{"id":8115,"date":"2026-09-04T23:37:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T23:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=8115"},"modified":"2026-09-04T23:37:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T23:37:00","slug":"saylor-hayes-autopsy-results-released-days-after-parents-arrested-extradited","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=8115","title":{"rendered":"Saylor Hayes autopsy results released days after parents arrested, extradited"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The 5-year-old non-verbal autistic girl found dead on her South Carolina vacation died of injuries consistent with drowning, according to an autopsy released Friday.<\/p>\n

Read more Inside Lindsay Clancy\u2019s life at psych hospital where she\u2019ll remain following mistrial<\/a><\/p>\n

The examination found Saylor Hayes died of pulmonary edema, a condition where fluid builds up in the lungs making it hard to breathe, WMBF reported, citing the Georgetown County Coroner\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

There were no signs of visible trauma to the little girl\u2019s body, which was found Aug. 31 in a waterway not far from her family\u2019s vacation home on Pawleys Island, according to the autopsy conducted by Medical University of South Carolina.<\/p>\n

No official cause of death has been determined yet \u2014 and the final autopsy report will be released in around eight to 10 weeks.<\/p>\n

Saylor, who is from Virginia, was found wearing a bathing suit and a strap attached to her ankle which resembled a child\u2019s wrist tether, GCCO said.<\/p>\n

The initial autopsy results come just days after the 5-year-old\u2019s parents, John Herb Hayes III, 70, and his wife Geordyn Nichole Hayes, 31, were arrested in Tennessee on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Both parents face charges of unlawfully placing a child at risk and willfully abandoning a child in connection with the death of their daughter.<\/p>\n

They have been accused of putting Saylor \u201cat 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,\u201d the arrest affidavit states.<\/p>\n

The couple, who have been married for five years, waived extradition in a Tennessee court Thursday and were released to the custody of the Georgetown County Sheriff\u2019s Office Friday morning, WYFF reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It is unclear why Saylor\u2019s parents fled over 300 miles north to the Volunteer State.<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s arrest was not the first time the couple faced charges relating to the mistreatment of children.<\/p>\n

Read more \u2018Wheel of Fortune\u2019 announcer Jim Thornton fired after in-flight pedophilia chatroom incident<\/a><\/p>\n

The parents were charged in July 2023 with two counts each of felony child abuse involving reckless or willfull disregard for human life for an incident in Washington County, Virigina, WYFF reported, citing court records.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One year later, the couple pleaded nolo contendere to the charges \u2014 meaning they accepted the court\u2019s punishment without admitting or denying guilt \u2014 and were given two years probation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The case was dismissed in early 2026.<\/p>\n

Geordyn had another run in with the law in February of this year when she was slapped with several charges, including felony child cruelty and unlawful conduct towards a child and felony child abuse.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The felony child cruelty charge was dropped on Aug. 14, while the child abuse charge was amended to contributing to the delinquency of a minor, three days later.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The amended matter was resolved in court and Geordyn was ordered to pay nearly $550 in court fees.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the February bust, the much younger wife was also charged with misdemeanor public intoxication which she pleaded not guilty to on March 12.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Just hours before she was captured in Tennessee, Saylor\u2019s mother paid tribute to her daughter on social media, calling her \u201cMommy\u2019s little angel.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u2019s vacation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 5-year-old was reported missing Aug. 30, one day before her little body was discovered in the waterway.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Saylor had been wearing a monitoring device since 2024, but the device had been removed before the family left Virginia, according to her parents\u2019 arrest affidavit.<\/p>\n

Read more Lindsay Clancy supporters interrupt DA\u2019s post-trial press conference, chanting he\u2019s \u2018corrupt\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear who removed the tracker or when it was removed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There were no signs of visible trauma on the 5-year-old South Carolina girl’s body, according to the Georgetown County Coroner\u2019s Office. The final autopsy report will be released in around eight to 10 weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8114,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-news"],"yoast_head":"\nSaylor Hayes autopsy results released days after parents arrested, extradited - Metro Transit Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=8115\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Saylor Hayes autopsy results released days after parents arrested, extradited - Metro Transit Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There were no signs of visible trauma on the 5-year-old South Carolina girl's body, according to the Georgetown County Coroner\u2019s Office. 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