Family Questions Authenticity of Inflammatory Social Media Posts
The events in the case of Chanel Maya Banks, the Playa Vista-based actress who her family said was missing for two weeks as of Wednesday, began to unfold quickly on Wednesday morning.
The Blue Bloods and Gossip Girl actress, who starred as recurring character Sawyer Bennett under the name Chanel Farrell, seemingly had disappeared on October 30, apparently without a trace. Her cousin and mother came to Los Angeles to search for her after they said all communication from Banks ceased.
On Wednesday morning, TMZ reported per the Los Angeles Police Department, that Banks had been found in Boerne, Texas, a suburb of San Antonio, the day after the first news reports broke on the case.
Danielle Tori Singh and Judy Singh held a press conference around noon on Wednesday and claimed that Banks’ husband of about a year, Carlos Jimenez, was uncooperative and had changed his story more than once after the LAPD became involved and performed two wellness checks at the family’s request.
During the press conference, both women insisted that the woman in the footage from Texas was not their family member. They also noted that Banks’ car was still parked in the apartment building’s parking lot and most of her belongings and her beloved dog were still at the apartment.
Tori-Singh stated that Jimenez told her, “‘She does not want to be found, she will reach out when she’s ready. He claims he does not know where she is, he says he hasn’t seen or heard from her since November 7 but never called [the] police to say she’s gone.”
Around 3:40 p.m. am incendiary four-page Instagram story appeared on Chanel Banks’ account that starts with the words, “My name is Chanel Banks and I am a 36 year old American nobody.” which then goes on to make several serious claims of abuse. Banks states that she told her husband that she was going to Texas to be baptized by one of her favorite pastors Robert Clancy and stated that she was “finally free” and claimed she hadn’t spoken with her cousin in over fifteen years, refuting Tori-Singh’s statements of being close to her.
Part of the IG statement accused her family of controlling her and “gang stalking” her, it states, “For decades my family has been my spiritual, physical, and emotional warden, giving me zero authority of my personage,” she said. “I was not allowed to make any decisions in life in any way without their approval. … Every instance I’d get close to leaving they’d falsify 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 law enforcement would unquestionably and mercilessly pursue me.”
Banks also claimed that her family and her husband were “pursuing a conservatorship ie complete legal control.” She also claims that God spoke to her and gave her the money to go on the trip and said that her husband drove her to the airport.
Pastor Robert Clancy, a minister from Perth, Australia, is part of the Repentance Revival Church, a ministry meant to “prepare for the coming of the Messiah,” which held a four-day prayer and fasting event in Boerne, Texas from October 31 to November 3. Pastor Clancy is the author of blog posts on the revivalist church’s website about “The Jezebel Spirit” that has “affected the Church.”
The LAPD has not responded to further inquiries regarding the family’s claims and Tori-Singh has expressed doubt about the message’s authenticity in media reports but has not yet responded to our inquiries about the situation. Carlos Jimenez has not spoken out as yet but has indicated that he has spoken to an unnamed outlet with an interview that will be released in the future.
