Saturday Night Live writer Jimmy Fowlie, who had asked months ago for the public’s help finding his missing sister, Christina Downer, now says she is “no longer alive.”
“The LAPD has informed our family that Christina is no longer alive, and the case has officially transitioned from a missing person to a homicide investigation,” Fowlie wrote in an update on Instagram on Wednesday. “Our prayers for her to be found safely have transformed into prayers for the truth to be revealed and for those responsible to be held accountable.”
Fowlie added that he believes Downer’s “phone and social media were compromised” in the weeks before she went missing and those who took her phone “used it to hide the fact she was gone, to ask for money, and to create a false narrative that she was going ‘off the grid.’”
“I am sharing this because I believe that whoever is responsible is hoping to erase her in every way possible,” he wrote. “I want to amplify her story in the only way I know how. And to express that she was a beautiful person who matters in this world, especially to me.”
And he encouraged anyone with more information to “find the courage to step forward” and asked people to share his post and “talk about her story.”
“My sister can no longer advocate for herself, but I can and I hope you will too,” he wrote.
Fowlie announced shortly before Christmas that Downer had disappeared, sharing the missing persons report to his Instagram account and adding that he was “worried that she isn’t safe.” In his initial post, he said she had last been seen in Los Angeles in November and urged anyone with information to contact the police.
Saturday Night Live castmembers Chloe Fineman, Sarah Sherman and Bowen Yang shared Fowlie’s post on their Instagram Stories.
Fowlie joined SNL in 2022 as a writer for its 48th season, remaining in the role through the current 51st season of the show. He won an Emmy for his writing on SNL50: The Anniversary Special. His other credits include writing for Netflix’s Roommates movie and Sabrina Carpenter’s 2024 Nonsense Christmas Special, acting and writing on Max’s The Other Two and acting on FX’s English Teacher and ABC’s The Goldbergs.