Virginia parents arrested in connection with 5-year-old autistic child's death in South Carolina
A Virginia couple were taken into custody in Tennessee and charged with endangering and abandoning their nonverbal autistic daughter, whose body was recovered in South Carolina waters after she went missing.
A 70-year-old man and his 31-year-old partner from Bristol, Virginia, were arrested on Monday in Carter County, Tennessee, and charged with unlawfully placing a child at risk and willfully abandoning a child. The charges stem from the death of their five-year-old daughter, Saylor Hayes, who was found dead in the Waccamaw River near Pawleys Island, South Carolina, on Monday morning after being reported missing the previous afternoon.
According to affidavit filings, the parents left Saylor unsupervised within 15 meters of the water despite her severe nonverbal autism, known affinity for water, and history of elopement. The child had been enrolled in the Project Lifesaver program, which uses a wearable transmitter to aid law-enforcement tracking, but the device had been removed before the family traveled to South Carolina. After Saylor disappeared, the parents allegedly directed search efforts toward the tracker even though she was not wearing it and steered rescuers away from the nearby river.
Georgetown County Sheriff Carter Weaver called the incident “a heartbreaking tragedy” that has deeply affected the community. > “Saylor was a vulnerable five-year-old child who depended upon the adults responsible for her care and protection. She deserved to be safe. She deserved to be protected.”
The Washington County Sheriff’s Office in Virginia, which hosts the Project Lifesaver program, confirmed that the transmitter cannot be removed without cutting the specialized band and that it was found inside a vehicle on the Hayes residence, not on Saylor at the time she went missing. The parents are being held without bond pending an extradition hearing, and their legal representation has not been confirmed.