Sheriff Calls Efforts to Find Savannah Guthrie’s Mom ‘a Race Against Time’

The case of Savannah Guthrie’s missing mom, Nancy Guthrie, seemingly gets more harrowing by the day and in a new update, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos revealed that time is of the essence.

“It is a race against time, and I hope that window hasn’t closed,” Nanos said to NBC’s Liz Kreuk during the Tuesday, February 3, episode of Today.

Nanos also described Nancy’s disappearance as an “abduction.”

“When you’re taken from your bed and you don’t want to go somewhere, that’s an abduction,” he explained, later clarifying that he “did not mean that she was literally taken from her bed.”

Nancy, 84, was last seen at her house in Catalina Foothills, Arizona, on Saturday, January 31. However, when she didn’t arrive for church the following morning as expected, a friend alerted one of her adult children. They immediately went to Nancy’s home and Nanos told People that the family member “did some searching and realized, ‘We need some help,’ and they called 911.”

On Monday, February 2, Nanos gave an update on the situation and described Nancy’s home as a “crime scene” and said the state of her house was “very concerning.” He also said that Nancy is “very alert, she’s of good, sound mind” and has “no cognitive issues,” but she’s “not in good physical health.” TMZ reported that she takes “daily medication,” which made the efforts to find her quickly even more important.

Savannah, 54, has not returned to Today since the news about her mom broke, but she did release a statement, which her cohost Craig Melvin read on air on Monday.

“On behalf of our family, I want to thank everyone for the thoughts, prayers and messages of support. Right now, our focus remains on the safe return of our dear mom,” the statement read. “We thank law enforcement for their hard work on this case and encourage anyone with information to contact the Pima County Sheriff’s Department at 520-351-4900.”