Missing “Gossip Girl” actor Chanel Banks has been found in Texas two weeks after she went missing in Los Angeles. A LAPD spokesperson confirmed that an outside agency located Banks safe and sound on November 11. The spokesperson announced that Banks is “fine” and in “no danger.” They have also closed the missing person investigation. The 36-year-old actor later issued a long statement via her Instagram Stories, where she corroborated meeting “with the police” to notify them of her welfare.
News of Banks’ disappearance surfaced after her cousin set up a GoFundMe page, stating that family members last contacted her on October 30. Moreover, authorities conducted multiple welfare checks in the following days and officially ruled her a missing person in Los Angeles after failing to find her in her apartment.
LAPD spokesperson on Chanel Banks: ‘She is OK’
PEOPLE reported that an LAPD spokesperson, Charles Miller, announced an outside agency found Chanel Banks in Texas and she is safe. Miller stated, “[Banks] is fine. No danger. She is OK. She has been taken out of the missing person system for us,” after which they closed their investigation. He also noted that the agency found Banks on Monday. However, they only announced news of her well-being two days later due to a delay caused by law enforcement agencies working on the case.
Chanel Banks, who played a recurring character on “Gossip Girl,” was found days after police began investigating the missing case. Banks’ family started a GoFundMe fundraiser, detailing the event leading up to her disappearance. Her cousin, Danielle-Tori Singh, created the fundraiser stating they last contacted her on October 30. Following this, the police conducted four welfare checks, two on November 7 and two more checks a day later. They then officially ruled the 36-year-old a missing person in California.
After the LAPD broke the news of her welfare, Banks took to Instagram to announce, “I AM NOT MISSING.” In addition, she revealed that she is “finally free from her mother” and accused her family of abuse and manipulation, among other things. In addition, the actor urged well-wishers to “not donate to any go fund me that says I’m missing.”
Besides her role in “Gossip Girl,” Chanel Banks appeared in “Blue Bloods” and the 2010 thriller film “Twelve.”
