“Today” show host Savannah Guthrie said her family was “desperate” and “begging for help" in the disappearance of her mother. The emotional plea Saturday on her Instagram account came a day after authorities released an early ransom note in the investigation into the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie. A second note that was also released Friday said Guthrie died shortly after she was kidnapped and “is buried in nature now.” Both notes initially were sent to a Tucson television station days after Guthrie's 84-year-old mother, Nancy Guthrie, went missing from her home outside Tucson on Feb. 1. Authorities have not said whether Nancy Guthrie is still alive.

Nicolás Maduro will return to a New York courtroom as his lawyers continue their objections to the U.S. military action that snatched Venezuela’s president from power. Maduro is now being held in a Brooklyn jail while being prosecuted on drug trafficking charges. A pretrial hearing is scheduled Wednesday before Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein. Maduro and his wife have pleaded not guilty to charges that they sided with drug dealers in a multi-decade scheme to ship large quantities of drugs to the United States. Maduro says he was kidnapped by the U.S. government and remains his country's constitutional president. No trial date has been set.