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Mystery surrounding missing ‘Gossip Girl’ actor grows, involving family, LAPD
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Mystery surrounding missing ‘Gossip Girl’ actor grows, involving family, LAPD

Depending on who you ask, Chanel Maya Banks is either a missing person who may be in danger or injured, or she has been located and safe.

The Playa Vista actor, known for her work in “Gossip Girl” as the character Sawyer Bennett and “Blue Bloods” as Maria Romano, was reported missing by her family on Nov. 8, the LAPD said. Her cousin, Danielle Tori-Singh, created a GoFundMe on Sunday.

“My cousin Chanel is missing,” Tori-Singh wrote.

Tori-Singh said the LAPD conducted two welfare checks at Banks’ home, but she was not there both times.

But on Wednesday, the LAPD told a different story. They reported that Banks was found safe in Texas on Sunday.

Tori-Singh called the report “fake news” and said her cousin was still missing. She claimed that a woman found in Texas with Banks’ expired New York identification card was not really her cousin.

“I have clearly established that it is not her,” Tori-Singh said in an eight-minute Facebook video recorded from her car. “I have known her for 31 years. I know what she looks like.”

But the LAPD addressed her concerns.

“I have no control over what the family says, but for our purposes, she was found in Texas on November 11, 2024,” said LAPD Officer David Cuellar. “She is an adult; if she wants to be in Texas, she has every right to be.”

As of Wednesday, Banks was no longer on California’s missing persons registry.

However, the GoFundMe that the family posted to raise money for the search was still online on Wednesday.

“Our Trust & Safety team works directly with the organizer and the funds are held securely by our payment processors,” said Alex White, a spokesperson for GoFundMe.

Tori-Singh did not immediately respond to a request for comment.