Virginia couple arrested after 5-year-old nonverbal daughter is found dead in South Carolina waters

A Virginia couple has been arrested after their 5-year-old daughter, described as autistic and nonverbal, was found dead in South Carolina waters earlier this week.

John Herb Hayes III, 70, and Geordyn Nichole Hayes, 31, of Bristol, Virginia, were arrested Monday evening in Carter County, Tennessee, and charged with unlawfully placing a child at risk or willfully abandoning a child, the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office announced.

Their daughter, Saylor Hayes, was reported missing Sunday afternoon. Her body was found Monday morning in the waters near Hagley Landing, a boat ramp leading to the Waccamaw River in the small town of Pawleys Island, South Carolina, following an extensive search involving hundreds of people and multiple agencies.

The arrest warrant affidavits for the parents say that on Sunday, they placed Saylor at risk of harm by “failing to provide supervision and safeguards appropriate for a severely nonverbal, autistic five-year-old child with known affinity to water and history of elopement.”

The parents were being held at the Carter County Detention Center in Tennessee without bond, pending an extradition hearing. It was not immediately clear Wednesday night if they’ve retained attorneys.

Authorities initially said Saylor’s mother reported that her child had wandered off from a rental home in Hagley Estates in Pawleys Island, and was last seen wearing her swimsuit.

Deputies said they were trying to track her with a Project Lifesaver transmitter, a wearable device that emits a frequency that law enforcement can track if the wearer goes missing.

Saylor had been wearing a Project Lifesaver monitoring device since 2024, but it had been removed before the family left Virginia, the affidavits said. Then, once in South Carolina, Saylor was left unsupervised within 15 meters of a body of water, the filing said.

After she went missing, the parents encouraged search efforts to be directed toward the use of the tracker despite knowing that Saylor was not wearing the device, and they also directed search efforts away from the nearby body of water, the affidavits said.

Georgetown County Sheriff Carter Weaver called Saylor’s death “a heartbreaking tragedy” that has “deeply affected our community.”

“Saylor was a vulnerable five-year-old child who depended upon the adults responsible for her care and protection,” he said in a statement. “She deserved to be safe. She deserved to be protected.”

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office in Virginia released a statement saying it was the agency hosting the Project Lifesaver program that Saylor had enrolled in back in June 2024. The agency said the program helps law enforcement find individuals at risk of wandering due to cognitive conditions or special needs.

After Saylor went missing on Sunday, it said, the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office reached out to request information on her Project Lifesaver transmitter.

When searchers in South Carolina were unable to detect her frequency, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office was asked to check her home.