John Herb Hayes III, 70, and Geordyn Nichole Hayes, 31, were arrested Tuesday in connection with the death of their 5-year-old daughter, Saylor Hayes. Arrest warrants allege the parents misled authorities during the extensive search for the child in South Carolina.
Saylor Hayes, who was severely nonverbal and autistic, was reported missing Sunday from a rental home in Pawleys Island. Authorities launched a large-scale search operation involving hundreds of people and multiple agencies. Her body was found Monday in waters near where she was last seen.
The parents, residents of Bristol, Virginia, face charges of unlawfully placing a child at risk or willfully abandoning a child. Law enforcement apprehended the couple in Carter County, Tennessee, where they are held in the Carter County Detention Center awaiting extradition to Georgetown County.
Saylor had been equipped with a monitoring device since 2024. According to the arrest warrants, the parents removed the device before traveling from Virginia to South Carolina. After Saylor was reported missing, the warrants accuse the parents of encouraging search efforts focused on tracking technology despite knowing the child was not wearing the device.
The warrants also allege the parents directed search teams away from a body of water located near where they had left Saylor unsupervised.
Georgetown County Sheriff Carter Weaver said, "The death of Saylor Hayes is a heartbreaking tragedy that has deeply affected our community and everyone who worked so hard to find her." He added that law enforcement's responsibility was to "follow the evidence wherever it led."
Weaver emphasized Saylor's vulnerability. "Saylor was a vulnerable five-year-old child who depended upon the adults responsible for her care and protection. She deserved to be safe. She deserved to be protected," he said.
The warrants detail how the parents allegedly placed Saylor at unreasonable risk of harm by failing to provide appropriate supervision for a child with a known affinity to water and a history of elopement.
