seen at her home the night she disappeared. Authorities have been working to identify the person since.

The search for Nancy has now stretched into its eighth week. The Guthrie family is offering a $1 million reward for her return. The FBI is also offering a $100,000 reward and encouraging anyone with information to call 1-800-CALL-FBI.

Savannah Weighs In On Whether Her Mom May Have Been Targeted

Savannah told Hoda that her brother, Camron, believed right away that their mother had been “kidnapped for ransom.”

“Even on the phone when I called him, he knew,” the TODAY co-anchor said.

The FBI and the Pima County Sheriff’s Department have not confirmed the circumstances of Nancy’s disappearance. In March, Sheriff Chris Nanos addressed whether he believes the attack may have been targeted.

“We believe we know why he did this, and we believe that it was targeted, but we can’t — we’re not 100% sure of that,” he said in an interview that aired on TODAY March 13.

Through tears, Savannah reflected on if her position as a public figure could have anything to do with her mother’s kidnapping.

“I’d just say I’m so sorry, Mommy,” she said in the interview. “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 just — I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. If it is me, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Savannah’s Reaction to Seeing a Masked Man on Mom’s Doorbell Camera Footage

Among the most chilling developments in the wake of Nancy’s disappearance was the FBI’s release of doorbell camera footage outside Nancy’s home that showed a masked and armed man outside on the night she went missing.

The FBI released the footage 10 days after she was reported missing and said they worked with “private sector partners” to recover it. In the video, a man is seen approaching the door before appearing to tamper with the camera.

Savannah recalled the moment she first saw the footage in the interview with Hoda.

“It’s just absolutely terrifying,” she said. “And I can’t imagine that is who she saw standing over her bed. I can’t.”

“I wake up every night in the middle of the night,” Savannah also said. “And in the darkness, I imagine her terror. And it is unthinkable, but those thoughts demand to be thought.”

She also said she was grateful the footage was able to be recovered after authorities had previously determined the doorbell camera was disconnected at 1:47 a.m. the night Nancy went missing.

“I’m glad and grateful to the investigators and the technology companies that were able to find that video to, I hope, at least with people of good heart and compassion, stop the irresponsible and cruel speculation that had started to swirl,” Savannah said.

Facing ‘Cruel Speculation’ That the Guthrie Family Was Involved in Nancy’s Disappearance

Savannah’s two siblings, her in-laws and others became the focus of intense scrutiny in the wake of Nancy’s disappearance. Online sleuths were speculating whether any of them may have had something to do with it.

Savannah credited the release of the doorbell camera footage with stopping it.

“I’m glad that people saw what came to our door,” she said.

Hoda also asked Savannah how her family faced the speculation.

“It’s unbearable,” Savannah said. “And it piles pain upon pain. There are no words. There are no words. I don’t understand. No one took better care of my mom than my sister and brother-in-law. And no one protected my mom more than my brother.”

Savannah has said she and her two siblings are particularly close with their mother because their father, Charles Guthrie, died when Savannah was only 16 years old. Nancy raised the three of them after his passing.

“We love her, and she is our shining light,” Savannah said. “She’s our matriarch. She’s all we have.”

Savannah also said Nancy’s strength in the wake of their father’s death taught the TODAY co-anchor how to “face the unimaginable,” which played a part in her decision to leave Arizona and return to New York amid her mother’s disappearance.

“I remember my mom saying in those early days when Daddy died, like, ‘You have to get up and decide and do. Just decide and do,’” Savannah told Hoda. “She had read that in a book that meant a lot to her and her grief. And so I remember — I always remember that.”

Savannah Discusses If She Believes Ransom Notes Were Real

In the first week after Nancy went missing, multiple ransom notes were sent to various media outlets and her family.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI said in February that they were investigating multiple ransom notes but have not said if they determined that any were legitimate.

Speaking with Hoda, Savannah shared whether she believes the possible ransom notes were real.

“There are a lot of different notes, I think, that came,” Savannah said. “And I think most of them, it’s my understanding, are not real. And I didn’t see them. But a person that would send a fake ransom note really has to look deeply at themselves. To a family in pain.

“But I believe the two notes that we received that we responded to, I tend to believe those are real,” she added.

Heath Janke, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Phoenix division, said at a Feb. 5 news conference that the bureau made an arrest “related to an imposter ransom demand.”

A man in California appeared in court on Feb. 12 after facing two felony counts related to accusations of sending a fake ransom note to the Guthrie family, NBC affiliate KVOA reported. He was released before trial, according to KVOA.

Siblings Having to Film Emotional Video to Potential Kidnapper

One of the most emotional times that Savannah and her two siblings faced in the immediate wake of Nancy’s disappearance was filming a video shared to Instagram on Feb. 4. The trio thanked people for their prayers and addressed whoever may have taken their mom.

“It is surreal. How is it possible that we are having to make a video speaking to a kidnapper, who took an 84-year-old woman in the dead of night, in her pajamas, with no shoes, without her medicine?” Savannah said. “This little person. And to beg for mercy.”

Savannah’s bond with her brother and sister has been crucial during such a trying time.

“My siblings are amazing. And we are a unit,” Savannah said.

“I feel like we came together with all these beautiful gifts that came from our mom and dad and from God,” she added. “And somehow, together, we did our best to come up with the words to say.”