Los Angeles police homicide detectives searched the Joshua Tree area of California on Friday for evidence connected to the disappearance of a "Saturday Night Live" writer's sister, months after her family claimed she had been killed.An LAPD spokesperson confirmed to Fox News Digital that detectives with the Robbery-Homicide Division began searching the area Friday morning, though authorities did not disclose the exact location or what evidence they hoped to find.Christina Lynn Downer, 38, disappeared from the Koreatown area of Los Angeles in late November 2025, prompting a missing-person report in December.'VIRGIN RIVER' ACTOR STEWART MCLEAN'S DISAPPEARANCE NOW A HOMICIDE INVESTIGATION, POLICE SAYHer brother, "Saturday Night Live" writer Jimmy Fowlie, announced in an Instagram post in late April that police had informed the family his sister was dead.Christina Lynn Downer, the missing sister of "Saturday Night Live" writer Jimmy Fowlie, was last seen in Los Angeles' Koreatown neighborhood in November 2025.(LAPD)"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.
"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."FAMILY OF CRITICALLY MISSING DC MOTHER SAYS POLICE STILL TREATING HOME AS ACTIVE CRIME SCENEHowever, the LAPD publicly disputed Fowlie's account, maintaining that Downer had not been located and her case remained a missing-person investigation, FOX 11 Los Angeles reported.FOLLOW THE FOX TRUE CRIME TEAM ON XJoshua trees and towering rock formations are seen in Joshua Tree National Park near Twentynine Palms, California, where authorities are investigating the discovery of a human skull.(Shutterstock)CLICK HERE FOR MORE FROM THE FOX TRUE CRIME HUB"Although the circumstances of her disappearance are suspicious, Ms.
Downer has not been locate...