Savannah Guthrie missed the Monday, February 2, episode of the Today show after her mom, Nancy Guthrie, was reported missing in Arizona.
Sheinelle Jones and Craig Melvin introduced the “deeply personal story” on Monday, sharing a statement from Savannah, 54, and her family.
“On behalf of our family, I want to thank everyone for the thoughts, prayers and messages of support. Right now, our focus remains on the safe return of our dear mom,” the statement read. “We thank law enforcement for their hard work on this case and encourage anyone with information to contact the Pima County Sheriff’s Department at 520-351-4900.”
Footage was then shown of the Pima County sheriff speaking to reporters, noting, “This is very concerning to us. … She has no cognitive issues at all. She’s very alert [and] of sound mind.”
Nancy, 84, was reported missing by her family in Tucson, Arizona, around noon on Sunday, February 1, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department confirmed.
The department characterized Nancy as a “vulnerable adult.” She was last seen on the evening of Saturday, January 31, “at her residence” in Arizona’s Catalina Foothills area.
Nancy is described as being 5-foot-5 and 150 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes.
The Guthrie family confirmed Nancy was missing in a Monday statement to NBC News.
“We can confirm this is a missing persons case, and the family is working closely with local law enforcement,” the family said, adding that they are grateful for “the outreach, thoughts and prayers” they have received.
Savannah honored her mom on a January 2022 episode of Today when Nancy turned 80.
“She’s lived a life of integrity and loyalty. She is a consistent doer of the right thing and the hard thing,” Savannah said at the time. “She’s a truth teller, whether you really want to hear the truth or not. She’s quick and she’s smart, she’s well-read, she’s curious about everything.”
Savannah continued, “She has met unthinkable challenges in her life with grit, without self-pity, with determination, and always, always with unshakable faith. 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.”
“She’s going to be embarrassed by this, but I hope a little pleased because when I think of her I think of that old proverb, the one she taught me about the woman of noble character,” the Today co-anchor went on. “It says, ‘Her children will rise up and call her blessed.’ And so we do. Happy Birthday, Mom.”
Savannah previously praised her mom for raising her and her two siblings after her father, Charles, died of a heart attack when she was 16.
“I knew something was badly wrong. The way you can feel it,” Savannah recalled learning of her father’s death during an appearance on the “Making Space With Hoda Kotb” podcast in February 2024.
“And there’s like an electricity in the air. And I can remember my mom coming toward me to try to hug me and tell me really fast, ‘Dad died,’” Savannah said.
“I always think of grief as like this cup that is like a cup of water that’s full and you carry it around when something like this happens and your water cup is full,” Savannah shared at the time. “When it first happens, you might have tons pouring out and pouring out, and then you just carry your cup around for your whole life and you spill it out, sometimes in little drops, and sometimes you just hold it and nothing comes out.”
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