Top of Mind Thursday – February 12, 2026: Still Missing

It’s been nearly two weeks since Nancy Guthrie, mother of Today Show anchor Savannah Guthrie, disappeared from her Tuscon, AZ home.

Since then, we’ve learned the 84-year-old woman with significant health and mobility issues was removed forcibly from her home, leaving blood stains and signs of a struggle. We’ve seen videos of the family begging for her safe return, and indications a ransom has been requested. We’ve watched a person of interest be detained and released. We’ve seen recently released video of an armed, masked intruder approaching Nancy’s home the night of the abduction.

Still, even with a massive amount of law enforcement resources assigned to the case, there’s no sign of Nancy at this point.

Was she taken because of Savannah’s celebrity presence? Was someone known to the family involved? Is Nancy even still alive? No one knows.

This is the kind of nightmare no family should ever have to experience. Yet, thousands of adult kidnappings occur in the US each year and most don’t receive this kind of attention. Most are resolved quickly (and very few involve total strangers), but some remain open for extended periods of time—or never are resolved.

The question I’ve heard asked this past week is, “Can you imagine what it’s like to have this happen to a family?”

Unfortunately, the answer is yes. We saw the anguish of over 200 families whose loved ones were abducted from Israel by Hamas on Oct 7th—some of them waiting more than 2 years to get resolution, which was often the return of remains.

Twelve years ago, 276 school girls were abducted by Boko Haram in Nigeria; 84 of those girls have never been found.

In the last month, more than 30,000 people were murdered in Iran by the Islamic regime for daring to protest conditions in their country. Many of their families have not been able to retrieve their loved ones’ remains.

Does this lessen the suffering of the Guthrie family? Of course not, but it should remind us that when it comes to abductions, kidnapping, and murder, we can’t allow empathy for all the victims to go missing.

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