“I JUST WANDERED AWAY”!!! BELIEVE IT OR NOT, AUTHORITIES SAY FIVE-YEAR-OLD SAYLOR HAYES DISAPPEARED FROM A SOUTH CAROLINA BEACH RENTAL… AND HER BODY WAS RECOVERED FROM THE WATER THE NEXT MORNING.
A missing five-year-old girl has been found dead after authorities said she “wandered away” from a coastal rental home in South Carolina.
The child, Saylor Hayes, was last seen on Sunday, August 30, according to the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office.
She had disappeared in the area of Hagley Estates on Pawleys Island.
Pawleys Island, where Saylor had been staying with her family, is a barrier island located along the coast, about a 25-mile drive south from Myrtle Beach.
Saylor was described by the sheriff’s office as 3-foot-6 with blonde hair and blue eyes.
She had been wearing a light blue one-piece bathing suit when she went missing.
The sheriff’s office said she also had a white lanyard around her ankle.
During the search, the sheriff’s office explained that Saylor was nonverbal.
Authorities advised anyone who might have encountered her to speak “gently and slowly” to her.
She would “react positively to a gentle tone, smiles, and slow movements,” the agency noted.
Several law enforcement agencies joined the search for the missing child.
Local residents also took part in the search for Saylor.
“Hundreds of residents from the area searched their own properties and surrounding areas and guarded local docks,” the sheriff’s office said.
Authorities were trying to track Saylor through a transponder she had been wearing, according to the agencies.
In an update shared within hours of her disappearance, the sheriff’s office said deputies were trying to trace her location using Project Lifesaver.
Authorities used Project Lifesaver equipment during the search.
Project Lifesaver is an international search and rescue program geared toward helping law enforcement find individuals considered to be at-risk, including individuals with autism, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
Other law enforcement officials searched the local area from above using drones and a helicopter.
And authorities were also searching the water on Sunday.
Divers from Horry County were brought in to assist.
Those divers had “examined 200 yards underwater near the rental property that the family is staying in,” the sheriff’s office said in another update on Sunday.
“We’re here until we find her,” Georgetown County Sheriff Carter Weaver said in a statement prior to the discovery of Saylor’s body.
Then search efforts continued Monday morning.
But the search concluded later that morning.
Around 9:45 a.m. on Monday, August 31, her body was located in the water.
The sheriff’s office said in a news release that she was found “near the area where she was last seen.”
“The Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office thanks everyone who assisted in the search and sends its deepest condolences to the young girl’s family.”
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