Family friend calls Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance “heart-wrenching” as search continues

A family friend of NBC “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie told CBS News that the disappearance of Guthrie’s mother has been “absolutely heart-wrenching” as the Tucson, Arizona, community held a candlelight service Wednesday night to pray for the safe return of Nancy Guthrie. 

Sally Shamrell, an actress and former reporter for KVOA — a local television station in Tucson where Savannah Guthrie worked as an anchor and reporter in the 1990s — told CBS News that the Guthries are a “very revered family” in Tucson. Shamrell said she has known the family for more than 30 years. 

“Nancy and Savannah have both contributed so much to the Tucson community,” Shamrell said. “… They’re just positive contributors and very faithful women. What’s going on is absolutely heart-wrenching.”

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department has said the 84-year-old’s disappearance is being investigated as a crime. Authorities say no suspect or person of interest has been identified as of Wednesday night. Nancy Guthrie was last seen at her home Saturday night, but she was not reported missing until she failed to show up for church Sunday morning, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said. 

Shamrell said she helped organize Wednesday night’s vigil at St. Philip’s in the Hills Episcopal Church after seeing Savannah Guthrie’s post Monday on social media asking for prayers.

“Thank you for lifting your prayers with ours for our beloved mom, our dearest Nancy, a woman of deep conviction, a good and faithful servant. raise your prayers with us and believe with us that she will be lifted by them in this very moment,” Savannah Guthrie wrote on Monday. “We need you.”

The 54-year-old on Wednesday posted a longer video message alongside her siblings, Camron and Annie Guthrie, pleading for the return of their mother.

“I know that the Guthrie kids, who are so, so missing their dear, dear mother, I mean, she is everything to them,” Shamrell said. “… I just hope, if they see this, and they see the whole community’s come together, that they will know that they’re not alone. It’s a pretty dark time.”

Shamrell said she reached out to old colleagues at KVOA to help put the event together, describing news station workers as “very tight family members.”

“Some of these people haven’t seen Savannah in 20 years, but at the twist of a dime, they said, ‘What do you need? I’ll be there,'” Shamrell said.

The service for Nancy Guthrie was livestreamed on the church’s website. Attendees packed the pews, and one by one, they placed dozens of candles at the altar.

Authorities believe Nancy Guthrie was abducted over the weekend from her home in the Catalina Foothills of Tucson, where there were signs of forced entry. A small amount of blood found inside the home was being tested, a law enforcement source familiar with the case told CBS News.

Nanos told CBS News that a ransom note was sent to a local Arizona news station following Guthrie’s disappearance, but he could not confirm the accuracy of that information or the legitimacy of the note.

Anyone with information about Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance is urged to call the Pima County Sheriff’s tip line at 520-351-4900.