Arizona police suspect crime in disappearance of Today show host’s mother

The disappearance of the 84-year-old mother of NBC’s Today show host Savannah Guthrie over the weekend is being investigated as a crime based on what authorities saw at her home, an Arizona sheriff said Monday.

Asked to explain why investigators believe the Tucson-area home is a crime scene, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said Nancy Guthrie has limited mobility and said there were other things indicating she did not leave on her own, but he declined to elaborate.

“I need this community to step up and start giving us some calls,” Nanos said during a news conference.

The sheriff said Guthrie, who lived alone, was of sound mind.

“This is not dementia related. She’s as sharp as a tack. The family wants everyone to know that this isn’t someone who just wandered off,” Nanos said, adding that Guthrie needs her daily medication.

Reported missing on Sunday

Guthrie was last seen around 9:30 p.m. local time Saturday at her home in the Tucson area and her family reported her missing around noon Sunday, the sheriff said.

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, then call 911.

“From what the family’s told us and everything we’ve learned, she could not walk out of that home 50 yards. We believe she was taken out of the home against her will, and that’s how this investigation is moving,” the sheriff told NBC’s Tom Llamas.

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, adding that it’s not standard for the homicide team to get involved in such cases.

“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 noted that police were not ruling out foul play.

Family thankful for support

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 on Monday.

“On behalf of our family, I want to thank everyone for the thoughts, prayers and messages of support,” the statement said. “Right now, our focus remains on the safe return of our dear Nancy.”

Today opened Monday’s show with news about the disappearance of the co-anchor’s mother. Nanos said during the Monday news conference that Savannah Guthrie is in Arizona.

She 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 asked her mother what made the family want to put down roots in Tucson in the 1970s.

“It’s so wonderful. Just the air, the quality of life,” Nancy said. “It’s laid back and gentle.”

She said she likes to see the javelinas, pig-like desert mammals, eat her plants.