Missing Chicago Woman’s Cellphone Discovered in Bahamas as Mother Appeals to U.S. for Assistance
Taylor Casey’s cellphone has been found in the Bahamas, police announced Tuesday, as the mother of the missing 41-year-old Chicago woman calls for the United States to take up the investigation.
Casey was on the Caribbean island to attend a yoga certification program, but the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat reported her missing on the night of June 20 after she failed to show up for class. She was last spotted at Paradise Island’s yoga school the night before.
The Royal Bahamas Police Force initiated a search for the missing woman and said on Tuesday that her smartphone had been recovered from surrounding seas.
Her journal and other personal belongings have also been discovered, according to the police, but her US passport remains gone.
“This is a top priority for the Royal Bahamas Police Force, and we will continue to work tirelessly to locate Taylor and ensure her safe return to her family,” the force said in a statement.
“The police will diligently seek to determine what happened to Taylor, and in the process.”
Collette Seymore, Casey’s mother, has recently returned to the United States after spending three days in the Bahamas, and she is requesting aid from the United States government.
She and her team issued a statement Monday blasting Bahamas officials for their handling of the inquiry and the yoga retreat, which Seymore described as “cultish” and obstructive.
She said Casey’s phone was discovered in the ocean with the help of her niece, who alerted authorities to the place where it last pinged. They now say that the cops are refusing to give her the phone.
“I believe that phone may have information we need on there,” she told us.
UPI called the Royal Bahamas Police Force for comment.
She also stated that there were no missing person posters for Casey at the retreat or in the nearby neighborhoods. It was even gone from the police station’s bulletin board, she claimed, with her team sharing photographs of it embellished with a half dozen additional missing person posters as proof.
Her side also accused the police of having a security company check CCTV footage instead of investigators, and of having ashram guests make written statements about Casey rather of conducting interviews.
“I am concerned about the investigation,” Seymore remarked. “I am not satisfied with it. I believe the police did the bare minimum, and I want them to behave as if it is their missing child!”
They are now urging the US State Department to dispatch the FBI to take over the probe.
“I had to go back home without her. “This is every mother’s nightmare,” she stated in a statement. “I felt an urgent need to return because, without U.S. government support, we may never find out what happened to my Taylor.”