Body Found in Phoenix Not Connected to Savannah Guthrie’s Mom Nancy Guthrie’s Case: Sheriff

A body found in Arizona has no connection to the ongoing case regarding Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance.

Days after a woman was found dead along a canal in Phoenix, the Pima County Sheriff’s Office addressed the speculation about the cases being linked, telling TMZ on Sunday, March 8, that they have “not been notified of any connection reference that case to the Nancy Guthrie case.”

News broke on February 1 that Nancy, 84, had disappeared from her Tuscon, Arizona, home. (Tuscon, Arizona, and Phoenix, Arizona, are more than 100 miles apart.)

Nancy, who was reported missing by a family member who called 911, had last been seen one night prior while having dinner with daughter Annie Guthrie. (Nancy shared daughters Annie and Savannah and son Camron with late husband Charles Guthrie, who died in 1988.)

Since Nancy’s disappearance, Savannah, 54, has been absent from the Today show. Instead, former Today coanchor Hoda Kotb has stepped in and is hosting alongside Craig Melvin. Savannah, however, returned to the Today show offices earlier this month to see her coworkers.

“Savannah Guthrie stopped by the studio this morning to be with and thank her TODAY colleagues,” a Today spokesperson said in a statement on Thursday, March 5. “While she plans to return to the show on air, she remains focused right now supporting her family and working to help bring Nancy home.”

One day later, Melvin told Today viewers that Savannah returned to Studio 1A with a message of “faith and resilience.”

“I wanted you to know that I’m still standing, and I still have hope, and I’m still me,” she said. “I don’t know what version of me that will be, but it will be.”

Melvin said that Savannah’s emotional speech to 100 cast and crew members included sharing her gratitude to the Today team for “caring about my mom as much as I do.”

“I’m holding on to my faith,” Savannah continued. “I still believe, and as my mom would say, ‘Where else would I go?’”

As the search for Nancy continues, Savannah and her family’s reward for Nancy’s return has been increased to $1 million. The FBI’s $100,000 reward is still active for credible information that may help find Nancy.

In an interview that aired on the Today show on Tuesday, March 3, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told NBC’s Liz Kreutz that officers are “definitely closer” to finding “a suspect or suspects.”