Saylor Hayes, a nonverbal five-year-old girl, was not wearing the Project Lifesaver tracking transmitter assigned to her when she wandered away from her family’s rental home near Pawleys Island, S.C., on August 30, 2026, and was later found dead in the water. Hundreds of miles from where crews were searching, the device’s signal turned up in a car parked outside the girl’s own home in the Bristol area, according to Washington County, Virginia, Sheriff Blake Andis, who spoke Tuesday, September 1.
Old Waccamaw Drive, in the waterfront Hagley community of Georgetown County, was where the rental home stood and where the girl slipped away. Her mother, Geordyn Hayes, reported the child missing, and a first alert went up from the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office at 12:31 p.m. that day. It described a blonde-haired, blue-eyed child, 3 feet 6 inches tall, dressed in a light blue one-piece bathing suit, with a pink and white lanyard around her ankle. A calm voice, a smile, and slow movements drew a good response from the nonverbal girl, deputies warned.
Her body was recovered by agents with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources at about 9:45 a.m. on August 31, in the water close to where she had last been seen. Saylor and her family are from Virginia, Georgetown County Sheriff Carter Weaver said.
Parents Arrested and Charged
A day after the body was recovered, Saylor’s parents were arrested in Tennessee on the evening of Tuesday, September 1. Carter County was where the two were taken into custody, the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office said, identifying them as John Herb Hayes III, 70, and Geordyn Nichole Hayes, 31; each was charged with unlawfully placing a child at risk or willfully abandoning a child. Once the proceedings in Tennessee are complete, both are to be extradited to Georgetown County.
Saylor had severe nonverbal autism and a known attraction to water, according to arrest affidavits, which allege she was left unsupervised within about 15 meters of the water. Her monitoring device, the affidavits also allege, had been taken off before the family departed Virginia — and her parents pressed searchers to use the tracking equipment even though they knew she did not have it on.
“From the beginning, our responsibility has been to follow the evidence wherever it led,” Weaver said in a statement announcing the arrests. The charges rest on evidence developed during the investigation, the sheriff said, and “should not be interpreted as a determination of guilt.” Presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law, he added, is the standing of the defendants.
How the Transmitter Was Traced
Saylor had been enrolled in Project Lifesaver since June 2024, Andis said. Law enforcement agencies use the international search and rescue program to locate at-risk people prone to wandering, including those who live with autism, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. A small transmitter, worn by each enrollee, sends out an individualized radio frequency; personnel with special training can trace that signal back to the wearer.
Georgetown County investigators called Washington County on Sunday, August 30, after the child was reported missing, asking for her transmitter frequency; Virginia authorities provided it along with other information. Crews in South Carolina could not pick up the signal, which prompted a second call from Georgetown County requesting that deputies check the girl’s Virginia residence. The frequency registered clearly at that address, and it led them to the transmitter sitting inside a vehicle on the property.
“What makes this situation especially heartbreaking is that Saylor did not have her transmitter with her when she went missing,” Andis said. The equipment performed exactly as designed, the sheriff said; had the girl been wearing it, he believes searchers might have reached her far sooner, though he stressed that no technology can guarantee an outcome.
Participation in the program is voluntary. Responsibility for keeping the transmitter fastened rests with a parent, guardian or caregiver, the sheriff’s office said. Built for continuous wear, the band that holds the device must be cut to come off; the person wearing it cannot undo it. Families enrolled in the program should make sure their loved ones wear the transmitters consistently, Andis urged.
A Search That Drew Hundreds
Hagley’s response was enormous. Deputies and volunteers combed yards and marsh on foot, while drones flown by the sheriff’s office and Georgetown County Fire covered the area from above. K-9 teams worked the ground, boats and marine patrol officers ran the shoreline, and divers entered the water. Divers from Horry County covered about 200 yards of water near the rental home.
Searchers carried Project Lifesaver receivers on land and aboard a Charleston County Sheriff’s Office helicopter, hoping to pick up a signal. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) sent a helicopter and an underwater drone for several hours, and the U.S. Coast Guard contributed a vessel. Authorities shut the Hagley Boat Landing while the operation was underway and told boaters to take care in the area. Assisting agencies also included the Horry County Fire Department, Midway Fire Rescue, the Georgetown County Fire Department, Georgetown County Emergency Services and the Georgetown City Fire Department.
“We’re here until we find her,” Weaver said during the search.
Hundreds of residents went over their own properties, checked surrounding land and stood watch over local docks. Neighbors tried anything that might coax a shy child into the open, walking with their pets and arranging for an ice cream truck to roll through the neighborhood playing music. Among those who stayed past 2 a.m., peering into every hiding place they could think of, including dog houses, were Crystal Cooper, a volunteer who drove in from the Pee Dee, and Ronald Gagliardi, a neighbor. Cooper said she could not bring herself to leave, and Gagliardi said the search stayed with him through a sleepless night.
Overnight and into the next morning, ground searches, boat patrols, drones, K-9 teams and divers pressed on. Pawleys Island, a barrier island about a 25-mile drive south of Myrtle Beach, is a summer destination thick with tidal creeks and docks. Once word spread that Saylor had been found, mourners left flowers near the boat landing where crews had staged. The sheriff’s office offered condolences to the family and thanked the agencies, first responders, and residents who joined the effort.
Autopsy Scheduled for Friday, September 4
Georgetown County Coroner Chase Ridgeway said an autopsy is set to be performed the morning of Friday, September 4, at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. Saylor’s body showed no visible signs of trauma, Ridgeway said. As of September 2, the cause and manner of death remained undetermined, and the coroner said how or why she died cannot be established until the autopsy and any follow-up testing are finished.
