Savannah Guthrie’s absence from the Today show on Wednesday, June 17, raised questions amid the search for her missing mother, Nancy Guthrie. However, it has now been confirmed that her absence from the show was not connected to her mother’s case.
The broadcast journalist, 54, who returned to the NBC morning show in April, was “on assignment,” according to co-anchor Craig Melvin. Savannah was thus replaced by Jenna Bush Hager during the June 17 episode, Us Weekly reported.
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Melvin further said that his colleague was “starting production meetings on the Wordle game show coming to NBC later this year.” Last month, Savannah announced that the show had been picked up in February.
Nancy Guthrie case update
Volunteers have been searching for Nancy in Mexico after an anonymous tip claimed her remains are in an area close to the border with Arizona. The Buscando Corazones collective in the city of Nogales, Sonora, previously found over 25 unmarked graves in the area where the tip claims Nancy’s remains can be found.
The leader of the local collective claimed that she got a tip claiming Nancy’s remains are buried in one of the streams in an area known as Mariposa. The stream is reportedly located near the Mariposa Port of Entry at the Mexico-Arizona border.
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However, volunteers did not find any evidence of Nancy’s “grave” or her whereabouts.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos previously explained why no arrests have been made even months after Nancy vanished. In an interview with KOLD-TV, Nanos defended what he called a “tedious” process.
“It’s just not like a detective goes out there, talks to somebody, and we can make an arrest. This is a very sensitive case, but what really makes it prolonged is that we do rely on labs,” Nanos said. “When you’re looking at those labs and the work they do, you have a science there, and science has rules that it has to go by. Even though it’s not… DNA, they’ll tell you, isn’t an exact science — it’s 99% plus. So it’s pretty close, but you still have to follow rules.”
