Hoda Kotb appeared on “Today” again Monday morning as Savannah Guthrie’s mother remains missing.
Kotb, who co-anchored Today in Savannah from 2018 to 2025, appeared briefly on the show Friday to introduce a segment about the outpouring of support for Nancy Guthrie, who hasn’t been seen since the night of Jan. 31. But on Monday, she opened the show as co-anchor with Craig Melvin, filling in for Savannah after Shainelle Jones last week.
“Savannah remains in Arizona with her family, while Hoda joins us,” Melvin said as the show began. “Thank you for being here.”
“You know, Craig, we always talk about our show as a family. We are a family,” Kotb responded. “I’m part of the family. I’m happy to be with you because we show up for each other.”
Melvin and Kotb then discussed updates on the search for Nancy, including further investigation of 84-year-old Nancy’s property and her daughter Annie’s home. Savannah and her siblings also posted separate video messages Saturday to their mother’s potential captors, saying they were willing to pay for her mother’s return.
“I received your message and I understand it,” Guthrie said in the video. “We now ask you to return our mother to us and celebrate with us. This is the only way we can have peace. This is very precious to us and we will pay.”
NBC correspondent Tom Winter then joined Melvin and Kotb to unpack the significance of the video, pointing out that one of the unsubstantiated ransom notes made no mention of a Monday deadline and did not request proof of life.
“So when you watch this video, what do you think was written in the second note?” Winter said. “I haven’t seen it directly, but it seems like there’s been a change here, or at least a change in messaging. So we’re keeping an eye on that.”
Melvin, Kotb, Carson Daly, and Al Roker also took time during the show to deal with the unusual nature of having to report on their colleague and friend’s missing mother.
“As always, our ‘Today’ family continues to navigate uncharted territory, balancing updates on the search for Savannah’s mother with all the other stories of the day,” Melvin said. “However, we understand that the current situation is far from normal, and we ask for your patience as we continue.”
Kotb added, “So, most importantly in all of this, Savannah and her family are our top priority. On top of that, we also have work to do.”
“And we’re going to do our best,” Daly said. “It’s certainly not easy to do our job. We obviously do it for her, but also for you, the viewers.”
