Items recovered from Taylor Casey’s tent: a bible, affirmation cards and a picture of Jesus

An unmade bed, yellow t-shirts branded with Sivananda Yoga Retreat Center hanging in a mini closet, a Bible, a collection of cotton swabs, a picture of Jesus, and a teacher training course book rested on a table.

These were some of the items Taylor Casey’s mother recovered from her apartment at the retreat center on Paradise Island. The 41-year-old went missing on June 19 while undertaking a training course there.

Police recovered her cell phone in the waters nearby and have not found her American passport.

Seymore said she also collected Louise Hay affirmation cards, Taylor’s yoga mat, books titled “We Do This Until We Free Us” and “All the Black Girls are Activists”; lavender essential oil, toiletries, a sketchpad with her paintings, yoga pants, flip flops, and t-shirts.

“The scene appeared largely unprocessed by local authorities,” she said in a press statement.

She described her visit to the retreat as “deeply unsettling.”

Taylor lived in a mini tent, a common living quarter for guests at the center since so many traveled to connect with nature and relax their body and mind through yoga.

Taylor’s friend Emily Williams also accompanied  Seymore on the three-day trip and believes the center did not do all it could to provide information on their last encounter with Taylor. “It became apparent to us when we met with the Sivananda Ashram leaders that they were struggling to keep a linear and cohesive narrative regarding Taylor’s disappearance.”

Seymore added, “We had to beg to talk to [Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat] students, but then I feel like they were told what to say and not to say.

“My impression is that it (Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat) is cultish, and students were being coerced to obey them (Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat leaders) even if that meant holding back information about my child missing.”