Savannah Guthrie resumed her anchor duties at NBC’s “Today” show on Monday, more than two months after her 84-year-old mother went missing.
In an interview last month, Guthrie expressed mixed feelings about returning: “I don’t know if I can do it. I don’t know if I’ll belong anymore, but I would like to try.” She called the “Today” show crew her family.
“I want to smile. And when I do, it will be real. My joy will be my protest,” Guthrie added.
Guthrie took her spot at the anchor desk on Monday, donning a bright yellow dress that evoked the yellow ribbons historically worn to symbolize hope when someone goes missing. Her co-hosts – and a crowd of spectators outside – also wore yellow ribbon pins in solidarity.
Some fans held photos of Guthrie’s mother and signs welcoming the anchor back, drawing a tearful reaction from Guthrie: “These signs are so beautiful. You guys have been so beautiful,” she said. “We feel your prayers.”
“It is good to be home,” Guthrie said at the start of Monday’s show. She and co-anchor Craig Melvin jumped into the morning’s headlines as usual: “Here we go, ready or not. Let’s do the news,” said Guthrie.
Former “Today” anchor Hoda Kotb substituted for Guthrie during her leave. Guthrie also missed the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics, where she would have co-hosted the opening ceremony.
What We Know – and Don’t Know – About the Disappearance
Nancy Guthrie was last seen on Jan. 31 and was reported missing the next day, launching a widespread search.
Despite thousands of federal and local officials and volunteers searching for Guthrie, only small pieces of evidence around her Arizona home. Still, authorities think she was abducted.
Early in the search, authorities found Guthrie’s blood near her doorstep and said that her car and personal belongings – phone, keys, wallet, vital medications – were left at home. Guthrie’s doorbell camera cut off and her pacemaker disconnected from her phone the night she was reported missing.
Ten days into the search, the FBI released disturbing, yet promising, doorbell camera footage of an armed and masked man outside Guthrie’s home the morning she disappeared.
Earlier, authorities found a pair of gloves about 2 miles from Gurthrie’s home that seemed to match gloves the suspect might have worn. But the DNA from the gloves did not have any matches in the FBI’s database or the DNA found at Guthrie’s property.
Authorities have ruled out some people as suspects – including Guthrie’s family – but have not named any suspects.
A few news outlets claimed to have received ransom notes from Guthrie’s kidnapper, although their authenticity is yet to be confirmed. Savannah Guthrie said in an interview that she believes two of the ransom notes are legitimate.
Over the course of the investigation, Savannah Guthrie and her siblings posted several emotional videos on social media pleading for evidence and the return of her mother, and expressing faith that Guthrie is “still out there.”
She directly addressed the kidnapper in some videos and said her family was willing to pay as much as $1 million for information that leads to Guthrie’s recovery. The FBI is offering a reward of up to $100,000.
There is no known motive for Guthrie’s suspected abduction, although Savannah Guthrie wondered whether her celebrity status was a factor. That possibility was too hard to bear, she said.
The anchor has said that the lack of closure continues to torment her and her family: “I just can’t handle not knowing,” she said in an interview last week with Kotb.