Investigators search for SNL writer’s missing sister in the Joshua Tree area

JOSHUA TREE, Calif. (KESQ) - Investigators with the Los Angeles Police Department were in the Joshua Tree area continuing their search for a woman missing since December.

LAPD officials confirmed to News Channel 3 that Detectives from its Robbery-Homicide Division were conducting a search in the Joshua Tree area for evidence related to the disappearance of Christina Lynn Downer, 38.

There was no word on where the search was taking place.

Downer, the sister of SNL writer Jimmy Fowlie, was last contacted on December 10, 2025, via text message with a friend, police said. Her last known location was in the Koreatown area of Los Angeles.

In late April, Fowlie announced in an Instagram post that investigators told the family that his sister was "no longer alive" and the case had transitioned from a missing persons case to a homicide investigation. The LAPD disputed this report, stating that "Ms. Downer has not been located, and her case has not been reclassified as a homicide."

Fowlie also added in that post that the family has reason to believe that Downer's phone and social media were "compromised" in the weeks leading up to her disappearance.

"The individual(s) in possession of her phone used it to hide the fact that she was gone, to ask for money, and to create a false narrative that she was going 'off the grid.'"

Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Christina Lynn Downer is asked to contact the Los Angeles Police Department’s Missing Persons Unit at (213) 996-1800. During non-business hours or on weekends, calls should be directed to 1-877-LAPD-24-7 (1-877-527-3247).

Anyone wishing to remain anonymous should call the L.A. Regional Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (800-222-8477) or go directly to www.lacrimestoppers.org. Tipsters may also download the “P3 Tips” mobile application and select the L.A. Regional Crime Stoppers as their local program.