Nancy Guthrie
Nancy Guthrie

Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of NBC "Today" co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, remains missing nearly nine months after authorities believe she was abducted from her home in the Catalina Foothills area near Tucson, Arizona. No suspect has been named, and the joint investigation by the Pima County Sheriff's Department and the FBI continues.

Guthrie was last seen the evening of Jan. 31, 2026. She was reported missing the following day. Investigators have said she did not leave her home voluntarily. Doorbell camera footage captured a masked person wearing gloves, a backpack and a holstered handgun at the residence in the early hours of Feb. 1. Blood found on the porch was later confirmed through DNA testing to belong to Guthrie. Her cellphone, wallet and car remained at the house.

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has said the case is not cold. In a recent interview on the Buckmaster Show, a Tucson radio program, he stated that investigators believe Guthrie was alive when she was taken from the home and was not injured inside the residence. Nanos also said that he and investigators traveled to Florida earlier this month to meet with a laboratory regarding mixed DNA evidence recovered in the case. He indicated he hopes for new information soon. Some DNA from the home has not yet been matched to known individuals who had been inside.

Additional developments have included examination of a possible human skull fragment found Oct. 7 in a wash in Oro Valley, roughly 10 miles from Guthrie's home. Authorities have also reviewed multiple purported ransom communications, some of which have been described as not credible. The Guthrie family has offered a $1 million reward for information leading to recovery. The FBI has offered a separate reward of up to $100,000. Family members were cleared as suspects early in the investigation.

A new detail emerged this week from a reporter who met Guthrie months before her disappearance. On the Oct. 21 episode of Brian Entin Investigates, NewsNation senior national correspondent Brian Entin interviewed Andrew Christiansen, who previously worked at a Tucson news station and now works in Phoenix. Christiansen was present at El Charro restaurant in downtown Tucson when NBC filmed a "Savannah Goes Home" segment featuring Savannah Guthrie and her mother. The segment aired in November 2025.

Entin noted that Christiansen "was one of the first people to get to the scene after Nancy Guthrie went missing. But he was also at El Charro restaurant, which was featured in that 'Savannah Goes Home' segment on the Today show that aired several months before Nancy went missing, when Savannah Guthrie and Nancy Guthrie went to the restaurant."

Christiansen said he is friends with the restaurant owner, who invited him when the Guthries were filming. "I didn't know her mom was going to be there — her sister was also there — but it was really nice to meet her family and meet Savannah," he told Entin. "She's a really, really nice person, and I got to know a little bit more about her."

He described Nancy Guthrie as "a really nice lady" who "really spoke to Savannah's accomplishments." Christiansen said one detail stood out during the filming: "One thing that really struck me when I was watching the Today show being filmed is that Savannah kept saying, 'I love you, Mom.' And then her sister was there, too. So she said, 'I love you' to her sister as well."

He added that "you could really feel the love that family had for each other. So that's what kind of struck a chord when I heard what happened to Nancy. It kind of made it a little more personal when it came to reporting on it."

El Charro was one of several locations featured in the hometown segment that investigators later revisited. In March, Entin reported that FBI agents had spoken with employees at the restaurant about whether anyone recalled seeing suspicious activity, someone lingering, or anyone seeking photographs while the Guthries were filming. Restaurant representatives have said they were prepared to cooperate fully.

The case drew intense national attention in its early weeks. FBI Director Kash Patel released images of the masked individual on the porch. Multiple people were briefly detained and released. Extensive searches of desert terrain took place. Purported ransom notes circulated, including one that claimed Guthrie had died and been buried. Savannah Guthrie and her siblings publicly addressed the situation, at one point acknowledging the possibility that their mother might not be found alive while still seeking answers.

Nearly nine months later, the public record shows an active but unresolved investigation. Nanos has emphasized that authorities continue to pursue leads and have not abandoned the effort. DNA analysis, including the recent laboratory consultation in Florida, remains part of the work. No public identification of a suspect has occurred, and Guthrie's whereabouts are still unknown.

Christiansen's recollection of the family interaction at El Charro provides a personal contrast to the ongoing absence. The segment captured a routine hometown visit that, months later, became one of the last widely documented public moments involving Nancy Guthrie before the events of Feb. 1. Investigators have treated such locations as potential points of inquiry while focusing primarily on the evidence at the residence and the early-morning activity captured by cameras.

The absence of a named suspect after this length of time is not unprecedented in complex abduction investigations, particularly when key physical evidence yields mixed or unmatched DNA profiles. Officials have not released a detailed public timeline of current forensic work beyond the statements from Nanos. Tips continue to be accepted, and the rewards remain in place.

For the Guthrie family, the passage of nearly nine months has not altered the core request for information. Savannah Guthrie returned to the "Today" show after an initial absence, while the search has continued without resolution. The latest comments from a reporter who crossed paths with the family during the filming of the hometown segment add a firsthand account of the personal dynamic that existed in the months immediately preceding the disappearance, even as the official investigation proceeds without a public breakthrough.