OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
3:30 PM – Monday, April 5, 2026
Savannah Guthrie, the co-host of NBC’s “TODAY” show, has returned to the program for the first time in over two months following the disappearance of her mother, Nancy Guthrie.
“We are so glad you started your week with us, and it is good to be home,” Guthrie said as the show began on Monday.
“Here we go, ready or not,” she continued. “Let’s do the news.”
Savannah wore a yellow dress with flowers, representing the color of the flowers left at her mother’s house after the news broke that she had gone missing at the end of January. Yellow is also the color of the INTERPOL Yellow Notice used to locate missing persons.
“Good to see you, my dear,” weather anchor Al Roker told Guthrie.
Nancy, 84, remains missing and is tragically presumed to be dead, as she required daily medication to survive. She was last seen on January 31st, when her son-in-law, Tommaso Cioni, dropped her off at her Tucson, Arizona home after a family dinner.
On February 1st at 1:47 a.m., Nancy’s doorbell camera was disconnected by an individual wearing a mask and gloves. At 2:12 a.m., her pacemaker disconnected, missing its scheduled transmission.
A friend who regularly watched a streamed church service with Nancy noticed she didn’t appear that Sunday morning — something very out of character. The friend then contacted the family, who went to Nancy’s home, discovered she was missing, and called 911 around noon the same day.
Early reports described this as Nancy missing her usual in-person church service. However, later details from family sources and timelines clarified that she had been watching a streamed/virtual service from a friend’s house, and it was that routine she missed.
Authorities believe Nancy was kidnapped, having received a ransom note and finding blood on her porch with DNA matching hers. One person was detained as a potential suspect, but was later released when the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) determined that they had faked the ransom note.
In an interview with co-host Hoda Kotb last month, Savannah, who has been a prominent show host since 2012, expressed hesitation to return to the show.
“I don’t know if I can do it,” Guthrie told Kotb. “I don’t know if I’ll belong any more, but I would like to try. I would like to try.”
Savannah’s return to the show came less than 24 hours after she released an emotional Easter message on social media — in which she admitted to having “moments of deep disappointment with God.”
She recalled questioning the Bible’s teaching that Jesus felt the full spectrum of human emotion during his life on Earth, given that He was also omniscient, having complete knowledge of his future. She argued that what she was feeling, uncertainty, was the one human emotion that Jesus could not have experienced.
She also stated that she viewed this grief as a “portal” to a deeper understanding of her faith. She referenced Jesus’ cry of “why have you forsaken me?” when on the cross, saying, “Perhaps He did know this feeling after all.”
“Perhaps this is too dark a message to share on Easter morning, but I have long believed that we miss out on fully celebrating resurrection if we do not acknowledge the feelings of loss, pain, and yes, death,” Savannah stated. “It is the darkness that makes this morning’s light so magnificent, so blindingly beautiful.”
She continued, “When we celebrate today, this is what we celebrate. And I celebrate too. I still believe. And so I say with conviction, Happy Easter.”
Craig Melvin, another NBC News co-host, highlighted the gathering of fans outside the studio on Monday, noting their supportive signs for Savannah.
“Some beautiful signs out there,” she commented. “There have been signs for so long,” TV personality Carson Daly said. “They’re going to be so excited to see you.”
Savannah added that she was excited to see the crowd and “give them all a hug.” She even received a round of applause when she stepped out to the plaza in the second hour of the show.
“You guys have been so beautiful,” she told the assembled fans, tearing up. “I’ve received so many letters, so much kindness to me and my whole family. We feel it. We feel your prayers. So, thank you so much.”
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