Savannah Guthrie returns to 'Today' for the first time since her
mother's disappearance
[April 06, 2026]
NEW YORK (AP) — Savannah Guthrie is coming back to NBC’s “Today”
show Monday for the first time in more than two months since her
mother's disappearance, returning to a job she loves but is unsure how
she’ll manage.
Guthrie acknowledged that she's a changed person and that it's hard to
go forward not knowing what happened to Nancy Guthrie, who authorities
believe was taken against her will from her Arizona home.
Despite an intense search involving thousands of federal and local
officers and volunteers, there has been no sign of the 84-year-old
mother of three since she was reported missing Feb. 1.
As part of a video message released by her New York church on Easter
Sunday, Guthrie spoke about feeling “moments of deep disappointment with
God, the feeling of utter abandonment.” But she said the resurrection is
not fully celebrated “if we do not acknowledge the feelings of loss,
pain, and yes, death.”
In announcing her return to NBC's flagship morning show, Guthrie said
she was uncertain whether she'll feel like she still belongs.
“It’s hard to imagine doing it because it’s such a place of joy and
lightness,” she said just over a week ago on “Today” during her first
interview since the disappearance. “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, one of morning television’s most recognizable faces, has been a
co-anchor on “Today” since 2012. She doesn't anticipate faking her way
through the show, which is normally light-hearted with a mix of serious,
breaking news.
There had been a great deal of speculation about whether she would
return.
“I want to smile, and when I do it will be real,” she told Hoda Kotb,
who came back to “Today” to fill in while Guthrie focused on the search.
“Being there is joyful, and when it's not I'll say so.”
Nancy Guthrie made occasional appearances on “Today” over the years,
once taking part in a cooking demonstration and surprising her daughter
on set.
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Savannah Guthrie visits the Today show at Rockefeller Plaza in New
York on Thursday, March 5, 2026. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP,
File)
 When Savannah Guthrie returned to
her hometown of Tucson in 2025 for a segment recorded for the show,
the two visited one of their favorite restaurants and talked about
their love of Arizona.
The Guthrie family has offered a $1 million reward for information
leading to the recovery of their mother.
Authorities believe Nancy Guthrie was kidnapped, abducted or
otherwise taken against her will after finding blood near the
doorstep of her home in the foothills outside Tucson. The FBI later
released surveillance videos showing a masked man on the porch that
night.
Volunteers and search teams scoured the nearby desert terrain filled
with cactuses, bushes and boulders in the first weeks after she
vanished.
But attention has faded from an investigation that was declared to
be a top priority for the FBI and local authorities. Investigators
have not released new evidence in weeks and say the number of tips
has slowed. The FBI and the Pima County Sheriff’s Department both
said late last week that they had no updates.
Early on, some media outlets reported receiving ransom messages tied
to the case. Guthrie said she and her siblings responded to two that
they believed were real and offered to pay.
Guthrie said her celebrity status might be the reason her mother was
taken but that possibility was “too much to bear.”
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