A timeline of the Nancy Guthrie disappearance and investigation
Apr 6, 2026, 12:18 PM
This image released by NBC shows co-host Savannah Guthrie, left, embracing a fan outside of Rockefeller Center during the "Today" show in New York on Monday, April 6, 2026. (NBC/Today via AP)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
(NBC/Today via AP)
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Savannah Guthrie returned to hosting the “Today” show on Monday for the first time since her mother disappeared from her Arizona home more than two months ago.
Despite an intense search involving thousands of law enforcement officers and volunteers, there has been no sign of the 84-year-old mother of three since she was reported missing Feb. 1. Her children, including the NBC host, have made heartbreaking video pleas for help, but to no avail.
Here is a timeline of events:
5:32 p.m. — Nancy Guthrie takes an Uber to her family’s home for dinner.
9:48 p.m. — Guthrie is dropped off at her Tucson-area home by a family member. The garage door opens and closes minutes later.
1:47 a.m. — The doorbell camera is disconnected.
2:12 a.m. — The camera’s software detects movement. Investigators initially said there was no video available since Guthrie didn’t have an active monitoring subscription. But digital forensics experts kept working to find images in backend software that might have been lost, corrupted or inaccessible.
2:28 a.m. — Her pacemaker app disconnects from her phone.
11:56 a.m. — Her family checks on her after learning she didn’t attend church. Moments later, they call 911 to report her missing.
12:15 p.m. — Investigators arrive and launch a search operation, including the use of drones and dogs.
Authorities say they believe Guthrie was kidnapped, abducted or otherwise taken against her will.
KOLD-TV says it received an email Monday night that appears to be a ransom note. It includes a demand for money with a deadline set for 5 p.m. Thursday and a second one for Monday, investigators say.
A person familiar with the investigation tells The Associated Press that investigators found signs of forced entry at Nancy Guthrie’s home.
President Donald Trump tells reporters the situation is “terrible.”
After allowing Guthrie’s family back on her property earlier in the week, authorities return for a “follow-up investigation.”
That evening, Savannah Guthrie posts video on social media in which she tells her mother’s kidnapper that her family is ready to talk but wants proof she is alive.
Officials reveal that DNA testing determined that blood found on the home’s front porch was Nancy Guthrie’s.
The FBI offers a $50,000 reward for information about Guthrie’s whereabouts.
Tucson TV station KOLD receives an email tied to the Guthrie case. The station didn’t disclose it’s contents and forwarded the message to federal investigators.
Investigators return to Guthrie’s neighborhood to gather more evidence.
Savannah Guthrie post another social media video aimed at her mother’s potential abductors.
“We received your message, and we understand. We beg you now to return our mother to us so that we can celebrate with her,” she said. “This is the only way we will have peace. This is very valuable to us, and we will pay.”
Savannah Guthrie posts another video, saying her family is at an “hour of desperation” and believes her mom is still alive. She asks for prayers and for people to report anything they might see or hear to law enforcement.
An FBI spokesperson says the agency was not aware of ongoing communication between Nancy Guthrie’s family and the possible kidnappers, despite a deadline set for Monday evening.
Later, in a March interview, Savannah Guthrie clarifies that some of the purported ransom notes were fake, but that she believes the two that she and her siblings responded to were real.
The FBI says it managed to recover doorbell camera video of what it describes as an armed person tampering with a camera at Nancy Guthrie’s front door.
Video shows the person wearing a backpack and balaclava who tries to cover a camera near the front door with their gloved hand before ripping out a plant from the yard to block the camera’s view.
Following the FBI’s announcement, Savannah Guthrie posts images of the apparent kidnapper on Instagram. She writes: “We believe she is still alive. Bring her home,” and includes phone numbers for the FBI and sheriff.
Later, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department says a person was detained for questioning during a traffic stop south of Tucson. The man is released. He tells reporters that he made deliveries in the Tucson area.
The sheriff’s department also says it searched a location in Rio Rico, a city south of Tucson, with the help of the FBI.
Authorities confirm that the man detained a day earlier was released but do not say what led them to stop him.
FBI agents and sheriff’s deputies knock on doors and search the desert terrain in the neighborhoods surrounding the homes of Nancy Guthrie and her oldest daughter, Annie Guthrie, whom she had visited hours before disappearing.
Investigators ask residents in a 2-mile (3.2-kilometer) radius of Nancy Guthrie’s home to share any camera footage and report any suspicious activity they noticed in the month before she disappeared.
The FBI later doubles the reward, to $100,000, for information that would lead to Nancy Guthrie or an arrest and conviction.
It also describes the person seen in the video from Guthrie’s porch the night she went missing as a male with an average build and about 5-foot, 9-inches (175 centimeters) tall. In the video, the FBI says he is wearing a black, 25-liter “Ozark Trail Hiker Pack” backpack.
Savannah Guthrie posts a family statement on Instagram urging the public to think back to Jan. 31 — when her mom was last seen — and Feb. 1, as well as the evening of Jan. 11.
“Please consult camera footage, journal notes, text messages, observations, or conversations that in retrospect may hold significance. No detail is too small,” the statement says.
The family also acknowledges that Nancy Guthrie might not be alive.
The “Today” show airs the first television interviews with Savannah Guthrie since her mothers disappearance.
“We are in agony,” she tells NBC News colleague Hoda Kotb, saying she wakes up every night thinking about what her mother went through.
She also shares new investigation details, including that her mom’s home’s back doors were found propped open and her phone and purse were found inside.
Savannah Guthrie returns to the “Today” show, which she has co-hosted since 2012.
“Here we go, ready or not,” Guthrie says as it opens. “Let’s do the news.”
After running through a series of headlines, Guthrie says “we are so glad that you started our week with us and it’s good to be home.” Her co-host, Craig Melvin, says “It’s good to have you back at home.”
