Missing Gossip Girl actor Chanel Maya Banks is found after vanishing for two weeks
Chanel Maya Banks, 36, played Sawyer Bennett in season three of Gossip Girl
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A Gossip Girl actor who vanished without a trace two weeks ago was found safe and uninjured, authorities said on Tuesday.
Chanel Maya Banks, 36, hadn’t been seen or heard from since October 30, prompting a desperate search. The two-weeks-long hunt came to a close on Tuesday when the Los Angeles Police Department said she was found unharmed and that no foul play was suspected in her disappearance, KABC reported.
The circumstances of her disappearance are not immediately clear.
Relatives said it was very unusual for the actor, known for her roles in Gossip Girl, Blue Bloods and Twelve, 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,” Danielle-Tori Singh, Banks’ cousin, told the outlet earlier this week. “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.”
Singh flew in from Toronto to help with the search, she said.
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 GoFundMe page launched by Singh.
During those checks at the apartment — where Banks lives with her husband of one year— authorities found her dog and her belongings, but no Banks, the outlet 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.
On Tuesday, Singh accused Banks’ 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.”
During her visit to Banks’ apartment on November 10, Singh also noticed that Banks’ husband had “a busted lip and marks and scratches on his neck and arms.” She notified police, who took photos of his injuries, “which he did not have two days ago when police did the last welfare check,” she wrote on the GoFundMe page.
When they asked whether he had heard from banks, Singh recalled him saying: “She does not want to be found, she will reach out when she’s ready.” He allegedly said he had last heard from his wife on November 7 and didn’t know where she had gone.
Singh said that the GoFundMe will help the family hire a private investigator to try to find her and to support them with accomodation and transport in LA during their search.
The Independent has contacted the LAPD for information.