A video that has circulated widely online captures Geordyn Hayes, the 31-year-old mother of five-year-old Saylor Hayes, speaking with local volunteers during the search for her daughter in Pawleys Island, South Carolina. In the footage, recorded while the family was on vacation, Hayes appears anxious as she describes her child’s habits and voices hope that the little girl had simply fallen asleep somewhere nearby.

Saylor Hayes, who was non-verbal and diagnosed with autism, went missing on Sunday, August 30, 2026, from a rental home in the Hagley community. According to information provided to authorities, the child had been left secured in a car seat while her mother stepped inside the house for a short period. When the adult returned, Saylor was no longer there. The family, who lived in Bristol, Virginia, had been staying at the coastal rental for a vacation.

In the video, Geordyn Hayes tells helpers that her daughter was strongly drawn to food and often made her way toward refrigerators. She also noted that the child sometimes entered other people’s homes. Hayes said she had checked surveillance cameras without locating her daughter and added that she was “just praying… that she’s somewhere and she fell asleep, maybe.” The exact timing of the recording during the search has not been confirmed.

Saylor’s father, John Herb Hayes III, 70, placed the initial emergency call around 11 a.m. In the 911 recording, he described the child as “very autistic” and said she had “escaped” in a matter of seconds after he went inside to retrieve items. At times he expressed uncertainty about her exact age, referring to her as four or five years old, and repeatedly stressed the urgency of checking the nearby water. The Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office publicly announced the disappearance shortly after midday.

A large-scale search involving hundreds of people and multiple agencies was launched. Helicopters capable of detecting a Project Lifesaver tracking signal were deployed. Saylor was known to wear such a device because of her history of wandering. However, the transmitter was not on her person when her body was found. Investigators later determined that the signal originated from a vehicle still in Virginia, more than 300 miles away. Officials stated that the band had been removed before the family left Virginia and that removing it required physical cutting rather than a simple unclasping.

Saylor’s body was discovered around 9:45 a.m. the following morning, Monday, August 31, in a waterway behind the family’s rental home. She was wearing a one-piece bathing suit. An autopsy was scheduled to determine the precise cause of death.

John and Geordyn Hayes were arrested in Carter County, Tennessee, and charged with unlawfully placing a child at risk or willfully abandoning a child. Court documents state that the couple failed to provide supervision and safeguards appropriate for a severely non-verbal, autistic five-year-old who had a known history of elopement and an affinity for water. The parents later waived formal extradition proceedings and remain in custody pending transfer to South Carolina.

The case has drawn significant public attention because of the child’s vulnerabilities and the brief period during which she was left unsupervised near open water. Community members in the Pawleys Island area later established a memorial near the location where she was last seen.

Sources : New York Post