A Virginia father and mother allegedly misled rescuers trying to find their missing 5-year-old daughter before the child was found dead in the water, according to arrest warrants.
John Herb Hayes III, 70, and Geordyn Nichole Hayes, 31, each face a charge of unlawfully placing a child at risk or willfully abandoning a child, according to court records.
On August 30, their daughter, Saylor Hayes, disappeared from a rental home near Pawleys Island in South Carolina, deputies said.
The 5-year-old child had autism, was nonverbal and had a known history of wandering and being drawn to water, investigators said.
Geordyn Hayes told deputies she left her daughter in a car seat while going inside briefly. When she returned, she found the girl missing, deputies said.
Investigators said Saylor had been left without supervision about 50 feet from the water.
Warrants say the parents urged search and rescue crews to use a tracking device to find the girl, according to court documents.
The accused parents allegedly knew she was not wearing the transmitter when they told rescuers to track it, warrants state.
The couple also actively tried to steer the search operation away from the water, according to the warrants.
Saylor had been enrolled in the Project Lifesaver tracking program since June 2024, records state.
Warrants say her transmitter was removed before the family left Virginia, according to investigators.
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The Virginia sheriff’s office explained that the tracking band is designed to stay on and must be physically cut to remove the device.
Deputies later found the child’s transmitter inside a vehicle back at the family’s home in Virginia, authorities said.
Hundreds of people helped in the effort to find the missing 5-year-old girl during an overnight operation, officials said.
Responders deployed helicopters, drones, dogs and divers throughout the overnight search, according to authorities.
On August 31, officers recovered Saylor’s body in the water near Hagley Landing, police said.
An autopsy found fluid in the child’s lungs. The medical examination showed no visible signs of internal or external trauma, officials said.
The coroner has not yet finalized the official cause or manner of death, according to authorities.
An attorney representing John Hayes called Saylor’s death an accident and asked for the father’s release on a personal recognizance bond, court documents show.
On September 5, the judge denied bond for both parents, citing their prior records and the seriousness of the charges.
Both parents remain jailed, though officials noted that the defendants are charged and not convicted.
Their preliminary hearing is scheduled for November 19, according to court records.
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