Savannah Guthrie wanted to offer a huge $1 million reward on the first day of the search for her missing mom Nancy, but was stopped by the sheriff leading her case, sources said. 

The Today Show star issued the reward on Tuesday as she shared a heartbreaking plea to her mother's abductors, 24 days after the 84-year-old vanished from her Tucson, Arizona home. 

However, sources told Fox News reporter Michael Ruiz that Savannah and her family had wanted to post the reward at the beginning of the investigation, but were 'advised by law enforcement to hold off.' 

The Guthries were told by law enforcement that offering the reward so early 'might overwhelm the infrastructure set up to field leads, tens of thousands of which have been coming in organically', Ruiz reported on X. 

He added that the family are now offering the seven figure sum 'in coordination with investigators' - with the search for Nancy, so far leading to no suspects or persons of interest. 

The claim that law enforcement stopped Savannah from offering a reward early comes amid mounting scrutiny on Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos, who has faced allegations that he bungled the investigation. 

This has included claims that Nanos failed to deploy a crucial search-and-rescue aircraft in the initial hours of the search, released the crime scene early, and issued contradictory messages to the public. 

With the search at risk of going cold with no arrests made, the investigation hit a major snag last week as DNA found on a glove near the home - briefly regarded as the best piece of evidence - failed to offer any leads. 

In her tearful video appeal on Tuesday, Savannah conceded for the first time that her mother may be dead, but said her family are still holding out hope.  

'We need to know where she is, we need her to come home,' the Today host said in a video posted to her Instagram account.

She said the family still believes that Nancy could come home, as her sister Annie describes their ongoing hunt as 'blowing on the embers of hope'. 

'We also know that she may be lost, she may already be gone. She may have already gone home to the lord that she loves,' Guthrie said through her tears.

The journalist added that if Nancy, 84, has died, they will 'accept it,' but the family still needs closure.

'But we need to know where she is. We need her to come home. For that reason, we are offering a family reward of up to $1 million for any information that leads us to her recovery,' Guthrie said.

She pleaded directly with Nancy's kidnapper and anyone with information about her whereabouts, saying: 'If you've been waiting and you haven't been sure, let this be your sign to please come forward.

'Tell what you know and help us bring our beloved mom home so that we can either celebrate a glorious, miraculous homecoming or celebrate the beautiful, brave, noble and courageous life that she has lived. Please be the light in the dark.' 

Savannah acknowledged in her video that there are millions of other families in the same position, and revealed that her family has also donated $500,000 to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.  

She applauded the organization's work and for 'helping families who are coping with loss and actively looking for those who are lost'.

'We are hoping that the attention that has been given to our mom and our family will extend to all the families like ours, who are in need, and need prayers and need support,' Guthrie said. 

Her tearful announcement of a $1 million reward is seen by critics of Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos within his own department as a sign of her exasperation with the handling of the case, which they believe should now be led by the FBI.

One senior serving officer told the Daily Mail: 'The case is getting cold and the public interest is waning because Nanos refuses to hold press conferences like a normal agency leader. This will hopefully spark more attention.

'I hope the family’s next move will be to publicly demand Nanos hand the case over to the Feds.’

It comes as investigators revealed that chilling pieces of footage of an unidentified suspect standing at Guthrie's door may have been recorded at different dates - indicating that the suspect had visited Nancy's home before her February 1 abduction. 

Sources told ABC the agency believes that the suspect may have stalked the home beforehand, as cops released an image showing the individual at her door without the backpack and gun seen in other footage. 

The images are not timestamped, though, and authorities said 'any suggestion that the photographs were taken on different days is purely speculative'.

It is now believed that the suspect approached the door the first time, noticed the camera, and was scared off, only to return later, when he was seen tampering with the device and putting branches in front of the lens.

If it is the same person, 'it could indicate that the person was there surveilling the place before the abduction happened,' Jason Peck, a former FBI agent, told ABC.

'The fact that there was preparation and planning, which makes it more of a sophisticated type of criminal activity than someone just showing up.'