As the Today anchor’s mother’s shocking disappearance reaches its fifth day, friends and neighbors feel a great sense of loss.
New details in Savannah Guthrie’s mother’s disappearance
USA TODAY’s Erin Jensen brings you the latest in the disappearance of Savannah Guthrie’s 84-year-old mother, Nancy Guthrie.
- The community held a candlelight vigil to pray for Nancy Guthrie’s safe return as mysterious events grip the nation.
- Investigators have returned to her home in the Catalina foothills, but have not yet identified a suspect.
TUCSON, Ariz. — On Wednesday, Nancy Guthrie’s presence disappeared within the sandstone-colored walls of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Tucson, where she was a devout believer.
She went missing at the 84-year-old’s favorite restaurant, El Charro Cafe in the city’s eclectic downtown, where she was sitting with her famous daughter Savannah Guthrie during a recent visit last year.
Four days after the mother was abducted from her sprawling home in the area’s affluent Catalina Foothills neighborhood on January 31, investigators returned to the home and found her missing there as well.
But her standing in the community was on full display on February 4, when distressed residents and supporters flocked to a nearby church, surrounded by the beautiful Santa Catalina Mountains, for a vigil to pray for her safe return.
And whether she will be found before she goes too long without her daily essential medication.
“We pray for our sister Nancy. Please guide, comfort and support her in this moment of need,” the service leader prayed as mourners clutched candles at the wake.
Her mysterious disappearance has shocked the nation, with many Americans wondering how the 80-year-old woman, who had been living a sleepy life in the Southwest, was taken away while her neighbors slept. And why investigators have struggled to find answers since her disappearance.
And whether she will be found before she goes too long without her daily essential medication.
“My mother still lives there.”
On Nov. 5, about three months before her mother disappeared, Today anchor Savannah Guthrie launched Hometown Today, a new segment on NBC’s popular morning show.
The purpose of the show was to give viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the upbringing of the series’ popular anchors.
“Savannah, we start with you,” co-host Carson Daly said from the show’s curvy couch. “You took us to our old stomping grounds,” said Guthrie, who returned home to Arizona surrounded by “the family of today,” including Craig Melvin, Jenna Bush Hager, Al Roker and Carson Daly.
“I grew up there, I went to college there, my mom still lives there, and to be honest, a part of me never really left there,” Savannah Guthrie, 54, told viewers.
Savannah Guthrie, wearing a jean jacket and a black dress, walked through a field of prickly pear cacti, stopping to peck at the prickly plants. She introduced herself and the audience to local muralist Joe Pagac. Guthrie returned to his alma mater, the University of Arizona, where he greeted President Suresh Garimella in one parody and met up with sorority sisters at his Pi Beta Phi in another skit.
She then went to El Charro, a Mexican restaurant, for lunch with her mother and sister Annie, 56, a poet. The mother-daughter trio shared margaritas and chatted with executive chef Carlotta Flores as Guthrie sipped on prickly pear during the show.
“We’re just praying.”
On February 4, about a dozen patrons were lined up at the same location that Flores has operated since 1972. Inside, waiters ferried out dishes like Carlotta’s chicken moles and shrimp tamales during the lunch rush.
Flores had been in and out of the home recently, but one of his sons said he was gone around 12:45 p.m.
“Everyone has their own opinion (of what happened), but ultimately this is a missing woman,” Flores told the New York Post. “Their mother is missing.” It was felt throughout the community, with the pastor at St. Andrew’s Church preparing to attend the wake and staff working around the clock answering the phone.
It was at her church on Sunday, February 1st, that a fellow churchgoer called Nancy Guthrie’s family after she did not attend the service. Her home is about a 12-minute drive away in a tight-knit upper-class neighborhood.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said she was “abandoned by her children” at her home on Saturday, Jan. 31, at approximately 9:45 p.m. Then, the obvious kidnapping.
“We’re just praying,” St. Andrews officials told USA TODAY hours before the wake began, praying for good news while respecting the family’s privacy.
Outside the Guthrie home, not far away, around 5 p.m. Wednesday, neighbor Chris Wilkie said investigators’ efforts to return to the home only deepened the mystery.
“As soon as the sun goes down, everyone goes home.”
Late in the afternoon, there was an incident that appeared to be of renewed interest to law enforcement at Nancy Guthrie’s home. Crime scene tape was posted in front of the residence. One of the agents, wearing a Pima County Sheriff’s Department vest, removed the equipment from a plastic container in the truck.
They went into the garage of the house and went in and out. When they left, they had at least one box and a large brown envelope with them. After the investigators left, the crime scene tape disappeared again.
This upscale neighborhood is popular for its stucco homes and acres of grounds. The garden is planted with rocks and cacti. Black-barked mesquite and palo verde trees line the garden.
Mr Wilkie, 50, said the area was “very dark” at night and there were no street lights, making it difficult to see what had happened and making the case difficult to solve. Unidentified individuals are endangering Wilkie’s neighborhood as days go by without a suspect being found.
“As soon as the sun goes down, everyone goes home,” he said.
‘I love you’
When “Today” was filmed in El Charro, Ms. Flores served Ms. Guthrie and her family tequila in teacups, a tradition that dates back to the Prohibition era, when card-playing women would hide their booze with a little help from the utensils.
Savannah Guthrie said, “Cheers, I love you,” and then joked to her mother, “Don’t drink it all.” Then she turned around and asked me why I moved to Tucson.
“It’s so wonderful. Just the air, the quality of life is laid back and peaceful,” Nancy Guthrie said. “I like watching the javelina eat my plants,” she said, referring to the pig-like animals, adding in laughter from her daughters.
A seemingly lonely widow, Nancy Guthrie moved to the area in the 1970s with her late husband Charles, who died of a heart attack when Guthrie was 16 years old. “The best thing about Tucson is coming home and seeing everyone,” Savannah Guthrie told her mother and sister.
They clinked tall glasses and the show returned to the curved white couch of Studio 1A at NBC’s 30 Rock headquarters in New York City.
Savannah Guthrie surprised her four Today co-stars with tequila and teacups given to them by Flores and El Charro. “And like my mom said, it’s very smooth,” Guthrie told the group. “Cheers!” declared former eldest daughter Jenna Bush Hager. “For Nancy!”
“Hurry and get her to a safe place.”
At 6 p.m., as the sun set behind the mountains, hundreds of residents poured into St. Philip’s Church in the Hills Episcopal Church.
They had come there to pray by candlelight. Organizers said their goal was to elevate the voice of Nancy Guthrie and her family.
In a mostly silent service, supporters and worshipers chanted the Lord’s Prayer and walked in single file to the altar, holding lit candles, as soft organ hymns filled the sanctuary. “Please bring her to a safe place as soon as possible for her loved ones,” the military leader said in prayer.
Investigators, including the Pima County Sheriff’s Office, are scheduled to hold a press conference on February 5, but so far police have not identified any suspects. Many in town guessed, but few had the answer.
The day also marks three months since Guthrie aired a “Today” segment listing reasons why he still loves Tucson.
“I will always be a desert girl, from my love for my family to the familiar and beautiful landscapes I see,” Savannah Guthrie said. However, the landscape she loved reminded her of the background to her mother’s disappearance.
Savannah Guthrie made the appeal on Instagram as parishioners gathered at a church near her mother’s home to seek intercession. To all the viewers. Towards the prisoners. To anyone who will listen.
“We need to know without a shadow of a doubt that she’s alive and that you have her,” a fresh-faced and unmanicured Savannah Guthrie says to the camera. “We want to hear from you. We always listen. Please contact us.”
As night fell, she held the statement in her hand. The fifth day without my mother will soon begin.
Contributor: Kimi Robinson
