The married couple arrested this week in connection with the death of their 5-year-old nonverbal daughter appeared in court Thursday and agreed to be extradited to South Carolina.
John Herb Hayes III, 70, and Geordyn Nichole Hayes, 31, of Bristol, Virginia appeared in Carter County General Sessions Court in Tennessee on Thursday morning, days after their daughter, Saylor Hayes, was found dead. The couple both waived their rights to extradition, and will be moved to South Carolina within the next 10 days.
Saylor’s body was recovered from the waters near Hagley Landing, a boat ramp leading to the Waccamaw River in the small town of Pawleys Island, South Carolina, on Monday. Hours later, her parents were arrested in Carter County, Tennessee — more than 350 miles away — and charged with unlawfully placing a child at risk or willfully abandoning a child.
The couple have been held at the Carter County Detention Center in Tennessee without bond pending extradition to South Carolina, where they will face the criminal charges. The Hayes’ also both waived their rights to hire an attorney as they await extradition.
In court Thursday, the couple appeared handcuffed in striped red and pink jumpsuits. They did not speak to one another, and appeared to make eye contact only briefly as they were led out of the courtroom by authorities.
Saylor was found dead on Monday following an extensive search involving hundreds of people and several law enforcement agencies. She had first been reported missing by her mother on Sunday. Geordyn Hayes told authorities that Saylor had wandered off from a rental home in Hagley Estates in Pawleys Island and was last seen wearing her swimsuit.
But arrest affidavits accuse the parents of diverting authorities away from the South Carolina waterways during the search.
According to the affidavits, the Hayeses directed investigators to search for their daughter’s Project Lifesaver monitoring device — a wearable tracker designed to help locate missing individuals with cognitive impairments — despite knowing Saylor had not been wearing it.
“Saylor was a vulnerable five-year-old child who depended upon the adults responsible for her care and protection,” Georgetown County Sheriff Carter Weaver said in a statement earlier this week. “She deserved to be safe. She deserved to be protected.”
This is not the first time the couple has faced accusations involving children. In 2023, John Herb Hayes was arrested and charged with two Class 6 felony counts of child abuse/disregard for life stemming from an alleged July 3 incident.
Hayes entered Alford pleas and received a deferred disposition with two years of supervised probation. The charges were dismissed earlier this year, and court records indicate he was released from probation.
