The cell phone of a Chicago woman who vanished while on a yoga retreat in the Bahamas has been found, according to the Royal Bahamas Police Force.
Taylor Casey, 41, was last seen on June 19 on Paradise Island, a small resort off the shore of New Providence in the Bahamas. When Casey failed to show up for class at the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat on June 20, the staff reported her missing to Bahamian police.
On June 26, Royal Bahamas Police Force Chief Superintendent Chrislyn Skippings revealed Casey’s cell phone had been found in the ocean, according to local news outlet The Nassau Guardian.
Skippings said Casey’s belongings were still at the ashram and that investigators have questioned the staff. She was unable to say if police suspect foul play in the matter.
The update came shortly after Casey’s family met with police on Wednesday after traveling to the island nation to assist with the search.
Casey’s mother, Colette Seymore, told CBS News she heard from her daughter last Tuesday.
“That was the last time,” she said. “Taylor sent me pictures of Taylor in the Atlantic Ocean and said, ‘I miss you mom. Look, I’m at the beach.’”
Casey has been a yoga practitioner for the last 15 years, and attended the resort retreat with the intent of “deepening her practice,” her mother said. After Casey was reported missing, staff alerted her family and the US Embassy in the Bahamas.
“We are deeply concerned for Taylor’s safety and well-being,” Seymore wrote on a Facebook page focused on the search for Casey. “We love Taylor and want her home.”
The family is pleading with the public to help find Casey and to share any information they may have with the Bahamas police. They have created a “Find Taylor Casey” Facebook page and Instagram account to help spread the word.
"Taylor would never disappear like this," Seymore wrote.
Seymore believes her daughter would never have run away from an event she was excited to join. That is why she believes now that her daughter may be in danger and plan to resume searching on Thursday.
“I believe Taylor is in danger because she was eager to share her yoga retreat experience with others upon her return," Seymore said.
Casey’s family described her as a “light-skinned Black woman, approximately 5-feet 10-inches tall and 145 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes.”
A Level 2 travel advisory issued by the U.S. State Department in January remained in effect, advising travelers to “exercise increased caution in The Bahamas due to crime.”
