The family of Chanel Maya Banks, the Gossip Girl actor who vanished without a trace two weeks ago, is insisting she is still missing despite authorities confirming she was found safe and sound.
Following a two-week search, the Los Angeles Police Department announced on November 12 that after receiving a tip they were led to a home in Texas, where a woman identified herself as Banks. It was reported that no foul play was suspected in her disappearance, and the case has since been closed.
However, after being informed of the LAPD’s update, Banks’s cousin Danielle-Tori Singh said it was “fake news” and vowed to continue distributing flyers describing Banks as missing, ABC 7 reported.
Hours after the police announcement, an Instagram post shared from Banks’s verified Instagram account claimed that she had not gone missing and had instead voluntarily left to “escape my cage.”
She accused her family of sexual abuse and “manipulation” – it is unclear whether Banks has made the allegations in the past or whether police have investigated them.
“I have met with the Police and verified that I am not only OK, but I’m finally free,” she continued. “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.”
According to his Instagram, Clancy, a revivalist pastor, was indeed in San Antonio, Texas, hosting a three-day Repentance Revival Movement Conference from November 8 to 10.
“So I made my Exodous and took my Freedom Ride first class (on Spirit air no less) to the Promised land,” she said, adding that she now just wants freedom not only for herself but for everyone “suffering in silence.”
Singh, who flew in from Toronto to help with the search, has called the woman found in Texas an “imposter.”
“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,” she wrote in an 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.”
The Independent has contacted LAPD for comment.
In a subsequent Story, Singh included a side-by-side picture of the “imposter” woman found in Texas and “our Chanel.”
Banks was initially reported missing by her family, who said they hadn’t seen or heard from her since October 30. Her relatives said it was very unusual for the actor to be out of touch with them for longer than a few days.
“Five days without hearing from my cousin is red flags and alarm bells,” Singh previously told KABC. “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.”
Police conducted four welfare checks at her home in the Playa Vista neighborhood of Los Angeles, two on November 7 and another two on November 8, according to a now-defunct GoFundMe page launched by Singh to aid in their search.
Banks has warned followers not to “donate to any GoFundMe that says I’m missing. I am not missing.”
During those checks at the apartment – where Banks lives with her husband of one year – authorities found her dog and her belongings, but not Banks, it was reported.
Banks “does not go anywhere without her little dog, which also has been left behind. She also does not have her vehicle because it’s parked in her garage. She would NEVER go anywhere without telling her mom or myself,” Singh wrote on the fundraising page.
Singh also accused Banks’s husband of not cooperating with law enforcement and of helping with the search.
“He’s not willing to help LAPD. He’s not willing to help me or her mom find her,” Singh told KABC. “He is removing flyers off of posts and cars.”
