Volunteer searchers found a backpack and a sharp metal rod near the home of Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of TODAY Show host Savannah Guthrie, during the 22nd day since her disappearance, USA TODAY reports.

The group, known as Madres Buscadoras de Sonora, gathered in the parking lot of a Hobby Lobby in Tucson, Arizona, on Sunday (February 23) before launching an informal search near Guthrie's home. The backpack was handed over to deputies, however, authorities had no updates on the investigation, according to Pima County Sheriff's Department spokesperson Angelica Carrillo.

Tucson resident Lupita Tello later found a sharp metal rod soldered to a handle pulled from the dirt. Madres Buscadoras de Sonora commonly searches for lost and missing people in Sonora, Mexico, and hadn't previously expanded its search efforts to the U.S.

The group was notified of Nancy's case by a journalist friend of Savannah Guthrie and asked to make flyers and search for her, having been told by the Pima County Sheriff's Department that it would need to get permission from homeowners to search private property but didn't need a formal permit, according to Tello. Savannah Guthrie is reportedly expected to never return to her role as co-anchor of the TODAY Show after her mother disappearance and suspected kidnapping, multiple television veterans told Status News.

“There’s no way Savannah’s coming back,” one source said. “I can’t imagine she would even want to.”

Another television executive acknowledged Guthrie's importance to the show, claiming, “If you could pick one person across the span of morning TV that a show would not want to lose, it would be Savannah.”

“Savannah was always the glue on that show, and without that, this whole paradigm of our morning anchor team as a family, that connective tissue has just been ripped out,” the source added.

Guthrie's longtime former co-anchor, Hoda Kotb, has appeared on the show in her absence despite her own exit from NBC in January 2025. Kotb is reported to be back again next week, though there's no plan to keep her for the foreseeable future as NBC executives are taking the situation week by week, according to Page Six.

The investigation into Nancy Guthrie's disappearance has no clear suspects nor strong leads two weeks after being launched. Savannah Guthrie made a plea to her mother's alleged kidnapper, claiming "it's never too late" to "do the right thing" in a video shared two weeks after she went missing on February 15.

Ryan Lee