Sheriff reveals ‘crime scene’ after Savannah Guthrie’s ‘sharp as a tack’ mother Nancy goes missing

Arizona authorities say the disappearance of Savannah Guthrie’s mother is being investigated as a crime, as the Today show host’s mom has “limited mobility” and “did not leave on her own.”

Nancy Guthrie, 84, vanished Saturday between 9:30 pm and 9:45 pm at her home in the Catalina Foothills, just outside of Tucson, Arizona.

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos confirmed the disappearance was being investigated as a crime during a press conference Monday morning.

“We believe now, after we’ve processed that crime scene, that we do, in fact, have a crime,” Nanos said.

“She is very limited in mobility. We know she didn’t just walk out there, that we know. There are other things at the scene that indicate she did not leave on her own, we know that,” Nanos said.

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The missing woman is being treated as a “vulnerable adult” due to her age, not because she has any known physical ailments, the sheriff’s office said.

“Nancy Guthrie is of great sound and mind, this is not dementia related. She is as sharp as a tack. Her family wants everybody to know, this is not somebody that just wandered off,” Nanos added.

She also takes medication that if she does not have in 24 hours “could be fatal” Nanos said Monday.

“So we make a plea to anyone that knows anything about this, who has seen something, heard something, to contact us. Call 911,” he said.

Search efforts for the older Guthrie were also called off, with Nanos noting “Right now, we don’t see this as a search mission, as much as we do a crime scene.”

Earlier, NBC News’ Tom Winter confirmed that the FBI is also involved in the search.

He told reporters at a press conference that “concerning evidence” had been found, which prompted homicide investigators to be drafted in.

“This one stood out because of what was described to us at the scene and what we found and located just in looking at the scene,” he said, although he did not elaborate on what officers had uncovered.

“We hope we find her safe and sound, but we are very concerned,” he added.

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Savannah Guthrie was absent from her show Monday morning. During the episode, co-host Jenna Bush Hager said that her co-host’s mother is without medication, “that she needs for survival.”

Guthrie’s family has issued a statement: “We can confirm this is a missing persons case, and the family is working closely with local law enforcement.” Guthrie has an older sister, Annie, and brother, Camron, a pilot with the Air National Guard.

Nancy Guthrie is described as being 5 feet five inches tall, weighing 150 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes, according to the Pima County Sheriff’s Office. Anybody with any information is asked to call the sheriff’s office on 520-351-4900.

Guthrie has featured on episodes of the Today show in the past. Just this past November, she appeared with her daughter during a segment promoting tourism in Tucson.

In 2013, Guthrie appeared to tell the show’s audience how to make a bed properly.

“When I was in my 30s, I really wished to be married and to be a mom, and things just did not happen that fast for me,” Savannah once told viewers.

“And my mom’s confidence that I would be a mom — even as the years ticked by and ticked by and ticked by — meant so much to me.

“She said, ‘Of course you’ll be a mom, and you’re going to be a wonderful mom,” Savannah continued. “And for her to have that confidence and faith was so meaningful to me.

“It got me through some really hard times.”

Savannah Guthrie has a daughter, Vale, and a son, Charley, with her husband, Michael Feldman, whom she married in 2014.

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The anchor spoke about her mother again on the program in 2022, when she credited her illustrious career to her mother’s parenting.

“She loves us, her family, fiercely, and her selflessness and sacrifice for us, her steadfastness and her unmovable confidence is the reason any of us grew up to do anything,” Savannah said on her mother’s 80th birthday.

Savannah has earlier disclosed that her father, Charles, died when the NBC star was a senior in high school.

She told her co-host Jenna Bush Hager in 2022, “My father died when I was entering my senior year in high school. I then lived at home all through college.”

“We didn't have money to afford the dorm. And that was thing one, but the other was that my sister and I really felt like we should stick with my mom and not leave her alone.”

“But when I moved to Butte, Montana, this was it. And it was really hard for me to leave her.”

“And that's when she said, 'If you can't leave me, then I didn't do my job right, Savannah.' She just gave me permission to go, you know?”

Following her father’s death, Savannah told The Hollywood Reporter that her mother took a job at the University of Arizona in order to secure tuition-free education for her children.

The former White House correspondent was born in Victoria, Australia, where the family lived because her father worked for an Arizona-based mining company. In 2015, Savannah and her mother traveled to Sydney for a Today show segment.