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Life imitates art for actress Chanel Banks, who once played a police officer on NBC’s procedural Blue Bloods before becoming involved in a true crime case of her own.
Who does Chanel Banks play on Blue Bloods?
Banks starred as the character Maria Ramano in the pilot of Blue Bloods in 2010. She was credited as “Chanel Farrell.” Banks played an officer that was a part of the Patrol Services Bureau division of the New York City Police Department that Commissioner Frank Reagan, Detective Danny Reagan, and Officer (now Sergeant) Jamie Reagan also worked at.
Prior to that, Banks also starred under the name “Chanel Farrell” in the 2010 movie Twelve and Season 3 of Gossip Girl, in which she played the character Sawyer Bennett in a three-episode arc.
Banks was found safe in Texas on November 11, 2024, after she had been reported missing from her Los Angeles home for two weeks. “She is fine,” LAPD spokesperson Charles Miller told People in a statement at the time, confirming that no foul play was involved. “No danger. She is OK. She has been taken out of the missing person system for us and we have closed our investigation.”
According to Miller, Banks was located by an outside agency. There was also a coordination delay between the two law enforcement agencies, which was why Banks wasn’t announced as found until November 13, 2024, two days after she was located.
Banks, for her part, spoke out about what happened to her in an interview with True Crime News after she was found. In the interview, Banks claimed that she was a victim of “abuse, manipulation, and outright endless torment” by her family and that she went missing as a result of her mother’s behavior.
“I mean, the day I left was exactly seven days ago today. I haven’t been gone for three weeks. I haven’t been missing for three weeks. I’m an adult woman. I don’t have to call my mother every day,” she said.
She continued, “And lately, in the past couple months, I noticed the leash was getting longer, so I took advantage of that, and I kind of made preparations to head out, so to speak. And I think that’s what really bamboozled her and got really upset.”
Prior to being found, a GoFundMe page was set up by Banks’ cousin, Danielle-Tori Singh, who reported that she hadn’t been in contact with her family since October 30, 2024. Police subsequently carried out welfare checks on Banks on November 7 and 8, however, she wasn’t present at her apartment in Playa Vista, California, on both occasions.
Singh also reported that she had flown to California from Toronto to search for Banks and managed to get into her apartment with her aunt, where they found that Banks had left her dog and car, which was still parked in her garage. All of Banks’ belongings were also still at her apartment aside from her phone and laptop.
“Five days without hearing from my cousin is red flags and alarm bells,” Singh told KABC after Banks’ disappearance. “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.”
She contiued, “I can tell you in my soul, in my gut, something is not right. … We’re crossing two weeks now without a word, without a sound. Nothing.”
