Family of actress Chanel Banks says she remains missing despite police and herself saying otherwise
LOS ANGELES - The family of 36-year-old Chanel Banks said the actress remains missing despite authorities saying she's been found safe in Texas.
Chanel Banks (GoFundMe)
A GoFundMe dedicated to finding Banks is run by her cousin, Danielle-Tori Singh.
Singh held a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, saying "We are in the dark," and that "We aren't quite sure where to go from here."
Investigators with the Los Angeles Police Department said Banks was located safely in Boerne, Texas and that the case has been closed. However, the family says that is not true and that authorities happened to find someone with dark hair and blue eyes.
"I know my daughter's features," her mother added.
Singh was able to see bodycam footage of the woman said to be her cousin.
"What I saw was a woman that did not look like my cousin. She was much skinnier…she was wearing things that my cousin would not normally wear. Her voice was different, her accent was different. My cousin has a New York accent, she was raised in New York," her cousin clarified. "I am not positive that is her."
Singh said she believes someone got hold of Banks’ identification and is using it. Singh also said Banks has no connection to Texas and that her family is located in New York and Canada.
In addition, Singh took to social media, posting an 8-minute video on Facebook denouncing the reports and insisted that her cousin hasn't been found.
Chanel Banks safe, denies family's missing claim
The family of actress Chanel Banks reported her missing in October. In a FaceTime interview with True Crime News, Banks says she's safe, and alleged years of abuse at the hands of her family. Her family though don't believe the woman in the interview was Banks.
She said a woman was located in Texas apparently in possession of a "10-year-old expired New York City driver's license" with Banks' name on it. But Singh said the woman was not her cousin.
"Please don't stop looking for my cousin," she said in the video. "My cousin has not been found. Please continue looking for her."
Singh said she has seen video and audio from bodycam footage showing the woman found in Texas, and she insisted it is not Banks. She said the woman in the video "could not answer one personal question, not about our family, not about herself."
Chanel Banks Vanishes
Danielle-Tori Singh, who flew in from Canada to help find her cousin, claimed the family was last in touch with the actress on Wednesday, Oct. 30. She added that welfare checks were conducted on Nov. 7 and 8, and that her cousin was not in her Playa Vista area apartment.
"She has been married for just over a year, and her husband is being uncooperative with police," Singh wrote.
Singh also wrote that on Sunday, Nov. 10, she was able to gain access to Banks’ apartment along with her aunt. They claim they discovered that all of her items were still there, except her phone and laptop. What also struck their concern was the fact that she goes everywhere with her dog, which was also left behind.
On that same day, Singh said they noticed "a busted lip and marks and scratches on his neck and arms," and that police took photos of his injuries.
"I think the husband is a lost cause at this point," Singh said about Banks’ husband on Wednesday afternoon. She also alleged he was seen taking down her missing persons flyers.
When asked about the whereabouts of Banks' husband, Singh did not hesitate to call him out.
"As you can see it’s me and her Mom out here. I don’t see her husband out here. If my spouse was missing I would not be hanging out with my feet up. I would be scouring the streets," Singh said.
Banks, credited as Chanel Maya Banks on IMDb, has appeared on "Blue Bloods," "Gossip Girl," and "Twelve."
Chanel speaks out
By late afternoon Wednesday, a woman verified to be Chanel called FOX 11 and did a FaceTime interview with our partners at True Crime News.
She also released the following statement, "My name is Chanel Banks I’m a 36-year-old American nobody, and for my entire life I have been silently carrying the pain of the ritual…abuse, manipulation, and outright endless torment I’ve endured continuously since I was a defenseless baby, at the hands of my own so-called family, whom are all so very "concerned" about my current whereabouts. I have met with the police and verified that not only am I okay, but I’m finally free… (sic) 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. He drove me to the airport and then I was off for a week…but I also saw it as an opportunity to escape my cage. God said: I’m going to give you some money and I was shocked when it appeared just like He said. Then He said: I want you to move. So I made my Exodus and took my Freedom Ride first class (on Spirit air no less) to the Promise Land.Now I want not just freedom for me, but freedom for everyone suffering in silence. I want to come out so that people like me won’t be ashamed anymore. I want Justice. I’m asking God to help me get justice. I’m releasing a clarion call to those in high places who still have a soul and want to keep it in such a time as this. Reach out. Help the cause, help me. I will never allow myself to be silenced ever again- least of all by my abusers.
For 36 crushing years I’ve had to endure the most abominable abuses. Despite her (cousin Danielle’s) and my mother’s lies in the press, I have not spoken to Danielle in over 15 years much less every day or 48hrs as they’ve perjured. For decades my family has been my spiritual, physical, and emotional warden- giving me zero authority of my personage. I was not allowed to make any decisions in life in anyway without their approval.Every instance I’d get close to leaving they’d falsefy official government documents relaying lies concerning my mental health-for the record- I have no mental health or any other record aside from a parking ticket here and there- So that law enforcement would unquestionably and mercilessly pursue me. When I spoke up, they called me mad, mercilessly gang stalked me- and obliterated any semblance of peace, a career or connections I ever had. In this digital era they were able for decades without my knowledge or consent to reach out to my colleagues, friends, even neighbors to sabotage and effectively destroy not only my life’s work, but any semblance of happiness or peace I could hold on to. It’s like they took shifts to isolate me by gaslighting me, lying to those who could help concerning my sanity, it was their life’s goal to destabilize and break me.
Why? To silence me. I found out hours before leaving that not only my mothers family, but also my dear husbands were vehemently pursuing a CONSERVATORSHIP ie complete legal control to silence me. But I shall not be moved- ever. There will be no more lies. Everything in the darkness must come to light. Thus says the Lord."