For more than a decade, loyal viewers of NBC’s “Today” show have come to know Nancy Guthrie, the beloved mother of longtime host Savannah Guthrie.
“She’s lived a life of integrity and loyalty,” Savannah Guthrie said four years ago, beaming as she paid tribute to her mom on her 80th birthday.
“She’s a truth teller, whether you really want to hear the truth or not,” Guthrie said, calling her mom a woman of great of faith.
On Tuesday, Savannah Guthrie asked for prayers to help find her 84-year-old mother after authorities said they believe she was taken against her will over the weekend from the Tucson, Arizona, home where she lives alone.
Investigators don’t believe the abduction was part of a robbery or kidnapping-for-ransom plot, according to a person familiar with the case, who was not authorized to publicly discuss details and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
Authorities in Arizona on Tuesday pushed for the public to offer tips, but they provided very little new information, declining to talk about any evidence found at the home or narrow down the timeline of when they believe Nancy Guthrie was abducted.
Her disappearance has shaken NBC’s flagship morning show, where Nancy Guthrie made occasional appearances. She once took part in a cooking demonstration and has shown up on the set to surprise her daughter, who has been a “Today” anchor since 2012.
“For all of us who’ve gotten to know her and love her, it is personal,” an emotional Jenna Bush Hager, one of the show’s hosts said during Tuesday’s broadcast.
Savannah Guthrie, who was not at the anchor’s desk Tuesday, has described her mom over the years as adventurous, curious and selfless.
“She has met unthinkable challenges in her life with grit, without self-pity, with determination and always, always with unshakeable faith,” Savannah Guthrie said in 2022.
She credited her mom with holding their family together after her father died of a heart attack in 1988 at age 49, when Savannah Guthrie — the youngest of three siblings — was just 16.
“When my dad died, our family just hung onto each other for dear life because it was such a shock. We were just trying to figure out how to become a family of four when we’d always been a family of five,” she said on “Today” in 2017.
The family settled in Tucson in the 1970s after living in several locations, including Australia, where Savannah was born.
The loss of her father, a man Savannah Guthrie described as having a big personality and unshakeable integrity, brought the family closer. Her brother, Charles, is named after their father and is a retired military pilot who flew F-16s.
After their father’s death, both daughters decided to live at home during college and made sure that their mother wasn’t alone on weekends, Savannah Guthrie said.
“My mom did such a unique and amazing job to create this foundation for us,” Savannah’s older sister Annie said during an appearance on “Today” nearly a decade ago.
Savannah Guthrie has said often that her mom is her inspiration.
“My mom Nancy is my heart and my everything and my model for what a mother should be,” she wrote on Instagram in 2020 to mark her mom’s birthday.
Associated Press reporter Mike Balsamo reported from Washington.
