A Black Trans Woman Went Missing From a Bahamas Yoga Retreat. Her Family Wants Answers – Them

The friends and family of Taylor Casey, a Black transgender woman from Chicago who has been missing in the Bahamas since June 19, are calling for greater public attention to her disappearance.

Casey, 42, was last seen at the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat on Paradise Island late last month, per NBC News. The island is located off the coast of Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas. In a statement to NBC News, Caseys mother Colette Seymore said that her family was deeply concerned for Taylors safety and well-being.

I believe Taylor is in danger because she was eager to share her yoga retreat experience with others upon her return, she told the outlet. Taylor would never disappear like this.

It wasnt until a press release earlier this week that Caseys mother publicly shared that her daughter is trans, according to NBC News. Seymore told NBC News that she had now previously made that information public because 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, Taylors transgender, which should not be the focus at all.

Last week, law enforcement in the Bahamas announced that they had located Caseys cell phone, journal, and other personal effects in nearby waters, according to a press release from the Royal Bahamas Police Force. However, they were unable to access the phone, and also stated that her passport remains missing.

Seymore also told WMAQ, Chicagos local NBC affiliate, that she felt as though Caseys case wasnt receiving the attention it deserved. I just feel like they are hiding something, covering up something, and they separated, isolated my child, Seymore told the local outlet, adding that Casey was the only African American in the instructors class.

Seymore herself visited the yoga retreat herself last week and called her visit deeply unsettling, as she told KABC. She told the outlet that she felt like the students she talked to at the retreat were told what to say and what not to say. Caseys family additionally told KABC that the police allegedly refused to turn over her phone, and refused to tell them how many statements they collected from people at the yoga retreat.

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A Black Trans Woman Went Missing From a Bahamas Yoga Retreat. Her Family Wants Answers - Them