Still no suspect in the disappearance of 'Today' host Savannah Guthrie's mother

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — The search for “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie’s mother still had no suspect or person of interest Wednesday, authorities said, four days after she disappeared with signs of forced entry at her home in southern Arizona.

Investigators believe Nancy Guthrie was taken against her will over the weekend and Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has said they don’t have credible information indicating Guthrie’s disappearance was targeted. Guthrie has limited mobility, and officials do not believe she left on her own. Nanos said she is of sound mind.

“Detectives continue to speak with anyone who may have had contact with Mrs. Guthrie,” the sheriff’s department said in a statement on social media Wednesday. “Detectives are working closely with the Guthrie family.”

Multiple media organizations reported receiving purported ransom notes Tuesday that they handed over to investigators. The sheriff’s department has said it’s taking the notes and other tips seriously but declined to comment further.

The Pima County sheriff and the Tucson FBI chief urged the public to offer tips during a news conference Tuesday. Nanos has said Guthrie needs daily medication and could die without it. Asked whether officials were looking for her alive, he said, “We hope we are.”

Authorities say Nancy Guthrie was last seen around 9:30 p.m. Saturday at her home in the Tucson area, where she lived alone, and she was reported missing midday Sunday. Someone at her church called a family member to say she was not there, leading family to search her home and then call 911.

DNA samples have been gathered and submitted for analysis as part of the investigation. “We’ve gotten some back, but nothing to indicate any suspects,” Nanos said.

There were signs of forced entry at Guthrie’s home, evidence of a nighttime kidnapping, and several personal items were still there, including Guthrie’s cellphone, wallet and car, according to a person familiar with the investigation, who was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the case and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of an anonymity. Investigators were reviewing surveillance video from nearby homes and information from area license plate cameras and analyzing local cellphone towers data.

Guthrie’s upscale Catalina Foothills neighborhood is quiet and mostly dark at night, lit mainly by car headlights and homes spaced far apart. Long driveways, front gates and desert plants provide a buffer from the winding streets. Saguaro cacti tower above her home’s roofline, and wispy trees partially block the view of the front door. Decorative streetlamps and prickly pear cacti dot the grassy front yard.

Jim Mason, longtime commander of a search and rescue posse for the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, said desert terrain can make looking for missing people difficult. Sometimes it’s hard to peer into areas that are dense with mesquite trees, cholla cactus and other brush, he said. His group is based 175 miles (280 kilometers) north of Tucson, and is not involved in the search for Guthrie.

On the other side of the country, Victory Church in Albany, New York, said it's offering a $25,000 reward for information that leads to finding Nancy Guthrie.

“Me and my wife, we watch Savannah every single morning. We’ve heard of her faith. We’ve heard of her mom’s faith. And she’s got such a sweet spirit," Pastor Charlie Muller said.

For a third day Wednesday, “Today” opened with Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance, but Savannah Guthrie was not at the anchor’s desk. NBC Sports said Tuesday that Guthrie will not be covering the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics “as she focuses on being with her family during this difficult time.”

The “Today” host grew up in Tucson, graduated from the University of Arizona and previously worked as a reporter and anchor at Tucson television station KVOA. Her parents settled in Tucson in the 1970s when she was a young child. The youngest of three siblings, she credits her mom with holding their family together after her father died of a heart attack at 49, when Savannah was just 16.

Billeaud reported from Phoenix and Balsamo from Washington. Associated Press writer Michael Hill in Albany, New York, contributed.

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos speaks at a news conference, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, in Tucson, Ariz., to provide updates in the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie. (AP Photo/Sejal Govindarao)

FILE - Savannah Guthrie arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

This image provided by the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, on Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, shows a missing person alert for Nancy Guthrie. (Pima County Sheriff’s Department via AP)

/// Neighbors of Nancy Guthrie, the daughter of "Today" host Savannah Guthrie, show support for the family in metro Tucson, Ariz., on Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, as the search continues to find Nancy who was reported missing. (AP Photo/Sejal Govindarao)

Law enforcement officers are present outside the home of Nancy Guthrie, the mother of "Today" host Savannah Guthrie, near Tucson, Ariz., Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Sejal Govindarao)

LONDON (AP) — The U.K. government agreed Wednesday to release documents casting light on the decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the United States, despite his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, as it tries to stem mounting anger over the revelations.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer faced the wrath of opposition lawmakers, and his own Labour Party backbenchers, after acknowledging that he had known at the time of the 2024 appointment about Mandelson's friendship with the convicted sex offender.

Starmer said that he was unaware of the depth of the relationship, and that Mandelson had “lied repeatedly” about his ties to Epstein.

A trove of documents about Epstein released last week by the U.S. Justice Department has finished off Mandelson’s long political career — and left Starmer facing angry questions about his judgment in making him Britain's envoy to the Trump administration, the country's most important ambassadorial post.

Starmer fired Mandelson, 72, in September after emails were published showing that he maintained a friendship with Epstein following the late financier’s 2008 conviction for sex offenses involving a minor. Epstein died by suicide in a jail cell in 2019, while awaiting trial on U.S. federal charges accusing him of sexually abusing dozens of girls.

At a question-and-answer session in the House of Commons dominated by the Epstein revelations, Starmer said that Mandelson had “lied repeatedly to my team when asked about his relationship with Epstein before and during his tenure as ambassador.”

“Mandelson betrayed our country, our Parliament and my party,” Starmer said. “I regret appointing him. If I knew then what I know now, he would never have been anywhere near government.”

The opposition Conservative Party said that explanation wasn't good enough, and called for a vote in Parliament calling for the release of emails and other documentation related to Mandelson's appointment.

Starmer said that he would ensure that "all of the material" is published, except for documents that compromise Britain's national security, international relations or the police investigation into Mandelson's activities.

Opposition lawmakers — and some from Starmer's Labour Party — said that they worried the government would use national security as an excuse to keep embarrassing documents secret.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the government should publish all relevant files, “not just the ones the prime minister wants us to see.”

“The prime minister is talking about national security. The national security issue was appointing Mandelson in the first place,” she said.

After hours of House of Commons debate, a vote was averted when the government gave in to lawmakers’ anger and agreed that the Intelligence and Security Committee — made up of parliamentarians from several parties — would decide what papers should be published, rather than a senior civil servant as Starmer had proposed.

It's unclear when the documents will be released.

Documents released last week by the U.S. government suggest Mandelson may have shared sensitive information with Epstein when he was a government minister around 15 years ago.

In 2009, he appears to have told Epstein that he would lobby other members of the government to reduce a tax on bankers’ bonuses, and passed on an internal government report discussing a potential sale of U.K. government assets. The following year, he appears to have tipped off Epstein about the imminent bailout of the european single currency.

The newly released files also suggest that in 2003-2004, Epstein sent three payments totaling $75,000 to accounts linked to Mandelson or his partner Reinaldo Avila da Silva, now his husband.

Since those disclosures, Mandelson has resigned from the House of Lords and faces a police investigation for alleged misconduct in public office, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. Opening an investigation doesn't mean Mandelson will be arrested, charged or convicted.

London's Metropolitan Police force urged the government not to release “certain documents” that it said could undermine its investigation.

Starmer said that the government was working on legislation to remove the noble title, Lord Mandelson, that the ex-ambassador still holds. He will also be removed from the Privy Council, a committee of senior officials that advises King Charles III, for bringing “the reputation of the Privy Council into disrepute,” Starmer said.

An email requesting comment on the documents was sent to Mandelson through the House of Lords.

The European Union is also investigating potential wrongdoing by Mandelson when he was the bloc's trade commissioner between 2004 and 2008. The U.K. was an EU member until 2020.

“We will be assessing if, in light of these newly available documents, there might be a breaches of the respective rules with regard to Peter Mandelson,” European Commission spokesperson Balazs Ujvari said. “We have rules in place, emanating from the treaty and the code of conduct that commissioners, including former commissioners, have to follow.”

Sam McNeil contributed to this report from Brussels.

A previous version of this story was corrected to show that the EU is investigating Mandelson, not Epstein.

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer departs 10 Downing Street to go to the House of Commons for his weekly Prime Minister's Questions in London, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Britain's Prime Minster Keir Starmer departs 10 Downing Street to go to the House of Commons for his weekly Prime Minister's Questions in London, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

FILE - Britain's Ambassador to the United States, Peter Mandelson, speaks during a reception at the ambassador's residence on Feb. 26, 2025 in Washington. (Carl Court/Pool Photo via AP, File)