The parents of Saylor Hayes, a nonverbal five-year-old girl, were arrested after she was found dead in the water after going missing.

Published on: Sep 2, 2026, 13:07:54 IST

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The parents of Saylor Hayes, a nonverbal five-year-old girl, were arrested after she was found dead in the water on Monday, August 31, after going missing. John Herb Hayes III and Geordyn Nichole Hayes were arrested in Carter County, Tennessee.

How did Saylor Hayes die and what are the charges against her parents?

Georgetown County Coroner Chase Ridgeway revealed that an autopsy has been scheduled for Friday morning at the Medical University of South Carolina in connection with Saylor’s death.

The cause and manner of death remain undetermined pending the autopsy’s completion and any additional testing that may be necessary. However, Ridgeway said that there were no visible signs of trauma, per 10 News.

John and Geordyn have both been charged with unlawfully placing a child at risk/willfully abandoning a child for their actions in the disappearance and subsequent death of their child.

Geordyn said that Saylor wandered off from a Pawleys Island-area rental home Sunday morning, August 30. Georgetown County deputies and neighborhood volunteers searched for Saylor, with the Midway Fire Department, the Sheriff’s Office Marine Patrol, drones from the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office and the Georgetown County Fire Department assisting in it.

An affidavit said that Saylor had been equipped with a monitoring device since 2024, but it was removed before leaving Virginia, per Live 5 News. Sheriff spokesperson Heather Pelham said Project Livesaver equipment was deployed on land and in the airspace to try to get a signal from the device Saylor was believed to be wearing.

“Project Lifesaver works, and we believe strongly in this program,” said Sheriff Blake Andis. “When our personnel searched for Saylor’s assigned frequency, the equipment did exactly what it was designed to do. It detected her transmitter and led our personnel to its location. What makes this situation especially heartbreaking is that Saylor did not have her transmitter with her when she went missing. Had Saylor been wearing her Project Lifesaver transmitter, we believe the technology could have assisted search teams in locating her much sooner. While no technology can guarantee an outcome, every minute matters when a vulnerable child or adult is missing. We cannot emphasize enough how important it is for enrolled clients to wear their transmitters consistently. This technology is an incredible resource, but it can only help us locate someone when the transmitter remains secured to the client.”

Saylor was found in the water near where she was last seen around 9:45 am.

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