Is Savannah Guthrie's Mom Alive? Family Issues Tearful Plea To Kidnappers As Nancy's Life Hangs In Balance

The chair where Nancy Guthrie should be sitting is still empty. Her place in the front pew at church, the familiar spot at the family table, even the quiet presence on the other end of a phone call – all of it has been swallowed by the single, brutal fact that no one knows where she is, or how much time she has left.

For Savannah Guthrie, who is used to delivering terrible news to millions of viewers from behind the Today show desk, this is the nightmare no presenter can distance themselves from. Her 84‑year‑old mother vanished from her Arizona home on Saturday 31 January, and police have now confirmed what the family always feared: Nancy was abducted. The question hanging over the case – 'Is Savannah Guthrie's mum alive?' – is as stark as it sounds, and yet investigators, for now, insist there is still reason to hold on.

Is Savannah Guthrie's Mom Alive? Sheriff Refuses To Give Up

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos is hardly a man given to melodrama. Yet in a new interview with NBC's Liz Kreutz – broadcast live on Today – his voice caught when he was asked if he believes Nancy is still alive.

'We have nothing else to go on but the belief that she is here,' he said. 'She's present. She's alive, and we want to save her.' It is both a statement of hope and, bluntly, an admission that investigators have almost nothing solid to cling to.

Behind the scenes, the reality is harsher. Detectives and federal agents are working a case with no confirmed suspect, no clear motive and, as yet, no 'credible' lead strong enough to bring them to Nancy's door.

Nanos has said the tips coming in are being shared with the FBI and others – every fragment of information logged, cross‑checked, pushed as far as it will go – but nothing so far has broken the stalemate. When pressed on how many people might be responsible, he could only answer with an unsettling shrug of possibilities: 'It could have been one. It could have been more.'

What investigators are certain about is that Nancy did not go willingly. She lived alone in the Catalina Foothills, just outside Tucson, and was last seen at home between 9.30pm and 9.45pm on Saturday. When she failed to show up for church the following morning – something her family knew instantly was out of character – relatives went to the house and found her phone, wallet and keys still there, but no sign of Nancy herself. A later forensic sweep uncovered blood in the property and on the front porch, and the sheriff has now been explicit: 'We do, in fact, have a crime.'

Family's Plea As Savannah Guthrie's Mom Remains Missing

Police have officially classified the investigation as a kidnapping, not a missing‑person search, and they are treating Nancy as a 'vulnerable adult' – though not for the reasons some might lazily assume. Nanos has stressed that she is 'of great sound and mind,' with no dementia and no history of wandering off. 'She is very limited in mobility. We know she didn't just walk out there, that we know,' he said. 'There are other things at the scene that indicate she did not leave on her own.'

Those "other things" include blood and signs of forced entry, according to law‑enforcement sources quoted in US media and confirmed in part by the sheriff's office. Investigators have processed the house as a full crime scene, collected DNA evidence, and combed through the property's security system – where one camera frame near the front door was found empty, its device missing.

It is grim, methodical work: drones, helicopters, search‑and‑rescue dogs and volunteers have all been deployed in the area around her home, even as detectives expand their focus far beyond the foothills.

On top of that, there is a medical countdown nobody can ignore. Nancy requires daily medication and, as Nanos put it starkly, if she doesn't take it the result 'could be fatal'. That reality colours everything – the police briefings, the family appeals, the way every hour starts to feel heavier than the last.

NBC's Tom Winter has confirmed that the FBI and homicide investigators are now fully involved, citing "concerning evidence" at the scene as the trigger for their deeper engagement. 'We hope we find her safe and sound, but we are very concerned,' he said.

Those concerns are sharpened by parallel threads investigators are forced to chase. There have been reports of possible ransom notes sent to news outlets, including at least one demanding payment in cryptocurrency; the sheriff's department has acknowledged it is aware of such reports and is assessing them with federal partners.

The family, for their part, have begged anyone responsible to offer proof of life, and anyone watching from the outside to stop treating the case as a lurid mystery and remember there is an 84‑year‑old woman at the centre of it.

Savannah, who has been off air from Today since 2 February, issued a short, carefully worded statement that only half concealed the sheer terror underneath.

'On behalf of our family, I want to thank everyone for the thoughts, prayers, and messages of support,' she said. 'Right now, our focus remains on the safe return of our dear mom.'

In a later family video appeal, she and her siblings Annie and Camron spoke directly to the camera, their voices breaking as they begged whoever has Nancy – or whoever knows where she is – to let her come home.

There is a cruel intimacy to cases like this. It is not an abstract crime story; it is a daughter who spends her professional life explaining other people's tragedies, suddenly trapped inside one of her own. The sheriff's office has set up a dedicated tip line and is offering a reward for information leading to an arrest or to Nancy's recovery. Nanos has been blunt about what is at stake: 'We have a lot of work in front of us. We have someone's life in jeopardy.'

For now, the question of whether Savannah Guthrie's mum is alive has only one answer anyone involved is willing to contemplate: yes. Until there is proof to the contrary, the investigation is being driven by that belief – and by a very simple plea from a family whose world has been turned inside out.

If you have seen anything, heard anything, remembered anything that might help, they need you to speak up. Call 911. Call the sheriff's office. Call someone.

Originally published on IBTimes UK