New details have emerged surrounding the disappearance of Today show host Savannah Guthrie’s mother, Nancy.
The 84-year-old grandmother was last seen on Saturday (January 31) around 9:45 p.m. after one of her children dropped her off at her home. She was reported missing the following day when she failed to show up for church.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos described Nancy as being mentally “sharp as a tack’’ but physically limited, suggesting she did not voluntarily leave her rural property in Tucson, Arizona.
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Nanos said police are treating her home as a crime scene after finding “very concerning” evidence.
Nancy’s family is desperate to find her, as she requires daily medication to survive, authorities said.
She “is in need of medication, medication that if she doesn’t have it in 24 hours, it could be fatal,” Nanos described.
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Savannah Guthrie, who has been an anchor on the Today show since 2012, skipped the morning broadcast amid the race against time to find her 84-year-old mother.
“On behalf of our family, I want to thank everyone for the thoughts, prayers and messages of support,” she said in a family statement released on Monday.
“Right now, our focus remains on the safe return of our dear mom. 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.”
Savannah has credited her mother with helping her achieve success as a broadcast journalist. Her father, Charles, passed away when she was 16 years old, leaving Nancy to raise her and her two siblings as a single mother.
“We believe she was taken out of the home against her will, and that’s how this investigation is moving,” Nanos told NBC Nightly News on Monday (February 2).
“I can’t think of the last time where in the middle of the night in someone’s bed, an 84-year-old woman disappeared on us.”
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Police said they believe Nancy was harmed when she was taken from her home.
Nanos added that a search for Nancy has been “shut down” because her disappearance is now being treated as a crime.
“Right now, we don’t see this as a search mission as much as we do a crime scene.”
Law enforcement had been searching using drones, a helicopter, an airplane, search-and-rescue dogs, and volunteers, the Today show reported.
Image credits: Pima County Sheriff’s Department
Nancy’s family was alerted to her disappearance after receiving a call from a member of their local church saying she had not arrived for a service as expected.
Her children then went to her house and called the police after finding no sign of Nancy.
According to the sheriff, there were no known related threats made involving Nancy’s high-profile daughter.
Authorities said they found a “very concerning” scene at the Tucson home and that some of Nancy’s belongings were reportedly left behind, including her life-saving medication.
Image credits: Pima County Sheriff’s Department
According to Nanos, the 84-year-old woman, who lived alone, does not have cognitive impairments but is unable to “walk 50 yards on her own,” leading investigators to believe she was likely abducted.
“She is very limited in her mobility, we know she didn’t just walk out of there, that we know. There were other things at the scene that indicate that she did not leave on her own.”
He did not share further details on what makes the home a crime scene, saying “it would be inappropriate at this time.”
Image credits: Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images
“You don’t typically get the sheriff out at a scene like this, but it’s very concerning what we’re learning from the house,” Nanos said at a news conference on Sunday (February 1).
Authorities are in possession of Nancy’s mobile phone. Some of her household staff have reportedly been in touch with law enforcement.
Nanos also revealed that there were cameras at the grandmother’s million-dollar property.
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In 2022, Savannah opened up about a life lesson she received from Nancy after moving out of her home for her first news job.
“My father d*ed when I was entering my senior year in high school. I then lived at home all through college. We didn’t have money to afford the dorm,” she told Today co-host Jenna Bush Hager.
“And that was thing one, but the other was that my sister and I really felt like we should stick with my mom and not leave her alone.
“But when I moved to Butte, Montana, this was it. And it was really hard for me to leave her.”
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Savannah, the youngest of Nancy’s children, accepted her first job in broadcasting at a local station in Montana at the age of 21.
“And that’s when she said, ‘If you can’t leave me, then I didn’t do my job right, Savannah,'” the journalist recalled. “She just gave me permission to go, you know?”
The 54-year-old admitted that it “wouldn’t have taken very much” convincing if her mother had asked her to find a job closer to home, but instead Nancy encouraged her to spread her wings.
“Of course she wanted me to stay. But she’s like, ‘I’m not going to stand in the way of your dreams. I’m going to tell you, ‘Go go go go go.'”
Savannah spoke about her mother’s influence in helping launch her journalism career
The NBC News anchor confirmed the value of that lesson when she became a mother herself to her two children, Vale and Charley.
“You don’t spoon feed your kids. You teach them how to eat for themselves,” she continued.
“They should be self-sufficient. They’re not supposed to be needy. They’re not supposed to need us. And also, we’re not supposed to be the center of their universes.”
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