Surrounded by huge desert, the lengthy and windy highway that results in Nancy Guthrie’s home within the Catalina Foothills is dotted with prickly cacti and enticing homes.
Come dusk, the unincorporated neighborhood north of Tucson, Arizona, is plunged into secluded darkness. That stillness is what drew Nancy and her household to the world many years in the past.
“The quality of life is laid back and gentle,” the mom of “Today” anchor, Savannah Guthrie, stated of her neighborhood in November.
Three months later, authorities say Nancy Guthrie was taken from her home within the serene neighborhood the place she lives alone and was final seen Saturday evening.
Nancy’s disappearance became national news, bringing renewed sorrow to the quiet neighborhood that introduced therapeutic to Savannah’s household after her father died.
“When I go back I’m so — it’s like my whole soul is home, my spirit is home, I feel my father in the wind,” Savannah stated in November. “The desert, the cactus, the animals: It’s such a unique place, it’s a beautiful place to visit.”
Nancy and her husband, Charles Guthrie, lived in Australia, the place Charles labored as a mining engineer, when Savannah was born in 1971. The household relocated to Arizona when Savannah was younger and remained settled there.
The household was left shattered when Charles, who was adored by many, died of a coronary heart assault in 1988. Savannah was 16 years outdated on the time, in line with a Father’s Day essay she wrote for Today in 2014.
“My father was a seemingly unlikely mix of qualities: always strong, sometimes terrifying, loyal to the end, and disarmingly gentle and tender when it counted,” Savannah wrote.
Tall, affectionate and humorous, Charles moved via life demanding ethical readability, which could possibly be intimidating, Savannah stated. But he was additionally recognized for turning “a mundane trip to the post office into a rip-roaring tale,” she stated.
Savannah, the youngest of three siblings, stayed in Arizona for faculty, attending the University of Arizona. Her sister, Annie Guthrie, didn’t wander far both.
“We had a spoken or unspoken pact that on the weekends, even though we were college girls, one of us would always stay home on one of the weekend nights so that my mom wouldn’t be alone,” Savannah said in 2017. “That was just something we did together as sisters.”
In a “Today” present phase about her Tucson roots final fall, the NBC host referred to as herself a “daughter of the desert.”
In the phase, Savannah and Nancy dined collectively at a native restaurant — one in every of many occasions the host featured her mother on the morning present.
Nancy referred to as Tucson “wonderful” in the course of the phase: “Just the air, the quality of life is laid back and gentle.”
“I like to watch the javelinas eat my plants,” she added with a chortle, referring to pig-looking animals which can be typically seen within the space.
Serene and secluded neighborhood
Perched alongside the Santa Catalina Mountains, the Catalina Hills neighborhood is thought for out of doors actions, in line with the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, not crime scene investigations and stories of kidnappings.
“People feel unsettled, I would not say fearful, but obviously, this is shocking,” stated Nancy’s neighbor, Jeff Lamie, who described the world as quiet and secure.
“We’ve lived here six years. It’s actually a wonderful, wonderful neighborhood,” Lamie informed NCS’s Erin Burnett.
The neighborhood has a inhabitants of round 53,000 folks, with a median age of 56, in line with the latest US Census knowledge.
Homes within the desert neighborhood are spaced out and tucked away behind desert foliage, in line with Lamie, who says most properties sit on heaps which can be over an acre.
Mountain search and rescue crews are scouring the dense terrain and asking neighbors to examine the scrub for any proof, Lamie added.
“We’ve all been looking and being aware and reviewing the ring cameras,” Lamie informed NCS. “And unfortunately, thus far we can’t provide any assistance in that regard.”
Savannah typically speaks extremely of her mom and their shut relationship. During a celebration of her mother’s 80th birthday on “Today,” the anchor described her as somebody who “lived a life of integrity and loyalty.”
“We lost my dad suddenly and shockingly,” Savannah recalled in a 2023 interview. “And my mom was so strong, and set aside her own grief in many ways, just to be there and make sure we could all move forward together.”
Nancy continued to lift her youngsters on her personal, Savannah has stated.
“She loves us, her family, fiercely, and her selflessness and sacrifice for us, her steadfastness and her unmovable confidence is the reason any of us grew up to do anything.”
Nancy Guthrie’s church neighborhood has additionally been holding her and her household in prayer.
St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church informed NCS affiliate KTVB in a assertion, “We are praying for mercy. We are praying for her safe return. We are praying for her family.”
Savannah was speculated to fly to Italy on Monday for NBC’s much-anticipated protection of the 2026 Winter Olympics. With that massive worldwide journey arising, she spent a lot of final weekend along with her husband and two children.
But her plans had been shattered when a member of the family referred to as her and stated Nancy was lacking. It was “the worst phone call of her life,” stated an NBC producer who is aware of Savannah personally.
A supply acquainted with the matter stated Savannah instantly scrambled to fly to Tucson.
Authorities in Pima County stated Nancy’s members of the family searched her home in useless earlier than calling 911 to report her lacking round midday native time on Sunday.
NBC mobilized its appreciable sources to assist one of many community’s largest and best-loved stars. Savannah’s co-hosts on the “Today” present shared the Pima County Sheriff’s Department’s tip line cellphone quantity, 520-351-4900, all throughout tv and social media.
On Monday morning, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos stated Savannah had been in contact along with his workplace, and “she has a security team that’s been in touch with us throughout the night.”