Fowlie’s sister, Christina Downer, went missing in December. On Wednesday, Fowlie posted the update about his sister on Instagram, writing that the Los Angeles Police Department had reclassified Downer’s missing person case.
“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,” the writer said in a statement shared on Instagram on Wednesday.
In a statement emailed to SFGATE, LAPD wrote that Downer’s case was not a homicide investigation:
“Robbery-Homicide Division continues to investigate the disappearance of Christina Downer,” the department’s statement reads in part. “Although the circumstances of her disappearance are suspicious, Ms. Downer has not been located, and her case has not been reclassified as a homicide.”
In the weeks following Downer’s disappearance, Fowlie took to social media to plead for help finding her. “My sister is still missing,” Fowlie wrote in an Instagram post on Dec. 27. “This is not like her, she’s never gone off the grid like this.”
Downer, 38, had last been seen in LA’s Koreatown, according to Fowlie, and had last posted on social media on Dec. 15. Fowlie previously wrote that he last heard from Downer on Nov. 26.
Fowlie’s recent update arrived four days after he posted that he had “no updates I can share.” He added in the Wednesday post that there was reason to believe that Downer’s phone and social media were “compromised” in the weeks before her disappearance.
LAPD urged anyone with information on Downer’s case to contact its robbery and homicide unit at 213-486-6850.
