NBC announced Friday that Savannah Guthrie will return as a “Today” show anchor on April 6, a little more than two months after she took leave to focus on the search for her abducted 84-year-old mother, Nancy Guthrie.
The network’s announcement was delivered on-air by Hoda Kotb, who has been filling in for Guthrie; Kotb told viewers “she is coming back to this job that she loves.” Co-anchor Craig Melvin added, “It’s where she belongs. It’s where we all want her to be. We cannot wait to welcome her back with open arms.”
Guthrie’s leave followed the widely reported disappearance of her mother, a case that has riveted the nation but so far yielded no decisive leads. Investigators continue the search, though the number of detectives assigned to the case began to decline in late February.
Signs of Guthrie’s return emerged in recent weeks, including her first interview since the ordeal, conducted this week with Kotb. In that conversation Guthrie said she believes her mother’s disappearance was a ransom kidnapping and expressed regret that her public profile may have contributed to the situation.