Missing ‘Gossip Girl’ actress Chanel Maya Banks’ family insist woman found isn’t her
The family of Chanel Maya Banks, the actress who went missing two weeks ago, claim that she still hasn’t been found — despite police confirming she was found unharmed.
After a two-week search, the Los Angeles Police Department located the 36-year-old in Texas on Monday.
The “Gossip Girl” actress has since said that she ran away from her family to be baptized by Pastor Robert Clancey, who recently preached about the “end times.”
However, her family is not convinced that the woman police found safe and sound is Banks.
Banks’ cousin, Danielle-Tori Singh, said LAPD’s update was “fake news” and that the woman is an “imposter” — adding that she will continue distributing “Missing Persons” flyers, ABC7 reports.
“I have the still from Texas PD body cam footage that was shown to us on Monday Nov 11 at the Pacific Police Station in LA,” Singh wrote on her Instagram Story.
“This is the woman they’re telling us is Chanel. We have told them this is not Chanel. They didn’t listen to us and closed the case.”
“That’s why @ohhheychanel won’t post a video saying she’s safe because it’s not Chanel,” added Singh, who flew in from Toronto to help with the search.
Banks was reported missing by her mother and cousin after police conducted a welfare check at the Playa Vista, Calif., apartment.
In the apartment, which Banks shares with her husband, authorities found her belongings and dog there, but nothing pointing them to where she may have gone.
Hours after police announced that she was found, the actress — whose credits also include “Blue Bloods” — insisted she was never missing, but left voluntarily to “escape my cage.”
“I have met with the Police and verified that I am not only OK, but I’m finally free,” she wrote in a now-deleted Instagram post.
“They say once, you’re free in Christ Jesus, you’re free indeed, so I told my husband six days ago I was going to get baptized by one of my favorite pastors Pastor Robert Clancy.”
Banks also accused her family of sexual abuse and “manipulation,” though did not expand on the allegations.
Singh previously told ABC7 she feared something was wrong when they couldn’t get through to Banks.
“Five days without hearing from my cousin is red flags and alarm bells,” Singh said. “She doesn’t go more than 48 hours without speaking to me or her mom…That girl is more like a big sister to me.”
The actress, however, claimed in her post that she has not spoken to her cousin in “over 15 years.”