The Virginia parents of a 5-year-old non-verbal girl who was found dead in a South Carolina waterway have been arrested – hours after the child’s mom labeled her daughter “mommy’s little angel” in an online tribute.

John Herb Hayes III, 70, and his wife Geordyn Nichole Hayes, 31, were captured in Tennessee on Tuesday and face charges of unlawfully placing a child at risk/wilfully abandoning a child in connection with the death of Saylor Hayes, Georgetown County Sheriff’s said.

Saylor was found dead in a waterway close to their Pawleys Island rental home at around 9:45 a.m. Monday, wearing a one-piece bathing suit and white lanyard, following an “intensive search involving hundreds of people and multiple agencies,” authorities said.

The girl, who was supposed to wear a Project Lifesaver transmitter because she tended to wander off, was not wearing the device when she walked away from the property during the family’s vacation.

Her parents have been accused 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,” the arrest affidavit states.

Saylor had been wearing a monitoring device since 2024, but the device had been removed before the family left Virginia, the document states. It’s unclear who removed the tracker or when it was removed. 

Her parents have also been accused of complicating 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 said.

“[They] further directed search efforts away from the nearby body of water.” 

Her parents, who have been married for five years, will return to Georgetown County once extradition proceedings have been completed. It’s not clear when they fled to Tennessee.

Georgetown County Sheriff Carter Weaver lamented Saylor’s death after sheriffs revealed her parents had been charged.

“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. She deserved to be safe. She deserved to be protected.”

Saylor’s cause of death has not yet been confirmed. An autopsy is set to take place on Friday. 

But her body had no visible signs of trauma, Chase Ridgeway, the Georgetown County Coroner, said, according to WHSV.

“The cause and manner of death remain undetermined pending the completion of the autopsy and any necessary additional testing,” he added. 

Saylor’s parents were arrested just hours after Geordyn Hayes paid tribute to her deceased daughter.

She shared an undated picture of Saylor beaming as she came down a slide.

Saylor had a halo above her head and angel wings on each side. 

“Mommy’s little angel,” the text on the picture said.

Geordyn Hayes also shared clips of Saylor playing on an inflatable water slide. 

She described it as “worry-free entertainment all summer long” for autistic children that are “attracted to water” but can’t swim.

Saylor was reported missing just after 12:30 p.m. on Sunday and the mammoth search effort involved drones, K9s, and helicopters fitted with Project Lifesaver equipment.

Cops believed the helicopter would detect the signal from her bracelet, and nearby docks and the Waccamaw shoreline were searched as part of the investigation.

Cops realized Saylor wasn’t wearing the transmitter when investigators traced the signal to a vehicle, Blake Andis, the Washington County, Virginia, Sheriff, said.

“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.”