Taylor Casey’s Loved Ones Say Bahamas Police Aren’t Doing Enough to Find Woman Who Vanished on Yoga Trip
Taylor Casey was last seen on June 19 in the Bahamas
The family and friends of a Chicago woman who vanished while on a yoga retreat in the Bahamas are not satisfied with authorities’ effort to locate her.
Speaking to NBC’s Today, the mother of Taylor Casey expressed her frustration with Bahamian police conducting the investigation.
“I need them on the island to act like it’s their child that’s missing,” Colette Seymore told Today.
Casey, 41, was last seen on June 19 in the area of Paradise Island, the Royal Bahamas Police Force said in a June 21 statement. Casey was attending a certification retreat, run by Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat Bahamas. The organization told PEOPLE that it first reported Casey’s disappearance to authorities.
On July 2, the police force said it had found Casey’s cell phone and other belongings from “nearby waters,” but had not located her passport.
“Let me make this clear to the U.S. media, the public, and our government officials: We are not satisfied with how this investigation has been handled thus far,” Casey’s friend Emily Williams, who traveled to the Bahamas with Seymore in the wake of the disappearance, said in a statement. “And what we learned and observed during our time meeting with the authorities and Ashram leaders is disturbing and infuriating.”
Casey's family has claimed following her disappearance, police left the tent where Casey had been staying open to the public, instead of immediately treating it as a potential crime scene, per NBC.
NBC reported that Casey’s family believes she could have been targeted, but officials have not commented on that possibility.
Chrislyn Skippings, superintendent of the Royal Bahamas Police Force, touted the investigative efforts in a televised statement, footage of which was run by NBC.
“We used our drone technology, we used our canine, we’ve used our divers,” Skippings said.
Skippings did not respond to a request for comment from PEOPLE.
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In January, the U.S. Department of State issued a Level 2 travel advisory for the Bahamas, urging visitors to “exercise increased caution,” due to increasing crime in the island country.
The Chicago Police Department also issued a missing persons alert for Casey on July 1.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Royal Bahamas Police Force at 502-9991/2 or Crime stoppers at 328-TIPS (8477).
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