AUSTIN, Texas — Actress Chanel Maya Banks, known for her roles in “Gossip Girl” and “Blue Bloods” has been found safe near San Antonio, according to Los Angeles police.
Banks was last seen on Oct. 30, but authorities told ABC News that a tip led police to a home in Boerne, where a woman identified herself as Banks.
Body camera footage of the encounter was shown to Banks’ family, but the family remained skeptical that she had been located, saying the woman in the video was not Banks and looked nothing like the actress did the last time she was seen.
Before Banks was found by police, relatives reported the 36-year-old missing from her residence in the Los Angeles area and that she had not been heard from since late October.
“Five days without hearing from my cousin is red flags and alarm bells,” Banks’ cousin Danielle-Tori Singh told ABC News. “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.”
According to ABC News, authorities searched Banks’ apartment where she had been living with her husband and found her dog and belongings were still there.
However, Wednesday night Banks appeared to dispute her family’s side of the story, saying in messages that claimed abuse by her family and that she willingly escaped her “cage.” She also claimed she hadn’t spoken to Singh in more than 15 years.
“There will be no more lies,” Banks posted on social media. “Everything in the darkness must come to light … please do not donate to any GoFundMe that says I’m missing, I am not missing.”
Los Angeles police told ABC News that she was unharmed and no foul play was suspected, so they closed the case.