The parents of a nonverbal five-year-old girl have been arrested in South Carolina after their daughter was found dead in a pond near the family's rental home.
John Herb Hayes III and Geordyn Nichole Haynes were taken into custody Tuesday night in connection with their daughter Saylor Hayes' disappearance and death, the Georgetown County Sheriff's Office announced. They each face a charge of unlawfully placing a child at risk or willfully abandoning a child.
According to arrest warrants, authorities allege the parents placed Saylor at an unreasonable risk of harm by failing to provide adequate supervision for a nonverbal, autistic five-year-old with a known affinity for water and a history of elopement. The warrants state the girl had a Project Lifesaver transmitter fitted by the Washington County Sheriff's Office in Virginia, where the family resides, but was not wearing it when she wandered from the rental home on Sunday.
The child was reportedly left unsupervised approximately 15 meters from a body of water. The tracking device was later found inside a vehicle at the family's Virginia home. Authorities also claim the couple misled search efforts by encouraging the use of tracking technology despite knowing the device was not being worn and by directing searchers away from the pond where Saylor was eventually found.
Georgetown Sheriff Carter Weaver described Saylor's death as "a heartbreaking tragedy that has deeply affected our community and everyone who worked so hard to find her."
The girl's disappearance prompted a large-scale search effort, including a helicopter and an underwater drone from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, and a vessel from the U.S. Coast Guard. Hundreds of neighbors also participated in the search.
An autopsy is scheduled for Friday morning. Georgetown County Coroner Chase Ridgeway stated there were no visible signs of trauma to the body, but the cause and manner of death remain undetermined pending further testing. The parents are awaiting extradition proceedings before being transported back to South Carolina.