taylorcasey

The family of the 41-year-old woman missing in the Bahamas, Taylor Casey is now offering $10,000 for information that would lead to finding the woman who vanished on a yoga retreat on Paradise Island.

To date, police have not released any new leads on the matter and family and friends said the case seems to be at a dead end.

The family has since retained attorney John Q Kelly, a press release from the family read.

Taylor’s family said they believe search efforts have been marred by prejudice because Casey is transgender, expressing dissatisfaction with the local police Bahamas investigation, and calling for the FBI to get involved.

The FindTaylorCasey social media page said the family is “working hard behind the scenes.”

“Taylor has been missing for several weeks means we cannot give up the search to find our beloved person and bring them home. It means we must continue to commit resources to finding Taylor, including fundraising to support a proper search for her.”

Taylor visited the Bahamas on June 2 and disappeared on June 19 while at the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat Center. Her belongings remained in a tent quarter where she stayed but her phone was discovered in waters not far away from the site. Her US passport was still missing.

No one has found a trace of 41-year-old Taylor Casey since her disappearance in the Bahamas after she visited the Sivanandra Ashram Yoga Retreat on Paradise Island, igniting international headlines and safety concerns in the Bahamas, a destination for millions of tourists each year.

Though Taylor’s mother believes the woman may have faced danger because she is transgender, it is possible Taylor could have drowned like Wesley Bell who disappeared 11 years ago at the same site, both seeking wellness tourism.

Bell who was 41 at the time, was visiting from Houston Texas when he vanished from the yoga retreat on Paradise Island where he was a guest.

Bahamas authorities issued a missing person bulletin hoping he would be spotted, but he vanished.

His father, Don Bell, told NBC last week, he believes his son “drowned in the water” adding that authorities “couldn’t find him.” His shoes, shirt, and hat were found on the beach.

Danniel Ward-Packard 58, who befriended Bell at the time said she remembered him walking off alone to snorkel, but never returning.

“People were pretty traumatized. It’s a beautiful place, everybody is having an amazing yoga experience in this gorgeous location, and then somebody’s gone.”

Now that Taylor is missing just two weeks into her visit to certify as a yoga instructor, drowning seems to be the more plausible cause. The beautiful waters around the site are dangerous. It became the focus of efforts to find her– from divers, drones, and search dogs deployed in the area.

Raquel Ramotar acquainted with the area where Taylor was last seen, remembers it as private property that’s dangerous and treacherous.

“That place should be investigated. The ocean in the back of that retreat is a mystery. It is breathtaking but when you walk into it, the drop below is deep and the sand sinks.”

Someone had seen Taylor going to look at a coral reef but did not see her return.

Bahamas police, accused of not doing enough to find her, found her phone and journal under 56 feet of water. Now, many wonder where is her US passport since authorities said it remains missing. This is mystifying.

All of her belongings were found in her tent where she lived and the spokesperson for the retreat says she “was not taken” but left “voluntarily.”

On the face of it, the circumstances seem unusual because she has not been found. However, considering tourists’ admiration for the turquoise waters, Taylor’s curiosity may have ended tragically.

Taylor may never be found and Bahamas authorities may always face scrutiny from her family and friends amid a succession of unfounded speculations.

Taylor Casey, the 41-year-old American woman who went missing in the Bahamas one month ago, is seen in a resurfaced video at the Sivananda Yoga Retreat Center, singing at a microphone.

Taylor is assisted by a woman who appears to be another classmate, as both are adorned in the yoga center’s yellow t-shirt and white pants, leading a group in a chorus.

Taylor, center stage with a notebook, appears stumped and slightly nervous as the woman helps her with leading the chant. She sings with the class and then tries it on her own. At the completion, she makes a prayer hand and gives the woman a high-five. They both walk offstage.

@haitgo_bahamas

The mysterious disappearance of Taylor Casey. Video footage of Taylor Casey. What is going on? What is going on? Disclaimer: We do not own the rights to this video. This video was shared for educational purposes. #haitgobahamas #haitgobahamas🇧🇸🇧🇸 #taylorcaseyupdate #taylorcasey #taylorcaseymissing #taylorcaseybahamas #242bahamas🇧🇸 #bahamas #bahamastiktok #bahamiantiktok #bahamastiktok🇧🇸 #bahamas🇧🇸

♬ original sound – Ha It Go Bahamas🇧🇸

This video is significant since Taylor, who traveled to the Bahamas alone, disappeared from the center on June 19 and it shows her interaction with the people there.

Friends at the initial phase of the investigation said they did not find Taylor in any videos posted to the yoga center’s website.

Her mother Colette Seymour said Taylor had contacted her complaining that the course was difficult and she was having a hard time.

The yoga enthusiast was on a month-long course to become a certified instructor. She lived in a tent on the property, one of the arranged accommodations available for students, but has not been seen since. Her phone was recovered but Bahamian authorities said her US passport was missing.

The disappearance of Taylor who has a ‘big footprint’ in the transgender community in Chicago, has garnered support from the LGBTQ community in her state and they are now pushing the US government to permit the FBI to investigate the case.

The distressed family and friends of American woman Taylor Casey who vanished one month ago in the Bahamas are holding out hope she’ll be found, though there are no new updates on her whereabouts since June 19.

Her family said they expected an update from the Royal Bahamas Police Force last Friday, but have not received it. They are still campaigning for the Chicago woman’s safe return while pleading for the FBI’s support in finding her.

Jacqueline Boyd has known Taylor for 17 years and describes her as an “amazing, amazing friend.”

“Anybody that has been in a room with her is really, really devastated right now, personally impacted and motivated to action,” he told CNN. “And it is fully a reflection of how Taylor shows up for us.”

Friends say Taylor, a transgender woman who grew up in south suburban Harvey, Illinois, and most recently moved to Rogers Park in Chicago, is an Air Force veteran, a community worker, a woman of faith, an artist, and a hairstylist.

“Taylor’s favorite things are flowers and gardens and just peace,” her mother, Colette Seymore told CNN. “Taylor is a very gentle spirit. Taylor just loves people, loves to help people, cares about people, cares about justice (and) fairness.”

Taylor had worked with Howard Brown Health in HIV testing and prevention, her friends said.

Since knowing her for just six years, Darlene Hughes, Taylor’s aunt said, “I immediately was adopted by her!”

“I love and I miss her proper voice and choice of words like ‘Hi Aunt Darlene.’ Just like that, I was accepted into Taylor’s heart. I am so fulfilled that I met her, but that is not enough for me. Please bring Taylor Casey home.”

Taylor was on a trip to the Bahamas to certify as a yoga instructor at the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat Center on Paradise Island when she mysteriously disappeared. Police found her phone in waters not far from where she stayed but were unsuccessful in recovering the contents of the phone, Commissioner of Police Clayton Fernander said.

Authorities have not found her US passport, raising an alarm in Chicago’s transgender and LGBTQ+ community, who founded the @findtaylorcasey Facebook and Instagram pages to bring awareness to her disappearance.

The Royal Bahamas Police Force is pushing back following US media’s attempt to connect the missing American woman to the suspension of the RBPF’s Officer in Charge of Criminal Investigations.

“The information is erroneous and unequivocally unrelated,” the organization said in a statement released to the public on Friday.

Last week, Chief Superintendent Michael Johnson was put on “garden leave” when voice recordings released to the public revealed some type of complicity with gang members, purported corrupt acts that have led to a probe in alleged dealings.

Meanwhile, Taylor Casey, a 41-year-old transgender woman remains an open case in the Bahamas since she has not yet been found as her family and friends accuse the RBPF of being slow to act and not doing enough to find her. They have even called for the Federal Bureau of Investigation to join the search for Taylor while lambasting the RBPF.

US media like NewsNation, ABC7NY and NBC Chicago have since latched on to the story, linking Johnson’s suspension to the family’s dissatisfaction with the investigation.

Some Bahamians took to social media to set the record straight.

“What type of slander this is? The officer has nothing to do with the missing person,” Carlianna Frazier told ABC 7NY.

“Lies! Yall really reaching. The disappearance of [Taylor Casey] has nothing to do with this cop,” Trish added.

“Take this down,” Merlanda Pratt said to ABC 7NY. “Do better investigative reporting.”

Trent Bingham said, “The fact that this headline is so clearly incorrect makes you question the validity of the rest of their post and broadcast. This is very embarrassing and disgusting.”

Bahamas police said it is still actively investigating the disappearance of Taylor.

Featured image: Officer in Charge of Criminal Investigations Michael Johnson; Commissioner of Police Clayton Fernander; Missing American woman Taylor Casey

The mother of Taylor Casey, the woman who went missing in the Bahamas last month on a yoga retreat, is just now revealing that Taylor is a transgender woman, as the search seems to hit a stalemate and detectives are stumped by her disappearance.

When she first disappeared, CSJ Report learned of her transgender identity when family and friends spoke in a Zoom meeting about her “large footprint” in the trans community in Chicago. But they never officially identified her as such, and neither did Bahamian authorities.

Now three weeks into the search, friends in a press statement disclosed her gender identity: ‘Community Urgently Seeks Help in Finding Beloved, Black Trans Advocate Missing Since June 20’

Seymore revealed to NBC why she shielded Taylor’s identity: “The focus was going to be taken off of finding my child, my child being missing and that they were going to put the focus on ‘oh, Taylor’s transgender,’ which should not be the focus at all.

“It should be the focus is finding Taylor, an American, human being citizen that’s missing in the Bahamas.”

Seymore who criticized Bahamas police for not doing enough to find Taylor, said her child would have already been found if she was white and heterosexual.

“Without a doubt. Without a doubt. There would have been way more effort. The investigation would have been done properly, the way it should have been done.”

Some took to social media, scolding the family for shielding Taylor’s gender identity.

“Sadly, they should have revealed transgenderism right away. You need a detailed description to find someone,” one user said.

Another said, “They should have said immediately that Taylor is transgender. That’s a huge component to this case.”

In a press conference on Thursday, the family honored Taylor’s 42^nd birthday and urged Chicago officials to call for FBI intervention in the disappearance.

Taylor’s phone has been found in waters near where she stayed, but her passport remains missing.

Her trip to the Bahamas was supposed to be a month-long training in yoga instructions at Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat Center on Paradise Island but nearly two weeks into the course, she reportedly disappeared.

Bahamian authorities are expected to give the family an update on Friday.

LGBTQ Pastor Marcus Payne II and the congregation of Lighthouse Church of Chicago are holding nights of prayer, hoping for the safe return of Taylor Casey to Chicago, Illinois.

“Our community is broken and distraught right now during this time,” Payne said at a press conference in Chicago, in honor of Taylor’s birthday.   Payne, Taylor’s family and friends pleaded for the government’s assistance in finding the 42-year-old last seen in the Bahamas.

“She is a vital heartbeat, the heart pulse of our people.”

Taylor, a transgender woman, visited the Bahamas for a four-week yoga training course at the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat Center on Paradise Island. She was last seen on June 19. Now Bahamian investigators are trying to piece together the puzzle of her mysterious disappearance.

Her phone found roughly 56 feet below water could not be accessed by investigators and her US passport has not been found, police said.

Taylor’s mother, Collette Seymour has called for assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and, she is now pressuring US elected officials to do more to find her child who celebrated her 42nd birthday on Thursday.

Taylor served actively in her church where she was on the hospitality team and “regularly participated in monthly meals [and] community conversations throughout the week.”

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A post shared by Lighthouse Church of Chicago (@lighthousecchi)

Lighthouse Church of Chicago is an LGBTQ-affirming church, whose mission Payne said is to be passionate about social justice and the gospel of Jesus Christ, “through, empowerment, entertainment and education.”

“Taylor’s fashion sense, her sense of curiosity towards the world, how she saw the world as beautiful and saw God through it, is something our community is all right now, missing deeply and truly,” Payne said.

The church has organized prayer calls for Taylor and is sharing updates on social media.

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A post shared by Lighthouse Church of Chicago (@lighthousecchi)

He urged elected officials to help find Taylor. “Government needs to move urgently.”

The family of missing woman Taylor Casey marked her 42^nd birthday with a press conference in Chicago, calling on elected officials to help find the woman who has been missing for more than three weeks in the Bahamas.

The press conference, attended by Casey’s mother, Collette Seymore, officials, and friends of the LGBTQ community became emotional as Seymore wept.

“I wonder where you are. Are you okay? Are you in danger? Are you sick? Are you hurt? My nights are sleepless with worry about you.”

Taylor went missing on June 19 while seeking certification as a yoga instructor at the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat on Paradise Island in the Bahamas.

“The pain I felt 42 years ago while birthing you doesn’t compare to the pain I feel on today with you missing out of our lives,” Seymore lamented. “The pain, the hurt, the agony is practically killing me.”

The Royal Bahamas Police Force has been leading the investigation and discovered Taylor’s phone under 56 feet of water but has been unable to access it. They have not found her American passport.

Seymore and Taylor’s friends have held meetings with the RBPF but have expressed dissatisfaction with the investigations. They are now calling on the elected officials in Chicago to pressure the US government for the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) assistance with the mysterious case.

“You have the support of the mayor’s office,” Managing Deputy of External Affairs of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s Office Kennedy Bartlett said during the press conference. “We will be calling on our federal delegation to do everything within their power to make sure that we are bringing Taylor home.”

“I share in his heartbreak for Taylor’s disappearance. Taylor, like too many Black women and girls, particularly those of the queer and trans communities, go missing.

“We’ll continue to make sure that all Black women and young girls who far too often go missing and disappear, that they are met with the types of love and care and tenacious searching that they deserve and that your family and your community.”

The family said they are expecting an update from Bahamian authorities on Friday.

Sivananda Asham Yoga Retreat Center, facing heavy criticism, is hitting back at “false” claims made by the family of missing American tourist Taylor Casey, last seen near their site before her mysterious disappearance.

Colette Seymore, the mother of Taylor suggested that something sinister occurred at the retreat on Paradise Island and her daughter may have been abducted by an unknown man who wandered near Taylor’s tent, claims she said was told to her by a retreat manager.

“That is false and defamatory and not based on facts,” Peter Goudie, representing the retreat said to the Tribune, adding that all indications suggest Taylor left “voluntarily” since her personal belongings were still in the tent where she stayed.

Seymore visited the Bahamas on a three-day trip with other family and friends hoping to find her daughter. She showed images inside the tent where Taylor lived—an unmade bed, flip-flops, t-shirts, a bible, a picture of Jesus, cotton swabs, affirmation cards, books, and a yoga training book.

Local authorities confirmed Taylor’s passport remains missing and her phone was found in waters nearby.

“The tent photo…taken by Ms Casey’s family shows no signs of struggle…Her toothbrush and personal care products were in the tent in the photo, indicating she was going to return,” Goudie told the Tribune.

Seymore told the media that she was told of two men wandering the property on different days, once on the platform near Taylor’s tent and another time, a man dressed in all black was questioning an employee about the yoga retreat.

But Goudie said, “The man is from Atlanta and was staying next door at the Atlantis Resort. He was simply taking a stroll on the beach and was interested in knowing more about our yoga classes. We often have inquiries about the yoga retreat from the guests at Atlantis.

“The other individual was holding a walkie-talkie, and our best guess is that he is a security guard for one of our neighbors. He entered the ashram at about 2 pm –– a time when our students were in class –– and stayed for a couple of minutes and left.”

The mysterious disappearance has sparked debates on what could have possibly happened to the woman and has shined a spotlight on crime and visitor safety in the Bahamas.

Taylor is light-skinned, 145 lbs, with brown eyes and hair. If you see Taylor, you are asked to call 919 or crime tipsters 328-TIPS(8477).

Chicago authorities have issued a missing person alert for 41-year-old American woman Taylor Casey last seen in the Bahamas. And others are joining in. Friends of the trans woman are lending support, spreading the word of her mysterious disappearance.

Leader and CEO of Los Angeles LGBTQ Center Joe Hollendoner pushed for more outside efforts to find Taylor while attending a policy briefing at the White House.

“I asked the President of the United States (Joe Biden) and Vice President (Kamala Harris) to work with Taylor’s family and the @findtaylorcasey effort to get Taylor home to Chicago,” he said in a social media post.

Transgender leader Precious Brady Davis, a Chicago County official is also throwing her weight behind the search efforts to find Taylor.

In a social media post, she grieved Taylor’s disappearance, reminiscing on the years of friendship.

“I have known Taylor Casey for a number of years.

“Back in the day she regularly had gatherings at her home off Belmont and Halsted that brought all the girls together in a time when all had was us. At the time we were all just surviving,” said the first trans woman to serve in public office in Cook County.

“Her disappearance has given me great sorrow and I have a plethora of memories with her that I will always cherish. It is my prayer she returns to us all soon.”

Davis and her trans husband were honored and served as grand marshals for the city’s recent Pride Parade. They hope to use their influence to spur awareness and strengthen calls for support.

The Transgender Law Center in Chicago is getting involved too. The center, responsible for changes to law, policy, and attitudes toward transgenders says they are grieving the disappearance of their community leader, referring to her as “a beacon of joy.”

“Her presence is deeply missed…We are holding onto hope.”

Taylor visited the Bahamas to attend a four-week yoga course to become a certified instructor but after just two weeks at the Sivananda Asham Yoga Retreat Center, she disappeared. Only her phone was discovered. Authorities say her American passport is also missing.

Her mother Colette Seymore and friend Emily Williams expressed dissatisfaction with the investigations and are calling for US support.