Jimmy Fowlie said Wednesday that the Los Angeles Police Department told his family Christina Lynn Downer is no longer alive and that her case has shifted from a missing-person investigation to a homicide investigation.
Fowlie, a Saturday Night Live writer, first went public in December 2025 with a plea for help finding his sister, saying she was last seen in Los Angeles and had been in contact with him as late as Nov. 26. He said she was active on social media until Dec. 15.
The announcement gives grim confirmation to a search that had already drawn broad online attention. Fowlie said the LAPD informed his family on Wednesday, April 29, while police had previously said Downer was last contacted on Dec. 10, 2025, through a text message with a friend. Officials also said the 38-year-old had no known medical conditions and had not gone missing before.
In his Instagram post, Fowlie said he believed his sister’s phone and social media were compromised in the weeks before she disappeared. He said the people using her phone appeared to hide that she was gone, ask for money and create a false story that she had gone off the grid. He also said Christina was deeply attached to her dog, Rex, a min pin, and noted that she may have used the name Christina Fowlie.
The case drew support from several public figures who shared Fowlie’s posts to raise awareness, including Bowen Yang, Sarah Sherman, Chloe Fineman, Ariana Madix, Angie Harmon, Amy Schumer, Casey Wilson and Wendi McLendon-Covey. Scheana Shay also urged her followers to spread the word.
Fowlie’s post makes clear what happens next: detectives are now treating the disappearance as a killing, and he is asking anyone with information to come forward before more of the case is lost to silence.
