Autistic 5-year-old girl's cause of death revealed after parents arrested over disappearance

The Georgetown County Coroner’s office announced Saylor’s cause of death on Friday, Nov. 6 -Credit:Georgetown County Sheriff's Office/Facebook (Georgetown County Sheriff's Office/Facebook)

Medical examiners determined the cause of death of an autistic 5-year-old girl who died on a family vacation in South Carolina.

Saylor Hayes was determined to have died from asphyxia due to drowning, per reports from CBS and ABC affiliate WJHL and Fox affiliate WCYB.

Saylor was found dead on Aug. 31, a day after she went missing from a rental property in Hagely Estates in Pawleys Island while on a family vacation.

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Saylor's body was recovered in the water nearby.

The Georgetown County Coroner’s office announced Saylor’s cause of death on Nov. 6, and the report appears to align with the preliminary autopsy that was conducted in September, which found fluid in her lungs but no visible signs of external or internal trauma, ABC affiliate WCIV reported at the time.

The manner of Saylor’s death, however, is still undefined. -Credit:Carter County Sheriff's Office

The manner of Saylor’s death, however, is still undefined. “This classification reflects the inability to conclusively determine whether Saylor’s death was accidental or the result of a homicidal act,” the coroner’s office said, as reported by WJHL.

Saylor’s cause of death determination comes two months after her parents, John Herb Hayes, III, 71, and Geordyn Nichole Hayes, 31, were arrested in Tennessee. Both parents were arrested on Sept. 1 and charged with unlawfully placing a child at risk/willfully abandoning a child.

Both parents were arrested on Sept. 1 and charged with unlawfully placing a child at risk/willfully abandoning a child.

-Credit:Carter County Sheriff's Office

According to arrest affidavits posted on the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page, it is alleged that Saylor was left unsupervised near water.

One of the affidavits described Saylor as a “severely nonverbal autistic 5-year-old child with a history of elopement” who had been equipped with a monitoring device since 2024; however, it alleges the device was removed before the family left Virginia.

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Authorities claimed that Saylor's parents encouraged them to use her Project Lifesaver tracking device to locate her, despite knowing that it had been removed. When Saylor's body was recovered, she was found without the tracking device.

According to documents, children had previously been removed from the couple’s Virginia home and placed in foster care due to “concerns for substance use,” placing them in foster care, as reported by WCYB. The couple turned themselves in after being charged with two counts each of felony child abuse and neglect.

John and Geordyn's next court appearance is Nov. 19, in connection with the charges relating to Saylor’s death.

Source: Crime