Officials Reveal if They Think Savannah Guthrie’s Mom Is Still ‘Alive’ After Concerning Evidence Sparked the Involvement of Homicide Detectives
The news about Savannah Guthrie’s mom could not be more devastating. Police have now confirmed that Nancy Guthrie, who was first reported to be missing from her home in Arizona, was abducted. Now, the investigation is entering its most critical stage, and the police are asking everyone who might have information to please help them locate Nancy Guthrie.
“We have nothing else to go on but the belief that she is here,” Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said in a new interview with NBC’s Liz Kreutz, which was aired live on the Today show on Wednesday, Feb. 4. “She’s present. She’s alive, and we want to save her.”
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However, there are reportedly no credible leads at the moment. “The leads we’ve got coming in are critical to us,” Nanos said. “They’re valuable and we’re sharing those with the FBI and others.”
As of right now, the police believe Nancy is still alive, but don’t know much else. Nanos made it clear they weren’t even sure about the number of kidnappers when asked about it on TV. “It could have been one. It could have been more,” he said.
Nancy and her late husband Charles shared three kids, including Savannah, Annie and Camron. She went missing on Saturday, January 31, 2026, between 9:30 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. When she didn’t show up for church on Sunday, her family checked in on her and arrived to find her phone, wallet and keys, but no sign of her. An investigation later reported that blood had been found in her home in Catalina Foothills, Arizona, just outside of Tucson.
Sheriff Nanos said that Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance was being investigated as a crime at a press conference on Monday, February 2. “We believe now, after we’ve processed that crime scene, that we do, in fact, have a crime,” he said then. The police has been treating Nancy Guthrie’s case as a “vulnerable adult” due to her age.
“She is very limited in mobility. We know she didn’t just walk out there, that we know. There are other things at the scene that indicate she did not leave on her own, we know that,” Nanos said. “Nancy Guthrie is of great sound and mind, this is not dementia related. She is as sharp as a tack. Her family wants everybody to know, this is not somebody that just wandered off.”
Nancy Guthrie requires daily medication, and if she doesn’t take that medication the result “could be fatal,” the sheriff also said. “So we make a plea to anyone that knows anything about this, who has seen something, heard something, to contact us. Call 911,” he added. “Right now, we don’t see this as a search mission, as much as we do a crime scene.”
NBC News’ Tom Winter confirmed that FBI is now involved in the search, telling reporters at a press conference that that was “concerning evidence” that led to homicide investigators becoming involved. “This one stood out because of what was described to us at the scene and what we found and located just in looking at the scene,” he said. “We hope we find her safe and sound, but we are very concerned.”
Savannah Guthrie has been absent from the Today show since February 2, and released a statement about her mother’s disappearance: “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.”
