Savannah Guthrie pleads for tips on air as ransom note claims mom is dead
Savannah Guthrie made a heartfelt appeal on national television this Tuesday, imploring the public to assist in uncovering any information regarding her mother’s mysterious disappearance. She emphasized that “somebody knows something” about the case and described her family’s ongoing nightmare as they remain in “agony” 20 weeks following Nancy Guthrie’s abduction from her home near Tucson. (Credit: NBC)
In a recent interview, Elizabeth Smart, who survived her own kidnapping ordeal, expressed hope that Nancy Guthrie might still be reunited with her family. Now 25 weeks since the 84-year-old was reportedly taken from her residence in the picturesque Catalina Foothills of Tucson, Arizona, Smart conveyed optimism about a safe return.
“We should hold onto hope since there’s no evidence of a body found,” the 38-year-old Smart remarked in an interview with E! News, published Friday. She urged people not to give up until Nancy is found.
Smart expressed her hope that investigators are privy to more information than has been publicly disclosed and that they are making substantial headway out of the public eye.
In this poignant moment, Savannah Guthrie appears with her mother, Nancy Guthrie, in a photograph taken on Thursday, June 15, 2023. (Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images)
The results of DNA testing and other forensics have not been made public as the case drags on without signs of Guthrie. A purported ransom note and an apparent follow-up message that claimed she had died have not been confirmed as authentic by investigators.
Smart did not immediately respond to requests for comment from News Media.
Elizabeth Smart joins John Walsh in the season premiere of “America’s Most Wanted” in April 2025. (FOX Image Collection)
In 2002, as a 14-year-old, Smart was abducted at knifepoint from her family’s home in Salt Lake City, Utah, by married couple Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee.
Police rescued her nine months later after members of the public recognized Mitchell and Barzee from news coverage of the case and called authorities in Sandy, Utah, about 20 miles to the south of her home.
More recently, she’s become an amateur bodybuilder and took first place in the novice category in a competition in April.
Elizabeth Smart won first place in the novice category, second in Class D, and third in the Masters 35+ category at the Wasatch Warrior Competition in Salt Lake City, Utah, on April 18, 2026. (Mitchell Gilbert/Gilco Productions)
Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie, was taken by force from her home in Tucson, Arizona, in the early hours of Feb. 1, according to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department.
These two images were released by the FBI, recovered from Nancy Guthrie’s Nest doorbell camera. It’s unclear whether they show the same person. (FBI)
The FBI and Google have released home security video recorded by her missing Nest doorbell camera that shows a masked intruder on her doorstep that morning.
Authorities have asked anyone with information on the case to dial 1-800-CALL-FBI. Tipsters can remain anonymous by calling 520-88-CRIME, Tucson’s Crime Stoppers affiliate.
“If anyone knows anything or seen anything — or the smallest detail that might seem insignificant can make all the difference — just report it,” Smart told the interviewer.
The combined sum of all rewards from authorities, 88-CRIME and the Guthrie family is over $1.2 million.