Savannah Guthrie paid tribute to her missing mother's Irish heritage during a TODAY Show broadcast from Ireland, even as the hunt for Nancy Guthrie continues months after her Arizona abduction.
The TODAY host, 54, joined co-hosts Craig Melvin, Al Roker, Carson Daly, Dylan Dreyer, Jenna Bush Hager, and Sheinelle Jones in Ireland on Friday, October 16, for a special broadcast that featured local landmarks, food, and people.
Irish Star reported that Guthrie used the trip to speak openly about her mother’s Galway family line while the crew taped segments across the country, including at the Cliffs of Moher.
Guthrie said she had never been to Ireland before and tied the visit directly to her mother’s side of the family.
"I've never been to Ireland. My mother's family, my mother was Irish. Her grandmother, they're from Galway."
She described the Cliffs of Moher as unforgettable after seeing them from the ocean and from a nearby farm.
"We saw it from the ocean and then from this Martin Guerin farm right there. It was absolutely stunning. If you've been to Ireland and you haven't done the Cliffs of Moher, then I don't know if you've been to Ireland."
A TODAY press note said the team would take in the views, sample local food and drink, and meet the people of Ireland. Guthrie singled out the people as the country’s real distinction and said she already wants to return in June with her children.
That personal note lands harder because her mother, Nancy Guthrie, 84, has been missing since the early hours of February 1 from her home just outside Tucson. Authorities believe she was kidnapped, abducted, or otherwise taken against her will. Investigators found blood near the front doorstep.
The same case has already forced hard changes around the show, including when NBC tightened studio security after the kidnapping and a separate on-set scare.
National Review detailed a sharper picture of that night. Nancy Guthrie was last seen January 31, 2026, after being dropped off at the Tucson-area home around 9:50 p.m. The FBI recovered doorbell footage of a masked person with a backpack and a holstered gun who appeared to cover or disable the camera. The camera disconnected at 1:47 a.m. on February 1.
National Review noted that FBI Director Kash Patel released the short videos and images. Bloodstains confirmed as Nancy Guthrie’s were found and described as consistent with a possible bloody-nose drip trail. Ransom notes demanding millions in Bitcoin went to media; at least one fake note led to an arrest.
Family updates have stayed raw. On August 1, Savannah Guthrie posted on Instagram about trying to stay strong the way their mother taught them, while saying their hearts remain in ruins.
"Every day, we wake up and try to be strong and go on, because that's what our joyful and resilient Mom taught us to do. But make no mistake, our hearts are in ruins."
Those public pleas sit alongside earlier coverage of Hoda Kotb describing Guthrie’s grit while Nancy stayed missing.
Not every lead has held. Fox News reported that black gloves found about 2.5 miles from the home were traced by DNA to a local restaurant employee who is not tied to the case. Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos rejected talk that officers had tossed the gloves in the field.
"There was some talk and discussion that it was police officers out in the field just discarding them, that is so far from the truth. We knew that at that time, we believed wholeheartedly that those gloves belonged to a restaurant and guess what? The owner of the glove, we found working at a restaurant across the street. It has nothing to do with the case."
Nanos said other DNA evidence remained under testing.
Weeks before the abduction, investigators also zeroed in on earlier activity at the house. The New York Post reported that the sheriff said the FBI’s digital analysis points to something on January 11.
Nanos told KOLD: “We do believe that something occurred on Jan. 11, and that’s with the FBI’s analysis of the equipment and digital stuff they’ve done.” By late March the search had already stretched past seven weeks with no recovery. The family urged anyone with even small details to come forward.
Volunteer teams scoured desert terrain filled with cactuses, bushes, and boulders in the weeks after she vanished. A volunteer group later searched for her body near the Arizona-Mexico border. No arrest or charging outcome has been announced.
Ransom traffic only deepened the strain, including notes that claimed Nancy Guthrie died soon after she was taken, and later family calls for fresh tips after authorities released additional notes.
After the Ireland tapings, the TODAY crew returned to New York. Guthrie kept the tone warm on air about the country itself and said the people are what set Ireland apart. She also made clear the trip was not a one-off.
"I'm already planning my trip! I'm gonna go back in June. I want to bring the kids."
She has used the TODAY platform before to mark personal losses and tributes, including when she honored former guest Brooke Eby after an ALS death.
The Ireland broadcast gave her a public way to name her mother’s Galway roots and to stand in places her family line came from. It did not change the core fact pattern back in Arizona: an 84-year-old woman taken from her home, blood at the doorstep, a masked figure on federal video, open questions about January 11, and months of searches without a resolution.
The Guthrie family has kept asking for information, including in a renewed plea after ransom notes moved through the case file.
An elderly mother pulled from her own doorway is not a lifestyle sidebar. It is a law-and-order failure until someone is held to account and Nancy Guthrie is brought home.