A federal reward of $100,000 is now being offered for information leading to the safe return of Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of NBC News anchor Savannah Guthrie, who has been missing from her Tucson, Arizona, home since February 1st. The FBI doubled the initial reward as the investigation enters its second week, with authorities continuing to search for clues in the case they believe involves an abduction.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department confirmed Saturday that a court-authorized search was conducted at a residence connected to the investigation, but no arrests were made. DNA collected at Guthrie’s property did not match her or anyone known to her, and is currently being analyzed, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
Nancy Guthrie was last seen at her home in the Catalina Foothills neighborhood on the evening of January 31st, when family members dropped her off around 9:30 p.m. Local time. A doorbell camera was disconnected and removed at 1:47 a.m. On February 1st, and the app connected to her pacemaker disconnected from her phone at 2:28 a.m., raising immediate concerns. She was reported missing after failing to attend a church service, and authorities quickly initiated a search involving volunteers and federal Border Patrol agents.
The case has drawn significant attention, prompting comparisons to other missing persons investigations and highlighting disparities in the resources allocated to different cases. Tonya Miller, whose mother Betty Miller disappeared in Sullivan, Missouri, in 2019, expressed frustration at the extensive resources devoted to the Guthrie case while families like hers struggle to gain traction in their own searches. “Families like ours that have just your normal missing people, they have to fight to obtain any help,” Miller told the Associated Press.
Betty Miller’s disappearance involved suspicious circumstances, including a missing box of fentanyl patches and a scratch on her front door, but Miller said local police were unhurried to treat the case as a potential crime. She ultimately raised a $20,000 reward herself, a stark contrast to the $100,000 now offered in the Guthrie case.
The FBI has stated that agents from its Critical Incident Response Group, technical experts, and intelligence analysts are working to locate Nancy Guthrie. They are currently processing over 13,000 tips received from the public. Investigators have also identified a person of interest described as being between 5’9” and 5’10” tall, wearing a black, 25-liter Ozark Trail Hiker Pack backpack, who was seen tampering with Guthrie’s doorbell camera.
According to National Crime Information Center data, over 530,000 missing person records were entered in 2024, with roughly 90,000 remaining unresolved. The vast majority of these cases involve runaways, with only about 1% classified as abductions. A disproportionate number of those listed as abducted were Black or Indigenous individuals.
Lucy Simpson, CEO of the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center, emphasized the need for immediate and coordinated responses to all missing persons cases, particularly for Native women who face systemic barriers to receiving adequate support. “Every person deserves to be safe, and when someone is missing, there should be an immediate, coordinated, and effective response,” Simpson said.
Authorities have expressed concern for Nancy Guthrie’s health, as she requires daily medication. The Pima County Sheriff’s Department has not released further details regarding the ongoing investigation.
