“TODAY” co-anchor Savannah Guthrie is asking for prayers for her mother’s safe return as Arizona authorities continue to investigate her possible abduction.
Nancy Guthrie, 84, was reported missing around noon Sunday from her home outside Tucson after she failed to show up at church, and her family searched her home and property for nearly an hour, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told NBC News. She was last seen the night before, around 9:45 p.m., when family members dropped her off at home.
Nanos said Monday that after what was initially a search-and-rescue operation, officials are treating her disappearance as a “crime.” He said the sheriff’s department believes she was taken “possibly in the middle of the night, and that includes possible kidnapping or abduction.”
The case remains under active investigation, officials said. Around 100 sheriff’s office detectives are on the case, the office said, and the FBI is assisting.
“At this point, there is no credible information indicating this was a targeted incident,” the sheriff’s office said Tuesday.
No suspects have been identified, it said. All tips are being taken very seriously, the office said.
There are reports that ransom notes have been sent to two news outlets referencing Guthrie, copies of which NBC News has not seen. No law enforcement agency has substantiated the reports, but law enforcement officials have said they are investigating them.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Office in a statement said that it was “aware of reports circulating about possible ransom note(s) regarding the investigation into Nancy Guthrie,” and added that it is “taking all tips and leads very seriously.”
The office said anything that it receives is shared with their detectives along with the FBI.
Nanos on Tuesday repeated pleas for help from the public.
Savannah Guthrie, who was absent from the “TODAY” show Monday and Tuesday, expressed her gratitude for the support Monday night on Instagram — and asked for prayers for her mother’s safe return.
“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,” she wrote in a caption to an image that reads “Please pray.”
“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,” Savannah Guthrie added. “We need you.”
In a post Tuesday on X, the White House urged anyone with information about Guthrie’s disappearance to contact authorities. “Our prayers are with the Guthrie family as we hope for Nancy’s safe return home,” the post said.
Nanos declined to answer questions about the specifics of the investigation at a news conference Tuesday afternoon, including which evidence was found at the scene.