‘She Needs to Come Home’: Savannah Guthrie Pleads for Her Mother’s Safe Return

Published: March 27, 2026

By Shawn Smith

Savannah Guthrie opened up about the “agony” that she and her family have endured since the disappearance of her mother, Nancy Guthrie, nearly two months ago and how God has comforted her through the ordeal.

“We are in agony. It is unbearable,” she told fellow TODAY SHOW co-anchor Hoda Kotb in her first formal interview since the kidnapping.

“[T]o think of what she went through, I wake up every night, in the middle of the night, every night and in the darkness,” Savannah went on to say. “I imagine her terror, and it is unthinkable, but those thoughts demand to be thought…but she needs to come home now.”

Nancy Guthrie went missing Feb. 1 from her home near Tucson, Arizona. Savannah and family knew that she couldn’t have left her home willingly, because of mobility issues. There was also blood found at the house, later confirmed to be Nancy’s, and the Ring security camera was removed.

Authorities later were able to retrieve video of a masked man with a backpack and what appeared to be a handgun approaching Nancy’s doorstep on the early morning of her disappearance.

Since the abduction there have been many ransom letters, many believed to be fake. The news anchor revealed that two are believed to be genuine because of detailed information regarding the case.

Savannah admitted feeling guilt over the thought that her being in the public eye could make her mom a target for abduction for someone wanting to make a “quick buck.”

“That would make sense, but we don’t know…which is too much to bear. To think that I brought this to her bedside, that it’s because of me,” said Savannah, who has co-anchored the TODAY show since 2012.

She addressed speculation that family members might have been involved in the kidnapping, saying that it “piles pain upon pain.”

“I don’t understand. I’ll never understand,” she said. “And no one took better care of my mom than my sister and brother-in-law, and no one protected my mom more than my brother.”

“We love her, and she is our shining light. She’s our matriarch. She’s all we have,” continued Savannah. She lost her father to a heart attack when she was 16 years old.

“My mom…she’s incredible. She’s resolute and strong, quiet strength, quiet faith, hard fought,” the 54-year-old said. “She’s funny and a little mischievous, I would say, in her humor. She’s a noble creature.”

In the last two months Savannah has leaned on that same faith as her mom.

“I’ve felt terrible grief, and I felt unfathomable love and comfort,” the mother of two stated. “The goodness and kindness of God is remarkable and in equal measure to my sorrow.”

Early in the investigation, the pastor of Nancy’s church, Pastor John Tittle of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian, led a prayer for her safe return.

“Lord God, here we are, in the valley of the shadow,” Pastor Tittle prayed. “And we turn to You, Lord, in our hour of need and we cry out for mercy. God, we pray that, out of darkness, Light will shine. And so we pray, we pray for Nancy’s rescue, we pray for her release, we pray that she would be brought safely home.”

No suspects have been found yet, but authorities said in a recent update that footage of a suspect from the same Ring camera, possibly from Jan. 11 — three weeks prior to Nancy’s kidnapping — were discovered.

Savannah pleaded to the public for any new information pertinent to the case.

“We desperately ask this community for renewed attention to our mom’s case,” she posted. “Please consult camera footage, journal notes, text messages, observations, or conversations that, in retrospect, may hold significance. No detail is too small. It may be the key.”

Please lift up the Guthries in prayer and pray for the safe return of Nancy.

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