“Today” show host Savannah Guthrie released a statement to her Instagram on Monday night after her 84-year-old mother, Nancy Guthrie, went missing in a suspected kidnapping.
“We believe in prayer. We believe in voices raised in unison, in love, in hope. We believe in goodness. We believe in humanity. Above all, we believe in Him,” she wrote in the caption of her post. “Thank you for lifting your prayers with ours for our beloved mom, our dearest Nancy, a woman of deep conviction, a good and faithful servant. Raise your prayers with us and believe with us that she will be lifted by them in this very moment. We need you.”
She added, “’He will keep in perfect peace those whose hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord.’ A verse of Isaiah for all time for all of us. Bring her home.”
Nancy went missing in Arizona over the weekend and was last seen on the evening of Jan. 31 at her house in Catalina Foothills. She was classified by police as a “missing vulnerable adult” because of her age. She is 84 years old, 5 feet and 5 inches tall and approximately 150 pounds.
On Monday, local police in Arizona declared that Nancy’s disappearance was being treated as a crime. “We saw some things at the home that were concerning to us,” Sheriff Chris Nanos told reporters on Monday morning. “We believe now, after we process that crime scene, that we do in fact have a crime scene, that we do in fact have a crime, and we’re asking for the community’s help.”
Nanos added, “She is very limited in her mobility. We know she didn’t just walk out of there. That we know. There are other things at the site … that indicate … she did not leave on her own. We know that.”
Nanos said on Sunday night that Nancy had “no signs of cognitive issues” and is “very alert” and of “very sound mind.”
Savannah was not behind the “Today” desk on Monday, but she gave the following statement for her co-hosts to read live on air: “On behalf of our family, I want to thank everyone for the thoughts, prayers and messages of support. 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 office at 520-351-4900.”
Savannah has brought Nancy onto “Today” several times throughout the years. In a Mother’s Day segment in 2023, the anchor honored her mom by saying, “When I was in my 30s, I really wished to be married and to be a mom, and things just did not happen that fast for me. And my mom’s confidence that I would be a mom — even as the years ticked by and ticked by and ticked by — meant so much to me. She said, ‘Of course you’ll be a mom, and you’re going to be a wonderful mom.’ And for her to have that confidence and faith was so meaningful to me. It got me through some really hard times.”
