Geordyn Hayes, 31, posted a tribute calling her dead daughter “mommy’s little angel” just hours before she and her husband were arrested.
The mother shared an edited photo of Saylor Hayes, 5, smiling on a slide with a halo and angel wings added to the image. “Mommy’s little angel,” the text read. She also posted clips of the non-verbal, autistic girl playing on an inflatable water slide, describing it as “worry-free entertainment all summer long” for children attracted to water who cannot swim.
John Herb Hayes III, 70, and Geordyn Hayes were captured in Tennessee on Tuesday. The couple, married for five years, face charges of unlawfully placing a child at risk and willfully abandoning a child in connection with Saylor’s death, Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office said. They will return to South Carolina once extradition proceedings are completed. It remains unclear when they fled to Tennessee.
Saylor was found dead in a waterway near the family’s Pawleys Island rental home at approximately 9:45 a.m. Monday. She wore a one-piece bathing suit and white lanyard. Her body showed no visible signs of trauma, Georgetown County Coroner Chase Ridgeway said. “The cause and manner of death remain undetermined pending the completion of the autopsy and any necessary additional testing,” he added. The autopsy is scheduled for Friday.
The arrest affidavit accuses the parents of putting Saylor “at an unreasonable risk of harm affecting her life and safety by failing to provide supervision and safeguards appropriate for a severely nonverbal, autistic, five-year-old child with a known affinity to water and a history of elopement.” Saylor had worn a Project Lifesaver transmitter since 2024, but the device had been removed before the family left Virginia. The document does not specify who removed it or when.
Washington County, Virginia Sheriff Blake Andis explained the transmitter’s design. “The transmitter is attached using a specialized band designed for continuous wear,” he said. “It cannot simply be unclasped or removed by the client; the band must be physically cut in order to remove the transmitter.”
The parents also allegedly complicated the search effort. “[They] encouraged search efforts to be directed toward the use of tracking technology, despite knowing that the child was not wearing the monitoring device,” police stated. “[They] further directed search efforts away from the nearby body of water.”
Saylor was reported missing just after 12:30 p.m. Sunday. An intensive search involving hundreds of people and multiple agencies deployed drones, K9 units, and helicopters fitted with Project Lifesaver equipment. Authorities believed the helicopter would detect the bracelet’s signal. Investigators traced the signal to a vehicle, revealing Saylor was not wearing the device. Nearby docks and the Waccamaw shoreline were searched as part of the investigation.
Georgetown County Sheriff Carter Weaver addressed the charges after they were filed. “Parents and caregivers have a fundamental responsibility to protect children who cannot protect themselves,” he said. “When the evidence establishes probable cause to believe that a child has been unlawfully placed in circumstances that endanger that child’s safety, law enforcement has a responsibility to act.”
“Saylor was a vulnerable five-year-old child who depended upon the adults responsible for her care and protection,” Weaver continued. “She deserved to be safe. She deserved to be protected.”