The Death of Savannah Guthrie's Father Resurfaces Amid Search for Mom

Morning show host Savannah Guthrie has become a household name over the years. The Today anchor is beloved by fans and well respected within the broadcast industry. However, her life hasn't always been an idyllic one, and her childhood was fraught with tragedy when she unexpectedly lost her father when she was just 16 years old.

The death came as a shock to her entire family, and even decades after his loss, Guthrie talks about the devastation that she still feels as a result of his death.

However, that hasn't stopped Guthrie from rising up and facing any number of obstacles head-on, including her 2025 surgery and the 2026 disappearance of her mother, which has shaken a community due to its mysterious nature.

Want to learn more about how Savannah Guthrie's father passed away? Keep reading as we share what we know about her childhood loss, as well as what police are saying about the disappearance of her only remaining parent, as the investigation turns into a multi-day search.

Guthrie was only in high school when the unthinkable happened, and her father, Charles Guthrie, had a massive heart attack. She spoke about the incident with People magazine back in 2024, calling the loss "shocking and devastating."

“My father died when I was 16. I think about him all the time,” she recalled. “He was deep and complicated, and he didn’t talk to us like little kids. He told us things that I didn’t understand at the time but later would remember, long after he died.”

Guthrie's dad was the patriarch of the family, and his loss left a massive hole in the family, which included her mother and siblings, Annie and Camron.

The Today host even chose to honor her dad decades later when she named her son Charley, as a nod to her late father. As for her mother, it sounds like the loss of her husband was almost too much to bear, and she opted to remain in Arizona by herself, electing not to remarry or leave the region where she lived with her husband.

In a cruel twist of fate, Guthrie is facing another staggering setback with her family. This time, it's her mother, Nancy, at the heart of the family crisis. The family matriarch was last seen on the evening of Jan. 31, according to CNN, which is when she was dropped off by family members following dinner at a restaurant.

Then, at around 2 a.m., authorities say that her pacemaker sent a final signal to her iPhone, which was later found in her home.

The next morning, her family was alerted that something was wrong when they were told that she did not attend her typical Sunday morning church service, and around noon, the first call was made to the police about the disappearance.

Police say that blood and signs of a struggle were found when they got there, and they believe that she may have been kidnapped. Police continue to follow leads and search for Guthrie as they widen their search in the days after her assumed kidnapping.