The cellphone of a Chicago woman who went missing while traveling to the Bahamas for a yoga retreat has reportedly been found.
Taylor Casey, 41, was last seen on Wednesday, June 19, near Paradise Island, the Royal Bahamas Police Force said in a statement on June 21.
Organizers of the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat Bahamas, a certified yoga retreat where Casey was attending, also confirmed her disappearance after she failed to show up for a class on June 20.
On Wednesday, June 26, Superintendent Chrislyn Skippings of the Royal Bahamas Police Force said, according to CNN and local media reports, that Casey’s cell phone had been found in the ocean. Nassau Guardian.
Casey’s friend Sarah also said her phone was found, according to local independent news outlet CSJ Report.
Royal Bahamas Police
“We have conducted a thorough investigation into this matter,” Skippings said at a press conference, according to CNN. “Our number one priority is finding Ms. Taylor and making sure she is healthy.”
Skippings did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Police are using drones, search and rescue dogs and divers as they continue their investigation, and are also checking surveillance cameras, according to CNN.
Skippings added that authorities were working with Casey’s family and also speaking to participants at the yoga retreat.
“Oh my God, I miss Taylor. I don’t think she should ever be gone,” Casey’s mother, Collette Seymour, told CBS News.
“I heard from Taylor on Tuesday. That was the last time she sent me a picture of Taylor in the Atlantic Ocean. It said, ‘I miss you, Mom. I miss you. Look, I’m on the beach,'” Seymour said she last spoke to her daughter on June 18.
“Taylor calls me all the time and keeps in touch. She sent me beautiful pictures of Taylor in the ocean from the Bahamas,” Seymour added to ABC News. “We want Taylor to come home. We need Taylor in our lives. We miss her.”
The media reported that Seymour had traveled to the Bahamas to help search for her daughter.
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“I believe Taylor is at risk because she wanted to share her yoga retreat experience with others upon her return home,” Seymour said in a statement posted to the Find Taylor Casey Facebook page earlier this week.
“There’s no way Taylor could just disappear like that,” Seymour argued.
Casey had been practising yoga for 15 years and attending the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat was part of her “long-term goal to deepen her yoga practice,” her family said in a statement.
Casey is described as a black woman with a slender build and light skin, approximately 5 feet 10 inches tall, weighing 145 pounds, with brown hair and eyes, and her natural hair is often covered by a durag.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Royal Bahamas Police Force at 502-9991/2 or Crime Stoppers at 328-TIPS (8477).
