‘Broken’ Savannah Guthrie Reveals She Will Return To ‘Today’ Show—2 Months After Mom Nancy Disappeared From Arizona Home
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Savannah Guthrie will return to the show “Today” on April 6, it has been revealed, two months after his mother, Nancy Guthriewas kidnapped from his home in Arizona.
The news was shared live on Friday on the morning show broadcast by the former publisher Hoda Kotbwho has been filling in for Savannah, 54, since Feb. 2, the next day 84-year-old Nancy was reported missing.
Savannah then opened up about the decision in part three of a previously taped interview with Hoda, 61, explaining that she doesn’t yet know what her “Today” comeback will look like, admitting that she doesn’t know if it will be something she can handle—she just knows she has to try.
“It’s hard to think that I can do it because it’s a place of happiness and ease, and I can’t go back and try to be something I’m not. But I can’t go back because it’s my family,” she said. “I think it’s part of my purpose right now. I want to smile. And when I do, it will be real. And my happiness will be my protest. My happiness will be my answer. And being there is fun. And if not, I will say so.
“I am very happy to have this family. I consider this my family, my big family, and when times are hard, you want to be with your family. And I want to be with my family.
“I don’t know if I can. I don’t know if I’ll be mine but please try. I’d like to try.”
Anyone with information about the Nancy Guthrie case should call 1-800-CALL-FBI, 520-351-4900, 88-CRIME,or visit https://tips.fbi.gov/.
The mother of two, who returned to New York, where she lives with her husband, Mike Feldmanand their children, in early March, continued to quote a poem about finding beauty in “broken places.”
“I’m not going to be the same. But maybe it’s like that old poem, ‘It’s best in broken places,'” he added.
Savannah’s imminent return to the show was celebrated by her anchor, Craig Melvinwho noted that the team “can’t wait to welcome him back with open arms.”
“That’s where he lives, that’s where we all want him to be,” he said.
Savannah has been off the “Today” show since Feb. 2-day after his mother was reported missing-he quickly flew to Arizona to help with the investigation, along with his sister, Anniehis brother-in-law, Tomasso Cioniand his brother, Cameron.
In the weeks following Nancy’s kidnapping, Hoda — who left the show in January 2025 — has been filling Savannah on air. It’s unclear what Savannah’s return means for her future on “Today.”
This news came one day after Savannah broke down in tears when she expressed the painful guilt she feels knowing that her mother’s kidnapping could happen because of her fame on television.
Speaking to Hoda in her first on-air interview since her mother disappeared, Savannah said she believes that Nancy was taken by someone who guided her because they believed that her daughter would agree and be able to pay the ransom.
“I don’t know if it’s because she’s my mother and somebody thought, ‘Oh, that girl—that lady has money. We can … make a quick buck.’ I mean that would make sense,” Savannah said. “But we don’t know. The hardest thing to bear is to think that I brought this to his bedside. That it’s because of me.”
Savannah added that her brother,Cameronwho has a military background, was the first to suggest that his mother was kidnapped by someone or people who wanted to hold her for ransom.
“I even call him on the phone, you know,” he said. He said, ‘I think he was kidnapped for ransom.’ And I said, ‘What? Well, why? What?’
“It sounds like, how could I be dumb? But I just—I didn’t want to believe it. I just said, ‘Are you thinking for me?’ He said, ‘I’m sorry, sweetie, but yes, maybe.’ But I knew that.”
Through tears, Savannah offered a heartfelt apology to her mother for any part her role may have played in her abduction, saying: “I’d just say, ‘I’m so sorry, Mom. I’m so sorry.’ I apologize to my sister and brother and my children and my nephew and Tommy, my brother-in-law.
“If it’s me, I’m very sorry. I’m very sorry.”
Savannah also spoke publicly for the first time about the “chaos” that broke out after her mother was found missing from her home in Tucson, revealing that she first heard about Nancy’s disappearance from her sister, Annie, who called her with the horrific news.
“My sister called me, I said, ‘Is everything okay?’ He said: ‘No.’ He said, ‘Mommy’s missing,'” Savannah recalled. “I said: ‘What are you talking about?’ He said, ‘He’s gone.’ He was panicking. I was scared.’”
At that time, the broadcaster who was on the air was with her husband and their two children,Shut upagainCharlieat their suburban Brooklyn home—but he said he immediately began calling local hospitals in Arizona to see if Nancy had been admitted for medical attention.
By then, Annie had already called 911, with Savannah noting that investigators initially thought her mother was missing, an idea she and her family quickly rejected, explaining that Nancy was living in “extreme pain” that left her unable to access her mailbox every day, let alone leave at night.
“I started calling the hospitals, the police were there talking to them [Annie] at the same time, and it was chaos and disbelief,” Savannah said.
“I think we were on the phone with the bailiff and we were trying to really clarify … from the earliest times, Annie and Tommy were saying, ‘That’s not what you’re used to when someone’s wandering. He can’t wander.’
“Mom, she was in incredible pain. Her back was really bad. On a good day, she could go to the mailbox to get the mail, but most days she didn’t. So there was no walking around.”
Savannah admitted that her mother’s disappearance was made more painful for her family, because she was taken from the home where the host of “Today” was raised – and where they made some of their most important memories as a family.
“This is the house I came home from on Friday the 16th at night. My mother and sister were praying on the couch, and they told me that my father had died,” he revealed.
“It’s a house where all our memories are, good and bad. So it’s a sacred place. It’s really hard to see that broken. And the fear. The fear that you must have felt is unbearable.”
Nancy was reported missing by her family on February 1, after she did not arrive at her friend’s house, where she had been going to watch the church service.
Members of the Pima County Sheriff’s Department began a frantic search for the 84-year-old and were soon joined in those efforts by agents from FBI headquarters in Phoenix.
However, little progress appears to have been made in the investigation—except for video footage recovered from Nancy’s doorbell camera, showing a masked and armed man approaching her home.
The footage is understood to have been taken on the morning of February 1, shortly before the camera was cut off, according to a timeline shared by the Pima County Sheriff.Chris Nanos.
What is the full timeline of Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance?
Nanos noted at a press conference on February 5 that, although the timing is close, his team has gathered a lot of evidence that points to Nancy’s movements—and the timeline of her apparent abduction.
Nancy was reported missing around 12:00 pm on February 1, about 14 hours after she was dropped off after a family dinner. When he failed to attend his regular Sunday church gathering, his friends alerted his family, who found his house empty.
SATURDAY, JAN. 31
5:32 p.mNancy goes to Annie’s house in an Uber “to eat dinner and play games with the family.”
9:48 p.mThe garage door opened at Nancy’s house when she was left by her daughter.
9:50 p.mThe garage door closes, indicating that Nancy is inside the home.
SUNDAY, FEB. 1
1:47 a.mThe security camera on Nancy’s doorbell is disconnected.
2:12 a.mMotion is detected on a home security camera. No recordings of this are available yet.
2:28 a.mNancy’s pacemaker app shows that the device has been disconnected from her phone.
11:00 a.mNancy fails to arrive at her friend’s house, where she has been going to watch the live church service.
11:56 a.mNancy’s family goes to her house to check on her and finds the place empty.
12:03 p.mThe family calls 911 to report Nancy missing.
12:14 p.mThe police arrived at Nancy’s house.
