During an emotional television interview broadcast on March 26 and 27, 2026, TODAY show host Savannah Guthrie disclosed her belief that at least a portion of the ransom communications received by her family after her mother went missing are authentic—while denouncing those who sent fraudulent demands throughout her family’s ordeal.
The 54-year-old broadcaster conducted a conversation with her previous co-host and dear friend Hoda Kotb for a two-segment interview discussing the kidnapping of her mother, Nancy Guthrie, who disappeared from her Tucson, Arizona, residence during the early morning of February 1, 2026. The situation has now extended more than 60 days without any suspects being publicly identified, despite an ongoing FBI probe and disturbing doorbell surveillance video showing a masked, weapon-carrying person.
Guthrie offered her evaluation of the multiple ransom communications that arrived following her mother’s vanishing. “I believe the two notes that we received that we responded to, I tend to believe those were real,” she explained to Kotb during the Thursday broadcast, noting that the majority of the remaining communications, in her view, are not genuine.
Authorities verified that at least one ransom communication was counterfeit. Hawthorne, California resident Derrick Callella, 42, faced arrest and charges for sending a fraudulent ransom demand in February, contributing cruel deceit to an already heartbreaking ordeal for the Guthrie family.
Guthrie expressed strong disdain for individuals taking advantage of her family’s crisis, stating throughout the interview that anyone who would transmit a fraudulent ransom communication “really has to look deeply at themselves.”
The 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie was most recently seen on Saturday, January 31, with her daughter and son-in-law at dinner. She routinely met with friends and neighbors to view church services via the internet on Sunday mornings. When she didn’t show up on Sunday morning, February 1, a friend contacted Nancy’s daughter Annie, who resides close by. The family filed a missing person report that day, and the Pima County Sheriff’s Department rapidly concluded Nancy had been taken from her residence involuntarily.
The probe took a disturbing turn when the FBI made public doorbell surveillance video depicting a masked and weapon-carrying person. Guthrie characterized viewing the video as “absolutely terrifying,” expressing the disturbing realization that she cannot fathom that masked person was who her mother saw standing over her bed—”it’s too much.”
In addition to the ransom communications, Guthrie also discussed the distressing conspiracy theories that surfaced on the internet, implying family participation in Nancy’s vanishing. Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos publicly declared on February 16 that the Guthrie family had been “100% cooperative” and were eliminated as suspects “in the first few days.”
Nevertheless, the internet conjecture caused significant harm. Guthrie characterized the speculation as “unbearable” and “pain upon pain,” vigorously defending her siblings and stressing that no one provided superior care for their mother than her sister and brother-in-law, and no one safeguarded her more than her brother.
Kotb, who departed TODAY in January 2025 following 17 years but came back to substitute during Guthrie’s time away, characterized her colleague’s condition as “a tortured limbo” and described observing the interview as gut-wrenching. She highlighted Guthrie’s extraordinary composure amid intolerable circumstances, noting both “a desperation and also a steeliness” about her friend.
Savannah Guthrie was away from her hosting responsibilities since her mother’s disappearance. She temporarily came back to the TODAY studios for a stop in New York City on March 5 and resumed her position last week.
The Guthrie family recently released a statement encouraging the Southern Arizona community to examine security recordings, text messages, and personal documentation from three important dates: January 11, January 31, and the early morning of February 1. Investigators suspect January 11 may have been a practice attempt or reconnaissance operation by the perpetrator.
“We continue to believe it is Tucsonans, and the greater Southern Arizona community, that hold the key to finding a resolution in this case,” the family stated in their Sunday, March 22 statement. “Someone knows something. It’s possible a member of this community has information that they do not even realize is significant.”
The family has offered a $1 million private reward for details resulting in Nancy’s safe recovery. The FBI is providing an additional $100,000 reward. Despite the time elapsed and the absence of public developments, law enforcement stresses that the investigation continues actively.
Authorities encourage anyone with details to reach the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or tips.fbi.gov, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department at 520-351-4900, or 88-CRIME. The family’s appeal is straightforward but urgent: someone needs to come forward.