Who is Wesley Bell? Man Vanished From Same Yoga Retreat as Taylor Casey

Over a decade before Taylor Casey’s disappearance, a Texas man went missing from the same yoga retreat in the Bahamas, and Casey’s mother thinks the disappearances could be connected.
Wesley Bell, 41, was attending a yoga retreat on Paradise Island when he went missing on January 25, 2013, according to a missing person poster.
The Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat spokesperson told Newsweek that the Houston man went missing from their retreat.
“After an extensive search by the Bahamian Police, the Bahamian authorities determined that he had drowned,” the spokesperson said.
More than 10 years, Casey went missing from the same retreat on June 19 while studying to get her yoga teaching certification. The 42-year-old Chicago resident has been practicing yoga for over 15 years.
Colette Seymore, Casey’s mother, told Newsweek she is aware of Bell’s disappearance.
“I was shocked,” Seymore said. “I was like, ‘What the heck is going on here? Why are people coming up missing from this retreat?'”
Seymore thinks there could be something connecting the two missing persons cases, but she is also frustrated with the lack of information she’s received from the retreat and authorities.
“I’m not sure how, because they won’t talk to us and give us answers, but I believe there’s a connection,” she said.
She called on the yoga retreat to do a better job of keeping their attendees safe.
“I believe they need to have security cameras,” Seymore said. “They need to have security guards. They need to have security around that place because anybody can walk onto that place.”
Seymore questioned why security had not been stepped up in the years since Bell’s disappearance.
“They’re making enough money to have security, and they have none,” Seymore said.
She said people spend thousands of dollars to attend the Ashram.
“Taylor spent close to $4,000 to go there to sleep in a tent and not be protected,” Seymore said.
In June, Seymore went to the Bahamas to speak to officials and yoga retreat staff in person about Casey’s disappearance. She said she was disappointed with the lack of awareness at the retreat.
“They didn’t have missing flyers up. The students there didn’t even know that my child went missing. Just madness,” Seymore said.
She claimed the yoga retreat did not do anything to help find Casey.
“They were just trying to protect the tourism and people coming to that yoga retreat spending all that money,” Seymore said.
While Seymore has not heard any updates from authorities recently, she said Illinois senators and other elected officials are staying in communication with the U.S. Embassy in the Bahamas and continuing to demand answers.
Wesley Bell’s father told NBC News last month he believes his son drowned and officials “couldn’t find him.” His mother said she was unaware of Casey’s disappearance.
Another attendee of the retreat, Daniel Ward-Packard, told the outlet that Bell went snorkeling one day and never came back. His shoes, shirt and hat were found on the beach the next day.
“People were pretty traumatized,” Ward-Packard said. “It’s a beautiful place, everybody is having an amazing yoga experience in this gorgeous location and then somebody’s gone.”
She also believes Bell drowned and said the incident is not connected to Casey’s disappearance.
“People are turning a coincidence into a conspiracy,” she said. “I can’t even imagine how they would be related.”
Anyone with information in Casey’s disappearance is being asked to contact the Royal Bahamas Police Force Criminal Investigations Department at 502-9991/2 or Crime Stoppers at 328-TIPS (8477).
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