Savannah Guthrie will return to her co-anchor role on the Today show on Monday, more than two months after her mother, 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, went missing.
Her decision to resume work follows an ongoing investigation into Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance; she was last seen the night of Jan. 31. In an interview last month with NBC colleague Hoda Kotb, Guthrie said her mother inspired her return despite her grief. “I won’t let sadness win. For her,” she said.
Guthrie recalled how her mother raised three children alone after the early death of Charles Guthrie at 49. “I saw her grieve, I saw her world shatter. I saw it, and I saw her get up,” Guthrie said, noting the support she’s received from NBC colleagues as she prepares to appear on set again. “It’s hard to imagine doing it because it’s such a place of joy and lightness… But I can’t not come back, because it’s my family.”
Guthrie had been scheduled to host coverage of the Winter Olympics in Milan, but on Feb. 1 the family announced that Nancy had been abducted. Investigators have been working to determine what happened after Nancy returned home from a family dinner on Jan. 31. Guthrie said she rushed from New York to her mother’s home north of Tucson, Ariz., and found signs something was “very wrong”: there was blood on the front doorstep and the Ring camera had been removed.
Police-released surveillance footage shows an armed man wearing a mask and gloves approaching and tampering with the doorbell camera in the early hours of Feb. 1. The family has responded publicly to ransom notes with video messages offering to pay for Nancy’s return but has received no reply.
Guthrie has asked anyone with information to come forward. “We need an answer, and someone has it in their power to help. It is never too late and when you do, the warmth of love and forgiveness that will come will be greater than can be imagined,” she said.
The search has continued since February with no major breakthroughs. The family is offering a $1 million reward for information leading to Nancy Guthrie’s return.