Savannah Guthrie, 54, the co-anchor of NBC’s “Today” show, used on-air time to appeal for help finding her mother, Nancy Guthrie, who was kidnapped from her Tucson home. She was covering the 2026 Emmy Awards on Tuesday, September 15, 2026, alongside guest co-host Willie Geist when the broadcast gave her an unexpected opening to speak about her mother, and she took it.
“We just want our mom home, give her a proper goodbye. That’s all,” Guthrie said on the “Today” Emmys coverage.
As of Sept. 29, Nancy Guthrie, 84, has been missing for almost eight months. According to the FBI, she was last seen at her home in the Catalina Foothills area of Tucson on the evening of Jan. 31. Investigators place her return home after dinner with family at approximately 9:48 p.m. She was reported missing on Feb. 1, and authorities believe she was taken against her will.
The FBI describes her as a vulnerable adult who has difficulty walking, uses a pacemaker and requires daily medication for a heart condition. Investigators say her doorbell camera disconnected at 1:47 a.m. on Feb. 1 and that, at 2:28 a.m., the app connected to her pacemaker lost its connection to her phone.
An Appeal During Emmys Coverage
“The Diplomat” had just brought actress Allison Janney her eighth Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, and the morning show highlighted what she said afterward in the Emmys press room. Her first questioner there opened by noting the compassion and concern Janney had shown for Guthrie in the months since her mother was taken.
The loss had simply taken over, Janney said, and she doubted she was alone in it — her sense was that the whole country had been thinking about Guthrie.
“I honestly can say I think about her every day and think about the loss and what Savannah and her family are going through,” Janney said in the Emmys press room.
A beautiful expression of sympathy was how Geist characterized those remarks, and he praised the actress for stopping in the middle of her own win to acknowledge the ordeal the Guthrie family is living through.
A smile crossed Guthrie’s face on air as the Emmys clip ended, and she said it had touched her to see Janney pause, in the middle of her own triumph, to think about the family. She then turned the moment outward.
“I never let a moment pass, if I get one, to talk about my mom and how much we miss her and love her, my whole family, my sister and my brother and I and all of our extended families, we’re in such pain. We need help,” Guthrie said.
“So thank you, Allison Janney, for remembering us and for giving an opportunity for me to renew that call,” she added.
The appeal landed in a segment built around trophies and acceptance speeches. One woman had put the Guthrie family’s pain into words at the Emmys press room podium; the other answered her from the morning show set.
Return to the Anchor Desk
Co-host Craig Melvin welcomed Guthrie back beside him at Rockefeller Center in New York on Monday, April 6, closing an absence from the anchor desk that had lasted two months. Yellow was the color she chose, the symbol of hope for Nancy Guthrie’s return.
Viewers heard her open the program by saying it was good to be home; Melvin replied that it was good to have her back, and the two turned to the day’s headlines. An emotional rollercoaster is what body language expert Inbaal Honigman, who analyzed the appearance on behalf of Covers, saw packed into the first 30 seconds — courage, vulnerability, strength and sadness in quick succession.
Honigman said Guthrie began with her arms wide at her sides and her head cocked to one side, a posture signaling openness and a willingness to listen. Her hands then met in front of her body, which the expert read as a protective gesture carrying fearfulness and loneliness. Melvin, according to Honigman, was the source of the anchor’s steadiness, and she held his gaze as a way of asking for empathy. He placed his hand over hers during the broadcast, Honigman said, a signal that she was not alone.
Honigman said that when Guthrie turned back to the camera, she raised her chin and tensed her jaw. That expression, the expert said, spoke of courage and sadness, and of a decision to set emotion aside and get on with the job.
A different angle led Behavioral scientist Dr. Abbie Maroño to a similar conclusion. Guthrie looked very composed, she said, but more controlled than her usual baseline. Her shoulders stayed slightly held, Maroño said, and she moved more slowly and deliberately as she transitioned between segments; slight lip compression and tightness through the jaw showed when she was not speaking, and Maroño tied that pattern to emotional suppression.
Micro-pauses and deeper inhales came before Guthrie spoke, Maroño noted, and she described them as an active regulation of the nervous system meant to keep emotion from surfacing on air. She said the anchor appeared to be leaning on the routine of the show to hold herself together rather than easing back into it, and that grief presents differently from person to person. Maroño added that media training plays a significant role in how effectively someone can regulate and present themselves on camera while the underlying emotion is still there.
What Investigators Have Said
Investigators are examining a possible new ransom note in the case. The Pima County Sheriff’s Department confirmed on Sept. 28 that the joint task force working with the FBI had been alerted to the message. The note’s authenticity has not been established. Authorities said they were “working to determine credibility” and were examining social media comments connected to the alleged note.
The development followed online claims that someone described as Nancy Guthrie’s friend had received a demand for payment in bitcoin, including an assertion that she was alive in Mexico. Investigators have not publicly verified that account, and authorities announced no arrest in connection with her disappearance alongside the Sept. 28 update.