Savannah Guthrie to return to 'Today' show on April 6 after mother's
disappearance
[March 28, 2026]
By SARAH BRUMFIELD
Savannah Guthrie, who will return on April 6 as co-host of NBC’s “Today”
show after a nearly two-month absence sparked by the disappearance of
her 84-year-old mother, said in an interview that aired on Friday that
“joy will be my protest.”
Guthrie, speaking with colleague Hoda Kotb, said that while it’s hard to
imagine returning to a place of joy and lightness, she wants to try,
even as she acknowledged she’s not sure she can do it or if she’ll
belong anymore.
“I can’t come back and try to be something that I’m not. But I can’t not
come back, because it’s my family,” Guthrie said. “I think it’s part of
my purpose right now. I want to smile and when I do, it will be real and
my joy will be my protest. My joy will be my answer. And being there is
joyful and when it’s not, I’ll say so.”
Nancy Guthrie was reported missing from her Arizona home on Feb. 1.
Authorities believe she was kidnapped, abducted or otherwise taken
against her will. The FBI released surveillance videos of a masked man
who was outside Guthrie’s front door in Tucson on the night she
vanished. Authorities have not released new evidence publicly in weeks.
The Guthrie family has offered a $1 million reward for information
leading to the recovery of their mother.
Savannah Guthrie, who's co-hosted NBC’s morning show since 2012, pulled
out of covering the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, which began just
days after her mother's disappearance.
Abductions are rare. The vast majority of people who are reported
missing are believed to be runaways — not kidnapped or abducted.
Throughout all of 2024, the latest year that the National Crime
Information Center published data, over 530,000 missing person records
were entered. Roughly 95% of the hundreds of thousands of cases filed in
2024 were believed to be runaways and only 1% were listed as abducted.
Savannah Guthrie, acknowledging her mother is among the many missing,
donated to the Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The
organization on Thursday highlighted the cases of three children who
disappeared in Arizona — Jimmy Hendrickson in 1991, Karen Grajeda in
1996 and Jesse Florez in 2001.
[to top of second column]
|
Savannah Guthrie visits the Today show at Rockefeller Plaza in New
York on Thursday, March 5, 2026. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP,
File)
“We encourage everyone to stay alert,” the center said in a statement.
“It’s up to the public to keep their eyes open. You never know when the
next lead will be the one that brings someone home.”
The Pima County Sheriff's Office said Friday that tips are still coming
in on Nancy Guthrie but at a declining rate. The FBI says it's no longer
revealing the number of tips it receives daily in the investigation.
Portions of Kotb's interview with Savannah Guthrie were released over
multiple days this week. In the videos, Guthrie said she and her
siblings knew their mother didn't wander off, given her medical
condition, and that doors were propped open at her house. Authorities
also discovered blood and a missing camera near the doorstep.
Some media outlets reported receiving ransom notes tied to the case.
Guthrie and her siblings responded to two that they believed were real
and offered to pay money. Guthrie said her celebrity status might be the
reason her mother was taken, but that possibility was “too much to
bear.”
She again appealed for information, saying the family can't be in peace
or move forward with healing without knowing what happened to their
mother.
“How can someone vanish without a trace?” Guthrie asked. “How? Someone
knows something. Even if that something is someone’s been acting strange
for the last seven or eight weeks. Even if it’s just that. Somebody
knows. And maybe somebody’s afraid and I understand that, but our hearts
are in agony."
___
Associated Press writer Jacques Billeaud in Phoenix contributed to this
report.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
