The parents of a nonverbal 5-year-old girl have been arrested after their daughter was found dead in a pond near the South Carolina rental home where the family had been staying.
John Herb Hayes III, 70, and Geordyn Nichole Haynes, 31, were arrested Tuesday night following the disappearance and death of their daughter, Saylor Hayes, the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office in South Carolina announced.
Both parents are now charged with unlawfully placing a child at risk/willfully abandoning a child.
According to arrest warrants, investigators allege the couple put Saylor “at an unreasonable risk of harm, affecting her life and safety” by failing to provide the level of supervision and safeguards needed for a nonverbal, autistic 5-year-old who had a known attraction to water and a history of elopement.
The warrants also state that Saylor had previously been fitted with a Project Lifesaver transmitter by the Washington County Sheriff’s Office in Virginia, where the family lives, but she was not wearing the device when she wandered away from the rental home on Sunday.
‘The child was subsequently left unsupervised within approximately 15 meters of a body of water,’ the warrants state, noting that the tracking device was later located inside a vehicle at the family’s home in Virginia.
The couple also allegedly misdirected search efforts.
‘After the child was discovered missing, the defendant encouraged search efforts to be directed toward the use of tracking technology, despite knowing the child was not wearing the monitoring device,’ authorities claim.
‘The defendant further directed search efforts away from the nearby body of water’ where Saylor’s body was eventually located.
Saylor Hayes, five, was found dead in a pond in South Carolina on Monday morning
An arrest warrant accuses her parents, John Herb Hayes III, 70, and Geordyn Nichole Hayes, 31, of unlawfully placing a child at risk
In a statement announcing the charges Tuesday night, Georgetown Sheriff Carter Weaver called Saylor’s death ‘a heartbreaking tragedy that has deeply affected our community and everyone who worked so hard to find her.’
Saylor’s disappearance over the weekend spurred a massive search effort, with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division sending out a helicopter and an underwater drone as the US Coast Guard sent a vessel to help with the search.
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Hundreds of neighbors also jumped in to search their own properties and the surrounding areas, with one neighbor telling WMBF how they tried to lure the little girl by walking with pets and getting an ice cream truck to play music throughout the neighborhood.
When the young girl’s body was later found in the water behind the rental property, authorities began an ‘extensive investigation’ and decided to charge Saylor’s parents, Weaver said.
‘Parents and caregivers have a fundamental responsibility to protect children who cannot protect themselves,’ he said.
‘When the evidence establishes probable cause to believe that a child has been unlawfully placed in circumstances that endanger that child’s safety, law enforcement has a responsibility to act.’
The sheriff then went on to call the girl ‘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,’ Weaver declared.
Hayes had wandered away from the rental property her family was staying in in South Carolina on Sunday
Crews from the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office spent hours Sunday night looking for the young girl
Hundreds of neighbors jumped in to search their own properties and the surrounding areas
An autopsy has been scheduled for Friday morning, but there were no visible signs of trauma to the body, Georgetown County Coroner Chase Ridgeway told WPDE.
The cause of death and manner of death remain undetermined pending the completion of the autopsy and any other necessary testing.
In the meantime, the girl’s parents are scheduled to be transported back to South Carolina once the extradition proceedings are complete.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.