911 call released as former charges come to light against parent of Saylor Hayes

GEORGETOWN COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) - The 911 call from the day Saylor Hayes went missing has now been released, showing chaos and stress at the Pawleys Island rental home as the urgent search for the 5-year-old began.

Saylor Hayes is the missing nonverbal 5-year-old girl who was found dead in the water Monday morning. Her parents, John Herb Hayes and Geordyn Nicole Hayes, were arrested Tuesday in Carter County, Tennessee.

Both will be extradited to Georgetown County and charged with unlawfully placing a child at risk for their alleged actions in the disappearance and subsequent death of their child.

As of February 2026, Geordyn Hayes is also facing two charges out of Virginia: cruelty and injuries to children and contribution to the delinquency of a minor.

In the 911 call, placed by John Hayes, the 5-year-old’s father can be heard speaking to Georgetown County dispatchers.

“I need help. My little 4-year-old, 5-year-old girl is very autistic, and just escaped,” John Hayes said. “She’s took off. I need help finding her, please as soon as possible. I don’t see her anywhere.”

The 911 dispatcher asked John Hayes for details of the situation, including what Saylor was wearing, her name, and identifying factors.

“Saylor. This is bad; this is real bad,” John Hayes said. “She doesn’t talk. She’s nonverbal, which is the problem.”

Geordyn Hayes said her daughter Saylor Hayes wandered off from a Pawleys Island-area rental home Sunday morning.

Georgetown County deputies and neighborhood volunteers spent two days searching, with the Midway Fire Department, the Sheriff’s Office Marine Patrol, drones from the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office and the Georgetown County Fire Department assisting as well.

“We were getting ready to go to the beach,” the 5-year-old’s father is heard describing. “We had her in the car, buckled in, and I went inside to get her juice and some more stuff and to leave. I came back out, she’s gone, in a split second.”

The affidavit alleged that Saylor had been equipped with a monitoring device since 2024, but it was removed before leaving Virginia.

Sheriff spokesperson Heather Pelham said Project Livesaver equipment was deployed on land and in the airspace to try to get a signal from the device she was wearing.

“I need to look for her. I can’t give you any more information. I need to go look at the water,” John Hayes is heard on the phone saying. “ I’ve got to look around, ma’am. I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but I got to find her.”