Virginia deputies found the child’s Project Lifesaver transmitter at home after South Carolina search teams could not detect its signal.
PAWLEYS ISLAND, S.C. — A tracking transmitter meant to help authorities find 5-year-old Saylor Hayes if she wandered was nearly 400 miles away in Virginia as crews searched for her in South Carolina, a detail that has become central to the investigation into her disappearance and death.
Saylor, a severely nonverbal autistic child from the Bristol, Virginia, area, had been enrolled in the Washington County Sheriff’s Office Project Lifesaver program since June 2024. She was reported missing Aug. 30 while her family was staying in a rental home near Pawleys Island. Her body was recovered the next morning from the Waccamaw River. Her parents, John Hayes III and Geordyn Hayes, have since been charged with unlawfully placing a child at risk or willfully abandoning a child.
Project Lifesaver uses a small wearable transmitter that emits an individualized radio frequency. Specially trained search personnel can use that frequency to locate an enrolled person who goes missing. According to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, Georgetown County officials contacted the Virginia agency during the search and requested information about Saylor’s assigned transmitter.
Virginia authorities said they immediately supplied the frequency. When search teams in South Carolina were unable to detect it, Georgetown County officials asked Washington County deputies to check Saylor’s residence. Deputies there detected the assigned signal and traced it to the child’s transmitter inside a vehicle on the family’s property, the Virginia sheriff’s office said.
The Washington County Sheriff’s Office said the transmitter is secured with a specialized band intended for continuous wear. The band cannot simply be unclasped by the person wearing it and must be physically cut to remove the transmitter. The agency said caregivers are responsible for making sure the device remains properly secured to an enrolled person.
Authorities have not publicly established why the device was left in Virginia or precisely when it was removed. The Washington County Sheriff’s Office said the circumstances surrounding the transmitter’s removal and location remain part of an active investigation and that it would not release additional information about those circumstances at this stage.
Arrest documents cited in multiple reports allege Saylor’s parents knew she was not wearing the transmitter while the search was underway. Investigators also allege they directed authorities toward searching for its signal. Those claims are allegations contained in the criminal case and have not been proven in court. The parents are also accused of failing to provide adequate supervision and safeguards for a child authorities said had a history of wandering and a known attraction to water.
The search began after Saylor was reported missing from the Hagley Estates area Aug. 30. Hundreds of people and multiple agencies took part, using land, air and water resources. South Carolina Department of Natural Resources personnel recovered her body the following morning from the Waccamaw River near Hagley Landing.
A preliminary autopsy conducted at the Medical University of South Carolina found pulmonary edema and no visible signs of trauma, according to the Georgetown County Coroner’s Office. The office has not determined a final cause or manner of death. Officials said laboratory testing remains outstanding and that a final report is expected after that work is completed.
Washington County Sheriff Blake Andis said the tracking equipment worked as designed when deputies searched for Saylor’s assigned frequency in Virginia, leading them to the transmitter. He also said no technology can guarantee the outcome of a missing-person search. Authorities have not concluded publicly that wearing the transmitter would have changed what happened to Saylor.
The tracking-device evidence is now part of a broader criminal investigation as the parents remain jailed in Georgetown County following a bond hearing. Their next scheduled court appearance is Nov. 19, while investigators and the coroner continue examining the circumstances and medical evidence surrounding Saylor’s death.
Author note: Last updated Sept. 6, 2026.