Savannah Guthrie posted her daughter’s rain-soaked umbrella drawing and begged for tips nine months after her mother was taken from a Tucson home.
The Today anchor took to Instagram on a Sunday morning with an old sketch by her 12-year-old daughter, Vale, and a direct appeal for anyone with information about Nancy Guthrie. Entertainment Weekly reported the post and the family’s renewed call for help.
Nancy Guthrie, 84, was last seen the evening of Jan. 31 and reported missing on Feb. 1. Investigators have said they believe she was taken from her Tucson, Arizona, home against her will. The FBI has treated the case as a kidnapping for ransom. The home was declared a crime scene in early February. Nine months on, there have been no arrests and no major breakthroughs.
Vale’s drawing shows a blue umbrella ringed by raindrops. The writing on it is plain and hard to miss.
"I know it might not seem like it but I really need my mommy."
Savannah framed the image in her own words.
"Found this old drawing from my daughter today. It says so much about how I feel,"
She did not stop at the picture. She described a household trying to look steady for two young children while the ground under the family has not settled.
"The world goes on, things appear ‘normal’, as we try to keep going and be strong, especially for our young kids, but it’s not and it never will be."
Savannah listed the people still stuck in the same place: her sister Annie and Tommy, her brother Cam and Kristine, her husband Mike, and all of Nancy’s grandchildren. She and Michael Feldman are parents to Vale, 12, and Charley, 9. The post made clear the family is not treating silence as closure.
"For Annie and Tommy, for Cam and Kristine, for Mike and me and for all of mom’s beloved grandchildren: we ache for her, we cry out for answers, we cannot move forward. We need someone to help us, tell us what you know. Our mom was a light in this world. We want to celebrate her and give her the dignity she deserves."
She underlined the open offer that has not been withdrawn.
"The reward is still available. Please. We are begging you. Please help us."
She also thanked people who have shown decency and asked others to keep praying. The Pima County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI continue to urge tips at 1-800-CALL-FBI.
After her mother vanished, Savannah spent two months off the air. Hoda Kotb, her longtime friend and former co-anchor, filled in and later sat with her for an emotional interview before the official return. Savannah came back to Today on April 6.
The public pressure did not end there. On Aug. 1 she described the cost of the search and spoke for her brother Camron and sister Annie. She wrote then that the family still needed a proper goodbye.
"There is a hole inside us that can never be filled,"
She followed that line with the same demand that appears in the new post: find out what happened so Nancy can be honored the way she deserves.
"There is an ache that cannot be softened. And there is a determination in us that cannot be quenched, to find out what happened to her, so that we can give her the dignity of a proper goodbye, a celebration of her remarkable life that she so deserves."
The core facts have not moved. Nancy Guthrie was 84. She was last seen Jan. 31. She was reported missing Feb. 1 from her Tucson home. Authorities have said they believe she was taken against her will. The FBI has called it a kidnapping for ransom case. The house became a crime scene. The tip line is still 1-800-CALL-FBI. The reward, Savannah says, is still on the table.
What is missing is the one thing the family keeps asking for: someone who knows something and is willing to say it. No suspects have been named in the material available. No ransom demand details have been made public. No breakthrough has been announced as the search entered its ninth month.
Savannah’s latest post does not claim new evidence. It puts a child’s drawing next to an adult plea and reminds anyone watching that normal life for this family is a performance held up for the kids. The umbrella in the rain is Vale’s. The request for tips is the whole family’s.
A mother deserves more than a cold case file and a polite silence. Until someone talks, dignity stays unfinished business.
