Savannah Guthrie has put her Winter Olympics coverage plans on hold amid the ongoing search for her missing mother, Nancy Guthrie.
“Savannah will not be joining us at the Olympics as she focuses on being with her family during this difficult time,” an NBC Sports spokesperson said in a statement shared with The Hollywood Reporter. “Our hearts are with her and the entire Guthrie family as the search continues for their mother. We will share additional information about our Opening Ceremony coverage plans soon.”
Guthrie had been due to fly out to Italy on Monday, CNN reported, to co-host NBC’s upcoming coverage of the Olympics opening ceremonies on Friday at the San Siro Stadium in Milan, alongside sports commentator Terry Gannon. She was also set to anchor NBC’s first night of prime time coverage.
This would be the fourth time covering the Olympics for the Today show co-host, who is a 19-year veteran of NBC and joined Today in 2011.
Instead, Guthrie headed to Tuscon, Arizona, after receiving what an NBC producer to CNN called “the worst phone call of her life” when her 84-year-old mother was reported missing on Sunday by family members. Nancy Guthrie, grandmother and mother to three, including Savannah, was taken from her Tuscon, Arizona, home in what local authorities are now calling a possible kidnapping or abduction.
Her disappearance is being treated as a crime scene after local police said she was taken from her home against her will, her cell phone and car left behind. Sheriff Chris Nanos of Arizona’s Pima County said during a Monday press conference that Nancy Guthrie did not leave her residence on her own, noting that she is of great sound mind but has mobility issues and is in urgent need of daily medications.
Nanos later told NBC it’s a “race against time,” noting possible DNA evidence was found at the crime scene, but those results could take days to process. The investigation has full cooperation from the Guthrie family.
The investigation into Nancy Guthrie’s whereabouts has now entered its third day. Nancy Guthrie was last seen in the Catalina Foothills area of Arizona on Saturday night at approximately 9:45 p.m. local time. She is 5-foot-5 and 150 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes and is described as having some physical ailments (photographed, below). Law enforcement and the Today co-host have urged anyone with any information to contact the Pima County sheriff’s department at 520-351-4900.
Savannah Guthrie has been absent from the Today show, but released a statement on behalf of her family Monday: “I want to thank everyone for the thoughts, prayers and messages of support. Right now, our focus remains on the safe return of our dear mom. We thank law enforcement for their hard work on this case and encourage anyone with information to contact the Pima County Sheriff’s Department at (520) 351-4900.”
She followed that up with a social media post asking her fans and followers for their prayers, writing, in part, “We believe in prayer. We believe in voices raised in unison, in love, in hope. We believe in goodness. we believe in humanity. Above all, we believe in Him. Thank you for lifting your prayers with ours for our beloved mom, our dearest Nancy, a woman of deep conviction, a good and faithful servant. Raise your prayers with us and believe with us that she will be lifted by them in this very moment.”
This story is developing.
