Signs of forced entry found at Arizona home of 'Today' show host
Savannah Guthrie's mother
[February 04, 2026]
By JACQUES BILLEAUD, SEJAL GOVINDARAO and MIKE BALSAMO
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. The sheriff said they don't have
credible information indicating Guthrie's disappearance was targeted.
Sheriff Chris Nanos has said Guthrie 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.
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Law enforcement officers are present outside the home of Nancy
Guthrie, the mother of "Today" host Savannah Guthrie, near Tucson,
Ariz., Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Sejal Govindarao)
‘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.
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