What to Know About the Disappearance of Savannah Guthrie’s Mom, Nancy

Nancy Guthrie, 84, the “Today” show host’s mother, was last seen on Saturday night, the authorities said. The disappearance is being investigated as a crime.

The authorities in Arizona are searching for Nancy Guthrie, 84, the mother of the “Today” anchor Savannah Guthrie, who has been missing since Sunday and whose disappearance is being investigated as a crime.

Ms. Guthrie was last seen at her home near Tucson on Saturday night around 9:30 p.m., according to Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos. At a news conference on Tuesday, he described her disappearance as an abduction.

“We do believe that Nancy was taken from her home against her will,” Sheriff Nanos said.

Here’s what we know.

What happened?

When Ms. Guthrie did not show up at her regular Sunday church service, a friend notified her family members, Sheriff Nanos said. When the family members went to Ms. Guthrie’s home and did not find her there, they called 911.

The authorities responded at noon on Sunday and brought in a search and rescue team, volunteers, dogs, drones and a helicopter to help find her.

Sheriff Nanos first described Ms. Guthrie’s home as “a crime scene” at a news briefing on Monday, adding that “we saw some things at the home that were concerning to us,” without offering more details.

He added that Ms. Guthrie has limited mobility and requires medication every 24 hours, and could die without it.

Ms. Guthrie was described in a missing person’s notice as 5 feet 5 inches tall with brown hair and blue eyes, and “vulnerable.” The authorities said it was not a dementia-related case.

Who is Nancy Guthrie?

Ms. Guthrie has periodically appeared on “Today” show segments alongside her daughter Savannah. In 2022, Savannah Guthrie marked her mother’s 80th birthday on a “Today” broadcast, praising her “grit” and resilience.

“She’s quick and she’s smart, she’s well-read, she’s curious about everything,” Savannah Guthrie said of her mother during the 2022 tribute. Savannah Guthrie’s father died of a heart attack when she was 16, she wrote in 2017. When she and her sister began college, they both opted to live at home. “One of us would always stay home on one of the weekend nights so that my mom wouldn’t be alone,” she wrote.

When Ms. Guthrie turned 70, the anchors of “Today” surprised her with a phone call during the live broadcast. And last fall, “Today” aired a segment in which Savannah Guthrie took a tour of Tucson, her hometown, in which she says that her mother moved there in the 1970s.

Her home is in Catalina Foothills, an unincorporated community just north of Tucson that is nestled against the Santa Catalina Mountains. Homes there tend to be more expensive than others in the area because of the views. Many houses are on large lots surrounded by desert, including vegetation like saguaro and prickly pear cactuses and thick desert shrubs.

What’s the status of the investigation?

Sheriff Nanos said Tuesday that investigators had taken DNA samples from Ms. Guthrie’s home, but that it could be several days until the samples could produce any conclusive evidence.

The sheriff’s office has asked the public for help in looking for Ms. Guthrie, and said it does not yet have a strong lead.

Investigators said they were not ruling out whether Ms. Guthrie had been targeted.

The sheriff’s office said on Tuesday that it was “aware of reports circulating about possible ransom note(s)” in Ms. Guthrie’s disappearance after the celebrity news site TMZ said it had received a ransom note on Tuesday demanding a Bitcoin payment.

An anchor for KOLD, the CBS television affiliate in Tucson, said the station had also received a ransom note. It was not clear if the messages received by the newsrooms were actually sent by anyone involved in the abduction of Ms. Guthrie.

Who is Savannah Guthrie?

Savannah Guthrie, 54, is best known as one of the anchors of the NBC morning show “Today,” a job she has held since 2012.

After working in local news and as a lawyer, she joined NBC News in 2007. She worked for the network as a White House correspondent, filled in on “Meet the Press” and anchored “NBC Nightly News.”

She was born in Australia but moved at an early age with her family to Tucson, where she grew up and attended college. She lives in New York with her husband, the communications consultant Michael Feldman, and their two children. She has also written children’s books.

What has the reaction been?

NBC Sports announced on Tuesday that Savannah Guthrie would not travel to the Winter Olympics in Italy to help lead the network’s coverage.

Ms. Guthrie had been expected to play a key role during the Games, which begin on Friday in Milan.

On Monday morning, she was absent from the “Today” broadcast. The show’s anchors, Craig Melvin and Sheinelle Jones, shared a statement from her: “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.”

Savannah Guthrie urged people to pray for her mother in an Instagram post on Monday. “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,” she wrote. “Raise your prayers with us and believe with us that she will be lifted by them in this very moment.”

Savannah Guthrie was absent from “Today” again on Tuesday to be with her family in Arizona. She had been part of NBC’s lineup to cover the Winter Olympics in Italy. It was not immediately clear whether that plan would go ahead.

Neil Vigdor contributed reporting.

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