TODAY co-anchor Savannah Guthrie breaks her silence in a sit-down interview with Hoda Kotb, describing the “unbearable” agony of her mother’s abduction — now 53 days without a suspect, no arrests, and an investigation facing external criticism.
NEW YORK — TODAY co-anchor Savannah Guthrie sat down with Hoda Kotb on Wednesday, March 25, for her first on-camera interview since her 84-year-old mother Nancy Guthrie was abducted from her Tucson, Arizona, home on the night of January 31, according to NBC’s TODAY show, with the full interview scheduled to air in two parts on March 26 and 27.
“We are in agony. It is unbearable,” Guthrie said in a clip previewed during the March 25 broadcast. “Someone needs to do the right thing. She needs to come home now.”
The interview arrives on Day 53 of an investigation that has produced no named suspects, no arrests, and, in a detail that has drawn little attention in mainstream coverage, no active use of cadaver dogs — a search method the Pima County Sheriff’s Department confirmed was called off weeks ago without public explanation.
Investigation: No suspects, no arrests, 53 days later
The timing of Guthrie’s interview reflects something beyond grief: it is a calculated public move by a family that appears to have concluded that media pressure may accomplish what law enforcement has not.
Nancy Guthrie was last seen at approximately 9:45 PM on January 31 when she was dropped off at her home by family. She was reported missing the following morning after she failed to appear at church. Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos confirmed early in the investigation that “we now believe we have a crime scene,” noting that Nancy has severely limited mobility and “couldn’t walk 50 yards by herself” — physically ruling out any possibility she left on her own.
Doorbell camera footage recovered from the property shows a masked individual on Nancy’s doorstep in the early hours of February 1. The FBI publicly released that footage in hopes of identifying the person. As of March 25, no identification has been made.
The investigation has yielded one notable forensic development that ultimately led nowhere: DNA found on a glove recovered more than two miles from Nancy’s home was traced to a restaurant employee who works near the residence but has no known connection to the case, according to Fox 10 Phoenix. Other gloves found in the area are still being tested at a private lab in Florida.
Meanwhile, TMZ reported receiving what it described as a “highly sophisticated” ransom demand via email — involving a cryptocurrency payment of approximately $6 million — and forwarded it to the FBI. The fact that ransom demands were sent to a media outlet rather than to investigators or the family directly has raised significant questions among former law enforcement observers about the authenticity and origin of those communications.
A former FBI agent, cited by the Times of India on March 25, publicly criticized the probe, calling it a “cloak and dagger” investigation for its lack of transparency — a rare instance of professional pushback against the agency handling the highest-profile missing persons case currently active in the United States.
Guthrie herself acknowledged the community’s support while steering attention back toward the gap between public sympathy and investigative action. On March 22, the family issued a new statement asking Tucson residents to check surveillance footage from three specific dates — January 11, January 31, and February 1 — and submit any observations, texts, or conversations they may have dismissed as irrelevant. “No detail is too small. It may be the key,” the family said.
The combined reward now stands at $1.1 million — $1 million offered by the Guthrie family and an additional $100,000 from the FBI. Anyone with information can contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI.
What the interview ultimately reveals is a family stepping into a space the investigation has left empty. Kotb, who has been filling in for Guthrie on TODAY, described being “in awe” of her friend’s strength following the preview clip. “I wake up every night, in the middle of the night, every night,” Guthrie told Kotb. “And in the darkness, I imagine her terror.”
Fifty-three days in, with no suspects, suspended cadaver searches, and cryptocurrency ransom demands routed through celebrity media, the case against Nancy Guthrie’s abductor remains entirely open — and the family has now made clear it will not wait quietly.
