Authorities believe the 84-year-old mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie was kidnapped, abducted or otherwise taken against her will, and the sheriff said Monday it’s imperative she’s found soon because she could die without her medication.
Nancy Guthrie was last seen around 9:30 p.m. Saturday at her home in the Tucson area, where she lived alone. Her family reported her missing around noon Sunday. The Pima County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the possibility she was taken overnight, spokesperson Angelica Carrillo said.
Guthrie had limited mobility, and officials don’t believe she left on her own. Sheriff Chris Nanos said Guthrie was of sound mind.
“This is not dementia-related. She’s as sharp as a tack,” Nanos said at a news conference earlier in the day. “The family wants everyone to know that this isn’t someone who just wandered off.”
Nanos said a family member received a call from someone at church saying Guthrie wasn’t there, leading family to search for her at her home and then calling 911. Nanos said Guthrie needs her daily medication, and the sheriff urged whoever has her to free her.
“If she’s alive right now her meds are vital. I can’t stress that enough. It’s been better than 24 hours, and the family tells us if she doesn’t have those meds, it can become fatal,” Nanos said.
Searchers were using drones and search dogs to look for her, Nanos said. Search and rescue teams were supported by volunteers and Border Patrol, and the homicide team was also involved, he said. It is not standard for the homicide team to get involved in such cases, Nanos said. The FBI has offered to help, Carrillo said.
“This one stood out because of what was described to us at the scene and what we located just looking at the scene,” Nanos said Sunday. He was not ruling out foul play.
On Monday morning, Nanos said search crews worked hard but have since been pulled back.
“We don’t see this as a search mission so much as it is a crime scene,” the sheriff said.
Even so, a sheriff’s helicopter flew over the desert Monday afternoon near Guthrie’s home in the affluent Catalina Foothills area on the northern edge of Tucson. Her brick home has a gravel driveway and a yard covered in Prickly Pear and Saguaro cactus.
Savannah Guthrie issued a statement Monday, NBC’s “Today” show reported.
“On behalf of our family, I want to thank everyone for the thoughts, prayers and messages of support,” she said. “Right now, our focus remains on the safe return of our dear Nancy.”
“Today” opened Monday’s show with the disappearance of the co-anchor’s mother, but Savannah Guthrie was not at the anchor’s desk. Nanos said during the Monday news conference that Savannah Guthrie is in Arizona. Savannah Guthrie grew up in Tucson, graduated from the University of Arizona and previously worked as a reporter and anchor at KVOA-TV in Tucson.
Nancy Guthrie appeared in a November 2025 story her daughter did about her hometown. Over a meal, Savannah Guthrie asked her mother what made the family want to plant roots in Tucson in the 1970s.
“It’s so wonderful. Just the air, the quality of life,” Nancy Guthrie said. “It’s laid back and gentle.”
She said she likes to see the javelinas, pig-like desert mammals, eat her plants.
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Billeaud reported from Phoenix.
