Taylor Casey

Taylor Casey, a 41-year-old Chicago resident, traveled to the Bahamas in June 2024 to attend a month-long yoga teacher certification program at the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat on Paradise Island, a resort island off Nassau. Casey, a transgender woman, had practiced yoga for roughly 15 years and was known in Chicago as a youth advocate and community leader. On the evening of June 18, 2024, she spoke with her mother, Colette Seymore, by phone; Seymore later said her daughter mentioned that things were hard at the retreat and that something seemed off. Casey was last seen at the retreat around that evening and the following day, June 19. When she failed to appear for morning yoga classes, the retreat alerted authorities, and the Royal Bahamas Police Force confirmed her missing on June 20, 2024.

In the days after the disappearance, searchers made the case's most significant discovery. According to Bahamian police, on June 22 a search dog picked up a scent from a tent at the retreat and tracked it to the water's edge, where the trail ended. Casey's iPhone was subsequently recovered from the ocean off Paradise Island — under more than 50 feet of water, according to Police Commissioner Clayton Fernander, who said investigators had been unable to open the device. Authorities also recovered a journal belonging to Casey. U.S. authorities were asked to help unlock the phone, but as of the one-year anniversary of the disappearance, the family said the phone had neither been unlocked nor released to them, and its records remained unavailable. Searches with divers, drones, underwater drones, and search-and-rescue dogs, along with reviews of surveillance footage, produced no further leads.

Casey's family quickly grew critical of the investigation. Seymore traveled to Paradise Island and described the visit as deeply unsettling, saying she felt authorities did not care and noting there were initially no missing person flyers posted. In July 2024, the family formally asked the FBI to join the search, saying they were not satisfied with how the investigation had been handled; relatives and advocates also said they feared prejudice may have affected the response because Casey is a transgender woman. A spokesperson for the yoga retreat, Peter Goudie, said authorities had done everything they could. The U.S. Embassy in Nassau provided assistance, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth's office monitored the case, and Interpol was also engaged. On July 31, 2024, the family announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to answers about Casey's whereabouts.

More than a year after the disappearance, the case remains unresolved. At the one-year mark in June 2025, CBS News Chicago reported there were still no answers: no arrests, no confirmed sightings, and no explanation for how Casey's phone came to rest deep in the ocean. Casey's family and the 'Find Taylor Casey' campaign have continued to hold events and press for federal involvement. Casey remains listed as a missing person, and anyone with information is asked to contact the Royal Bahamas Police Force or the FBI.