The disappearance of ‘Today’ host Savannah Guthrie’s mother, the mystery that has shocked the United States

For years, in fact for decades, Savannah Guthrie’s face and name have been familiar to millions of Americans. A journalist for NBC, she has been the co-anchor of its flagship morning program, The Today Show, since 2012. But now she has become the news herself, much to her dismay. On February 1, Guthrie and her family reported her mother, Nancy Guthrie, missing from her home in Tucson, Arizona. Almost a week later, little is known about the whereabouts of Nancy, who is 84 years old. There are still no suspects. There is hardly any evidence. And what little is known is not good news.

The Guthries don’t know what happened. Neither do the authorities. The FBI is offering thousands of dollars for information. Even President Trump has called for justice. On Thursday there was a news conference by the sheriff of Pima County, which includes Tucson, Arizona’s second-largest city, along with police officers and FBI investigators. The few details available about Mrs. Guthrie seem to point to a kidnapping: investigators say Guthrie was taken from her home against her will. The sheriff confirmed that blood, Nancy’s own, was found on her porch. They are treating the case as a crime where “there is no proof of life,” but they believe the octogenarian—who suffers from heart problems and requires medication—is still alive. The Guthries, devastated, have asked for help and publicly demanded their mother’s return. Savannah has decided to withdraw from her coverage of the Milan Winter Olympics. And in the U.S. media, the case is making headlines and leading news broadcasts.

It all began on Saturday, the last day of January. As the police explained in a detailed timeline, at 5:30 p.m. that day, Nancy took an Uber to the home of her daughter Annie and her family. They had dinner together, played board games, and before 10:00 p.m., the family drove her back to her house, near the intersection of East Skyline Drive and North Campbell Avenue in northeast Tucson. At 9:48 p.m., precisely, her garage door opened. At 9:50 p.m., it closed.

But four hours later, there was movement: at 1:47 a.m., a camera located at the front door—which didn’t appear to have been forced—was disconnected. Half an hour later, although there’s no video footage showing it, the device’s software detected someone in front of the camera (police haven’t ruled out the possibility of it being an animal, but they believe it was a person). There was further movement: it’s known that at almost 2:30 a.m., the app that controls Guthrie’s pacemaker showed that it had disconnected from her phone.

That’s as far as the evidence goes. Nancy’s children couldn’t find her on Sunday; she hadn’t gone to church that morning. They went to her house and spent an hour looking for her. At midday, they decided to call the emergency services, and at 12:13 p.m., a patrol car arrived at the house. That’s when the search began. Investigators—who returned to the house on Wednesday—found blood and described the place as a crime scene after finding “very concerning conditions,” they said. They stated that Nancy’s physical condition means she can’t walk even a short distance by herself, and that she couldn’t have gone off on her own. The Uber driver cooperated, was questioned, and is not a suspect. They emphasized that Nancy is mentally sound, but not physically, and therefore stressed the need for her to have her medication: “If she doesn’t take it within 24 hours, it could be fatal.”

These past few days, an anonymous ransom note, lacking any proof of life for Nancy, has reached various local U.S. media outlets, setting a deadline for her release that has already passed: Thursday at 5 p.m.. Police have confirmed the existence of these messages, but not their authenticity. One person has been arrested for sending fake ransom notes.

On Wednesday, Nancy’s three children—Savannah, Annie, and Camron—appeared on television pleading for her return. It was the television host, known for her kindness and warmth, but never seen in such a vulnerable state, who read a statement through tears. “On behalf of our family, we want to thank all of you for the prayers for our beloved mom, Nancy,” she began. “We feel them, and we continue to believe that she feels them, too. Our mother is a kind, faithful, loyal, fiercely loving woman of goodness and light. She is funny and intelligent. She’s funny, spunky and clever. She has grandchildren that adore her and crowd around her and cover her with kisses,” she stammered. The Guthrie children’s father, Charles, died of a heart attack in 1988, when Savannah was 16.

“Our mom is our heart and our home. She’s 84 years old. Her health, her heart, is fragile. She lives in constant pain. She is without any medicine. She needs it to survive. She needs it not to suffer,” said the journalist, who also confirmed that they are aware of the ransom notes sent to the media. “As a family, we are doing everything that we can. We are ready to talk. However, we live in a world where voices and images are easily manipulated,” she warned. According to some experts, with these words, the Guthries are asking that the demands from the alleged kidnappers include proof that Nancy is alive.

Camron Guthrie, on behalf of the family, also uploaded a video pleading with the kidnappers to contact them. “Whoever is out there holding our mother, we want to hear from you,” he said. “We haven’t heard anything directly. We need you to reach out, and we need a way to communicate with you so we can move forward. But first, we have to know that you have our mom. We want to talk to you, and we are waiting for contact,” he explained in a video that was just 20 seconds long.

President Trump spoke with Savannah Guthrie on Wednesday, as he recounted on his social media platform Truth Social: “I have let her know that I am directing ALL Federal Law Enforcement to be at the family’s, and Local Law Enforcement’s, complete disposal, IMMEDIATELY. We are deploying all resources to get her mother home safely.” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt apologized on Thursday for the delay in her news conference, explaining that she and the president were watching the briefing on the Guthrie case, which she described as a “heartbreaking situation.” She stated that she had spoken directly with the FBI about the case and that “any requests that are made by state and local officials in the search of Ms. Guthrie will absolutely be accommodated.” The FBI has offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of any suspect involved in the disappearance.

Guthrie’s colleagues on the Today show, and on many others, have shown solidarity with the TV journalist. Born in Australia to an American family and based in Arizona since childhood, she has been reporting the news across the country since the 1990s: Montana, Missouri, Washington, her native Arizona, legal channels—she is also a lawyer. But her popularity began to skyrocket in 2007, after going to work for NBC, where she has anchored everything from the evening news to presidential debates, and The Today Show since 2011. From 2017 to January 2025, she co-hosted it with the popular Hoda Kotb. She has interviewed Trump and Obama, and is the friendly yet detached face that broadcasts the Thanksgiving Day Parade from New York and the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting ceremony. She has been married to a Democratic consultant, Michael Feldman, for over a decade; they have two children, ages 11 and 9.

Time is running out for the Guthrie family and the authorities, almost a week after Nancy’s disappearance. The fact that the family matriarch’s house is in a semi-rural (near the Santa Catalina Mountains) and desert area means there are few security cameras and few neighbors around. Many of them gathered on Wednesday for a vigil. Candles and prayers for Nancy were plentiful. Now, more leads are needed.

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