Today Host Savannah Guthrie Breaks Silence on Mother's Kidnapping

First Interview Since Disappearance

In her first televised interview since her mother vanished nearly two months ago, Today co-host Savannah Guthrie opened up about the ongoing search for her mother, detailing the "agony" her family is going through more than seven weeks after her disappearance . Speaking with former co-host Hoda Kotb, Guthrie described the moment she learned her mother was missing — a dreaded phone call at the start of a missing persons case that has gripped the nation .

Nancy Guthrie, 84, was reported missing by her family Feb. 1 from her home near Tucson, Arizona, after failing to attend a virtual church service at a friend's house. She was last seen the previous night around 9:45 p.m . The back doors of her mother's house in Arizona were found propped open when her family members first got there , and bloodstains found at the scene were confirmed to be Nancy's .

Guthrie told Kotb the situation was "surreal," asking "How is it possible that we are having to make a video speaking to a kidnapper who took an 84-year-old woman in the dead of night in her pajamas with no shoes without her medicine...And to beg for mercy?"

Celebrity Connection Fears

Savannah Guthrie is sharing the shattering fear that her mother may have been targeted because of her fame as a "TODAY" co-anchor. "I don't know that it's because she's my mom and somebody thought, 'Oh, that girl— that lady has money. We can … make a quick buck.' I mean, that would make sense," she told Hoda Kotb .

The guilt weighs heavily on her: "Which is too much to bear, to think that I brought this to her bedside. That it's because of me." An emotional Savannah said, "It's too much to bear, to think that I brought this to her bedside, that it's because of me. And I'd just say, I'm so sorry, Mommy. I'm so sorry. ... If it is me, I'm so sorry."

In March, Sheriff Chris Nanos addressed whether he believes the attack may have been targeted. "We believe we know why he did this, and we believe that it was targeted, but we can't — we're not 100% sure of that," he said .

Investigation Details

Investigators got a break in the case last month when the FBI recovered doorbell camera images of an armed and masked man outside Guthrie's home on the morning of her disappearance. The FBI has since described that man as a suspect . Savannah described the footage as "just totally terrifying. And I can't imagine that that is who she saw standing over her bed. I can't" .

Multiple ransom notes of undetermined origin demanded payment in cryptocurrency, with two deadlines that had passed by February 9 . Savannah believes "most of them, it's my understanding, are not real," but said "I believe the two notes that we received that we responded to, I tend to believe those are real" .

Preliminary testing on gloves found about 2 miles from Guthrie's home point to the DNA of an unknown male. Those gloves appear to match the gloves worn by a person seen in security video from outside Guthrie's home. The DNA from the gloves did not match any samples in the FBI's DNA database .

Family's Continued Hope

There has been unsubstantiated speculation about family members' possible involvement in Guthrie's disappearance, which Savannah Guthrie described as "unbearable." "It piles pain upon pain," she said. "No one took better care of my mom than my sister and brother-in-law. And no one protected my mom more than my brother" .

The Guthrie family has offered a $1 million reward for her recovery. Separately, the FBI has offered a reward of $100,000 for information leading to her recovery or to the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in her disappearance . As of March 25, 2026, Nancy Guthrie has not been located, and the investigation remains ongoing .

The case highlights how high-profile families can become targets, raising questions about security measures and the unintended consequences of celebrity status. As the investigation continues, the Guthrie family's public appeals demonstrate both their desperation and determination to bring Nancy home safely.