Taylor Casey remains missing over four months after she disappeared from a yoga retreat in the Bahamas.
Casey was last seen on June 19 in the Bahamas. She was attending Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat and studying to get her yoga teaching certification. The Chicago resident had been practicing yoga for over 15 years.
A fundraiser to help find Casey has raised over $47,000 so far, and donations are still being collected. The donations have helped fund travel to the Bahamas to support the search effort, a press conference, an attorney and a private investigation team.
The organizers said continued donations would help fund additional trips to the Bahamas and Washington, D.C., financial support for the family, ongoing legal and investigation costs and national and international outreach.
Taylor Casey went missing from a yoga retreat in the Bahamas over four months ago. Family and friends claimed Bahamian officials had not been providing updates about the search effort.
Casey’s mother Colette Seymore recently told Newsweek that she had not received any updates from authorities. She added that Illinois senators and other elected officials were continuing to communicate with the U.S. Embassy in the Bahamas.
A spokesperson for Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth told Newsweek that she is assisting in the search effort.
“Senator Duckworth has been closely monitoring this heartbreaking situation and she is working closely with relevant federal agencies. She will continue to coordinate with Ms. Casey’s family to help in any way she can,” the spokesperson said.
Seymore also called for increased security at the Ashram yoga retreat.
“I believe they need to have security cameras,” Seymore said. “They need to have security guards. They need to have security around that place because anybody can walk onto that place.”
She said people spend thousands of dollars to attend the retreat.
“Taylor spent close to $4,000 to go there to sleep in a tent and not be protected,” Seymore said.
Friends and family are calling on the FBI to take over the investigation into Casey’s disappearance. They alleged a pattern of falsehoods from the Bahamian police.
Photo courtesy of Find Taylor Casey
Seymore traveled with Emily Williams, a friend of Casey, to the Bahamas to speak to officials and yoga retreat staff and students directly following Casey’s disappearance.
“It was pretty apparent to us that things are not being handled the way that they would be handled if they were in the U.S.,” Williams told Newsweek. “And so that was a real concern for us, because we believe that every single resource possible needs to be devoted to finding Taylor.”
Williams had also complained about the lack of updates at that time.
“We were promised an update on July 12, which we did not receive, and so we remain open and willing to communicate directly with the authorities in the Bahamas,” Williams said. “And that’s what we’re requesting, that’s what we have been requesting, that’s what we will continue to request.”
Newsweek reached out to the Royal Bahamas Police Force for comment.
An anonymous donor has contributed $10,000 for any information about Taylor’s disappearance.
Anyone with information is being asked to contact the Royal Bahamas Police Force Criminal Investigations Department at 502-9991/2 or Crime Stoppers at 328-TIPS (8477).
Do you have a story Newsweek should be covering? Do you have any questions about this story? Contact LiveNews@newsweek.com
