TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Investigators found signs of forced entry at the Arizona home of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie's mother, a person familiar with the investigation said Tuesday, as the host asked for prayers to help bring back the 84-year-old, who is believed to have been taken against her will.
The host described her mother, Nancy Guthrie, as “a woman of deep conviction, a good and faithful servant” in a social media post late Monday. She asked supporters to "raise your prayers with us and believe with us that she will be lifted by them in this very moment. Bring her home.”
The Pima County sheriff and the Tucson FBI chief held a news conference Tuesday and urged the public to offer tips, but they revealed few new details about the investigation. Sheriff Chris Nanos declined to say whether the disappearance was thought to be random or targeted or to describe the evidence found at Guthrie's home.
The sheriff has said she needs daily medication and could die without it. Asked whether officials were looking for her alive, he said, “We hope we are.”
DNA samples have been gathered and submitted for analysis as part of the investigation. “We’ve gotten some back, but nothing to indicate any suspects,” Nanos said.
Motive still a mystery
The person who spoke to The Associated Press said investigators found specific evidence in the home showing there was a nighttime kidnapping. Several of Guthrie’s personal items, including her cellphone, wallet and car, were still there after she disappeared.
Investigators are reviewing surveillance video from nearby homes and working to analyze data from cellphone towers. Police are also reviewing information from license plate cameras in the area, according to the person, who was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the case and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.
The motive remains a mystery. Investigators do not believe at this point that the abduction was part of a robbery, home invasion or kidnapping-for-ransom plot, the person said. TMZ reported Tuesday that it received a purported ransom note demanding payment in cryptocurrency for Guthrie's release. Separately, a journalist with Tucson television station KOLD said in an X post that the station received what appears to be a ransom note. Both outlets said they turned over the notes to investigators.
The sheriff’s department said it’s taking the possible ransom notes and other tips seriously but declined to comment further.
President Donald Trump, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday afternoon, said he planned to call Savannah Guthrie “later on” and called the situation “terrible.”
“I always got along very good with Savannah,” Trump said.
‘Today’ host has deep Tucson roots
For a second day, “Today” opened Tuesday with Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance, but Savannah Guthrie was not at the anchor’s desk. NBC Sports said Guthrie will not be covering the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics “as she focuses on being with her family during this difficult time.”
The “Today” host grew up in Tucson, graduated from the University of Arizona and previously worked as a reporter and anchor at Tucson television station KVOA.
Nancy Guthrie was last seen Saturday night at her home in the Tucson area, where she lived alone and was reported missing Sunday. Someone at her church called a family member to say she was not there, leading family to search her home and then call 911, Nanos said.
Guthrie has limited mobility, and officials do not believe she left on her own. Nanos said she is of sound mind.
In the hours after she disappeared, searchers used drones and dogs and were supported by volunteers and Border Patrol. The homicide team was also involved, Nanos said.
Guthrie’s home is 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’s parents settled in Tucson in the 1970s when she was a young child. The youngest of three siblings, she credits her mom with holding their family together after her father died of a heart attack at 49, when Savannah was just 16.
“When my dad died, our family just hung onto each other for dear life because it was such a shock. We were just trying to figure out how to become a family of four when we’d always been a family of five,” she said on “Today” in 2017.
Nancy Guthrie raised them on her own. The host often brought her mother on “Today” as a guest.
“She has met unthinkable challenges in her life with grit, without self-pity, with determination and always, always with unshakeable faith,” Savannah Guthrie said on the show in 2022 on her mother's 80th birthday.
“She loves us, her family, fiercely, and her selflessness and sacrifice for us, her steadfastness and her unmovable confidence, is the reason any of us grew up to do anything.”
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Billeaud reported from Phoenix and Balsamo from Washington.
