A Tropical Vacation Nightmare: Montana Woman is Lucky to be Alive

NOTE: This article involves an incident of kidnapping and sexual assault.

Thousands of Montanans enjoy traveling to warm, sunny destinations during our bleak winter months. Many of us flock to Mexico or perhaps a Caribean island to put our toes in the sand, soak up some saltwater, and escape winter.

Despite the travel advisories issued by the US State Department, most locations that are popular for sun-seeking tourists are generally considered relatively safe. Violence can happen anywhere, of course, but fear-inducing headlines whenever there is an act of violence at a resort or beach can raise concerns.

A recent trip to Costa Rica turned very, very bad for a Montana woman.

A Bozeman resident named Taylor Gibson traveled with friends to Costa Rica in late February 2025. Born in Billings, Gibson is described in a GoFundMe as "a light in every room she enters." The writer adds, "Unfortunately, someone tried to dim that light." In a very bad way.

According to the post, written by her partner who was there throughout the ordeal, most of their group went surfing, while she decided to take an afternoon for herself. During that afternoon, Gibson was drugged, abducted, and taken to an area far from the small Costa Rican town they were visiting.

The victim was raped, held captive, and it's believed that she was destined for human trafficking. Local authorities were somehow able to convince her captor(s) to return her to town, where she was found bruised, traumatized, and unable to speak for hours.

The group returned to the US the next day.

This account is horrifying. It's like the plot of a terrifying movie, only very much real. Taylor has been receiving intense rehabilitation to help her recover from the trauma. When the time is right, she "plans to use her experience to spread awareness on this issue. Her dream is to someday be able to support other victims in the aftermath of kidnapping, sexual assault, and trafficking.

See the GoFundMe for Taylor Gibson. H/T Jason Harris for bringing this to my attention.