Bahamas - Taylor Casey, 41, Chicago, last seen in at yoga retreat, Paradise Island, Nassau, 19 Jun 2024

[tarabull]

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[branmuffin]

I’m still undecided as to whether there was foul play involved vs misadventure / tragic accident.

I would suggest in general that motives behind violence against gender non-conforming people are often based on the self-serving narratives of the perpetrator of violence. Perpetuators are often unreliable narrators who will shift blame onto their victims while casting themselves as the “true victim.”

Which is to say that I strongly discount the “I was angry because I was fooled by a trans sex worker” excuse as unreliable. (I mention sex work because that’s where the “IDK, I didn’t know” narrative is often raised.)

MOO.

That does make a lot of sense.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

In response to her disappearance, friends from the transgender community in the United States are coordinating efforts to search for Casey in the Bahamas, seeking assistance from residents to locate her.

Casey’s loved ones are mobilizing support from her extensive network of friends, particularly within the transgender community in Chicago, where she is well-regarded.

Still, authorities have not confirmed whether Casey was traveling alone or with companions at the time of her disappearance.

Where is Taylor Casey? Chicago Woman Missing in Bahamas During Yoga Retreat - Hot and On-the-Record

Taylor Casey (age 41, born on November 7, 1982) is a native of Chicago and has been reported missing since June 19 while visiting Paradise Island,

haor.org

 

[tarabull]

FWIW...

https://www.state.gov/reports/2023-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/thebahamas/#:~:text=Discrimination%3A%20The%20August%202023%20Protection,only%20violence%20in%20heterosexual%20relationships.

Bumping my own to add:

Report highlights lack of protections for LGBTQ people in The Bahamas

The Bahamas is the 46th most dangerous country for LGBTQ travelers, according to The LGBTQ+ Danger Index. The index, which was released last week, uses eight factors to rank the

www.thenassauguardian.com

ETA:

REPORT: LGBTQ+, migrants and people with disabilities face significant discrimination in The Bahamas

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — LGBTQ+ individuals and migrants, particularly those without legal documentation, are at significant risk of facing discrimination and violence in The Bahamas, according to a report by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The report also highlights the pronounced challenges of

ewnews.com

 

[PommyMommy]

Update on the Illinois woman missing in the Bahamas coming at 10pm on @NewsNation.
Family does not believe the yoga retreat where she was staying is being totally forthcoming.
Also questions about police investigation --and a man spotted on the beach.
I'm in for Banfield at 10pm.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1807926639587692908

 

[mlhenn]

https://www.newsnationnow.com/missing/taylor-caseys-family-no-missing-person-posters-seen-at-retreat/

Video- interview with family

 

[PommyMommy]

JUL 1, 2024

Chicago police issue missing person alert days after woman went missing during yoga retreat in Bahamas

Several days after a Chicago woman was reported missing from the yoga retreat she was attending in the Bahamas, Chicago police have issued a missing person alert.

www.nbcchicago.com

[...]

The retreat is described as a "vibrant yoga ashram offering vacations, courses, and teacher trainings as well as cleanses, detox programs, healing arts trainings, family programs, kirtan and more," according to the group's Facebook page.

Visitors are able to rent a variety of accommodations when staying at the Ashram, including rooms, huts and tents, the group's website showed.

[...]

According to the report, police searched both the island and the area around it. Officials were not able to confirm the type of lodging Casey was staying in during her time at the retreat.

[...]

 

[Soulmagent]

Interesting. To me, that suggests the possibility of attempting a tricky selfie that went wrong, ie lead to a fall, unconscious in the water, taken out by the tide...

JMO

Or she was feeling creeped out on the beach and was trying to share something with the photo's .

I am skimming but twice I saw "Taylor sent photo's of Taylor at the beach"'
The wording is weird here.
Just observing .

 

[starlightstarbright]

I am skimming but twice I saw "Taylor sent photo's of Taylor at the beach"'
The wording is weird here.
Just observing .

I think the wording may be weird because Taylor could use they/them pronouns (even if not transgender) and the person speaking tripped up and didn’t want to use they/them, but it ended up coming out sounding even odder. JMO

 

[Soulmagent]

I think the wording may be weird because Taylor could use they/them pronouns (even if not transgender) and the person speaking tripped up and didn’t want to use they/them, but it ended up coming out sounding even odder. JMO

I can see it being this ,except I do not know this to be true in this case so before this issue comes into the thread we should source this information.
Insta, facebook,xtwitter...etc.etc..Any they /them /self proclamations on social media?
We cant keep they ,theming- every leo officer,and msm reporter HAS A DUTY ,So Its up to LE to keep the media informed so all of us are abreast of these things.
.I dunno ..why its worded as it is worded ,but if you have supportive links,please share.

 

[Kittypoo]

If Taylor is transgendered, at this point in time, I don't see her gender factoring in to her disappearance. The times I've heard of a transgender person being physically harmed is when they have been involved in an intimate moment with someone who is unaware that the person they are with are not female. That doesn't mean that transgendered people don't experience violence because of their gender but someone would have to know they aren't who they represent as.

It happened in the UK look up Brianna Ghee and was proved to be premeditated murder of a transgender child by a child. Details on the Guardian and Wikipedia unable to link due to the paywall

 

[PommyMommy]

“The people were kind of evasive.”
Missing Illinois woman Taylor Casey’s mother says the yoga retreat she went missing from in the Bahamas is “hard to get answers” from.
Says Taylor's cell phone was found in the ocean 56 feet out from the beach.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1808086239448269122

- Taylor's mom says she wasn't allowed to speak to Hannah, the person who called and told her that Taylor was missing.

- She also says there was a whole wall of missing person's posters at the Royal Bahama's PD but Taylor wasn't on it.

- Taylor's friend says they were given a tour of the ashram "where Taylor's tent was..." and that they were almost scolded when taking pictures of the premises.

- They were able to speak to the last person who saw Taylor, a woman, and she had seen Taylor walking on the beach. The woman also told them that the same day, a man walking from the direction of the Atlantis Hotel, fully clothed, with tennis shoes on, approached Taylor while she was sitting alone. The man claimed to be from Chicago and wanted to take a yoga class. He followed Taylor on to the property of the ashram; he went one way and she went another way, and then she didn't see him again.

- While they were meeting with the ashram leadership, the manager told them the Monday before Taylor went missing there was a man with a walkie-talkie found on the platform where Taylor's tent was. When the man saw an employee, he went in the other direction and walked off the property. Ashram leadership said they reported this to the Paradise Island police but the Royal Bahamas police never mentioned this and as far as the family knows, the police have zero leads.

8:45 minute video

 

[PommyMommy]

JUL 2, 2024

Taylor Casey missing: Mother of missing Chicago woman says visit to Bahamas was 'deeply unsettling'

Casey's mom traveled to the retreat last week and now says her visit was "deeply unsettling."

6abc.com

[...]

The police requested people at the yoga retreat for statements regarding Taylor but would not specify whether any were interrogated.

The police reportedly refused to inform the family's team how many statements they had collected and the names of those participants.

According to Ram Soskin, the lead manager of the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat, the Monday before Casey's disappearance, an unidentified man with a walkie-talkie was seen walking the same platform where Taylor's tent was located.

One of the retreat's participants who the Find Taylor Casey team spoke to said that Casey was approached while sitting alone at the beach by a stranger the same day she was last seen.

The man was wearing a Celtics baseball cap and dressed in all black. He claimed he was from Chicago and was interested in taking a yoga class. He proceeded to follow her onto the property, according to the website created to help find Taylor Casey

 

[FoxxTraxx]

Taylor's mom says she wasn't allowed to speak to Hannah, the person who called and told her that Taylor was missing. - She also says there was a whole wall of missing person's posters at the Royal Bahama's PD but Taylor wasn't on it.

Colette mentioning a 'whole wall' of missing persons posters caught my attention. Just how often are people going missing? How recent are the other cases? Taylor's disappearance may not be an isolated case.

 

[sunflowermomma]

In 2022 several tourists died at a single resort in the Bahamas - news article - one from COVID and the rest from carbon monoxide poisoning. I found another article about a missing American freediver in the Bahamas, but other than that have not found much in a cursory google search about missing Americans or crimes against tourists in the Bahamas.

Anyone from there or that has visited there have more insight into common crimes tourists are warned about?

 

[Ladyotm]

The “retreat” styles itself as a community. People go there for weeks. Their sleeping arrangements seem to have little privacy. Above all, there is worship and a religious orientation. People seem to be on top of each other all day (with mandatory lessons and worship). IMO this is a context where you would expect people to be aware and to care.

Isn’t the whole point of yoga (the stretching thing is a western, modern, invention) to be in tune with the universe? It’s supposed to be life affirming, yes?

But I’m gathering not…

LE and mom haven’t said anything about interviewing staff or participants at the retreat. I find this extremely odd.

I wonder with a huge audience, how well would the instructors know they're students? If it is 100 stretching bodies, class after class, they may have noticed a few students who excelled or struggles. I imagine a place that is on the quieter side, with low voices and perhaps areas of no talking and electronics.
Their website offered accomodations from traditional rooms, to tents and cottages (for 1, 2, or more people). And communal bathrooms for tents and cottages. IIRC I saw some accomodations as low as about $50.
I hope Casey is found soon.
Her FB cover page quote (updated back in March)
"when the waves come
i hope
when you come home to yourself
there are flowers lining your front porch
that were left from all the women
you were before"

 

[branmuffin]

Bumping my own to add:

Report highlights lack of protections for LGBTQ people in The Bahamas

The Bahamas is the 46th most dangerous country for LGBTQ travelers, according to The LGBTQ+ Danger Index. The index, which was released last week, uses eight factors to rank the

www.thenassauguardian.com

ETA:

REPORT: LGBTQ+, migrants and people with disabilities face significant discrimination in The Bahamas

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — LGBTQ+ individuals and migrants, particularly those without legal documentation, are at significant risk of facing discrimination and violence in The Bahamas, according to a report by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The report also highlights the pronounced challenges of

ewnews.com

I don't know what the dynamics at an ashram in Bahamas are when it comes to the spartan lifestyle one adopts for a pretty penny. Are the communal sleeping quarters segregated by sex? Because if they are, then it's quite possible that one of her fellow attendees was pretty pissed off that a male was sleeping in the same quarters they were. If they voiced their complaints to the retreat what happens then? Do they expel her? Move her to the male section? Is there a male section? Most places I've looked at online are very heavy in the female attendees, maybe one or two men to twenty women. If she's been there before in February it doesn't sound like that type of situation came up or wasn't an issue. It's just another speculative attempt to figure some scenarios that could put her at risk.

 

[Ladyotm]

Colette mentioning a 'whole wall' of missing persons posters caught my attention. Just how often are people going missing? How recent are the other cases? Taylor's disappearance may not be an isolated case.

Wow! Strange indeed! I wonder if any of the family snapped a picture of the wall.