Virginia girl’s searchers return as her mourners – Coastal Observer

Virginia girl’s searchers return as her mourners – Coastal Observer

Lightning flickered on the horizon as mourners carrying flowers made their way down the ramp at Hagley Landing. Many had met for the first time a week earlier as they helped search for a 5-year-old girl whom they had never met, but now promised they would not forget.  “I want Saylor to be remembered here,” said Hope Grant Smith. “She will never be forgotten.” She was among the hundreds of people who joined local, state and federal officials in a search for Saylor Hayes, an autistic child who was reported missing Aug. 30 from a rental house on the Waccamaw River just north of the landing. Her body was found the next day in the water. Her parents, John H. Hayes, 71, and Geordyn N. Hayes, 31, of Bristol, Va., were arrested last week in Tennessee on warrants for placing a child at risk. They were returned to Georgetown County, where they remain in jail after Magistrate Steve Pop denied a request for bond. As the last boat trailers pulled out from the landing Sunday evening people began to gather around the barricade on Hagley Drive where flowers, balloons and candles already formed a memorial. The Rev. Dr. Angela Williams gave a short prayer. “We have come together one more time. We came together last week to search for her and this week to say goodbye,” she said. Her son and daughter-in-law, Kareem and Amanda Gray, were among the searchers. They walked the streets and the golf course. “We supported the community like we’re supposed to do,” Kareem said. “I thought within an hour she could be found,” Amanda said. Saylor had worn a monitoring device, and an investigator for the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office said in an affidavit that the parents encouraged searchers to track her electronically. Officials later learned that the device had been removed before they left Virginia. Crystal Cooper, who lives in the Lambertown community west of Georgetown, heard about the missing child on social media and headed to Hagley to help search. She brought a searchlight, but also glow sticks because she thought they would be less frightening to the child. Other volunteers also came prepared, she said. “I love how people from all walks of life have come together,” she said. Cooper and Gina Nolie, who lives at Pawleys Retreat, made their way to a dock between the landing and the rental house as the search stretched into the night. They recalled watching a submersible drone moving through the water. They stayed until 2:30 a.m. “We were entrenched in it emotionally,” Cooper said. “We felt guilty going home.” The investigator’s affidavit said the parents encouraged the searchers to look away from the river, even though Saylor had “an affinity for water.” That was troubling, the Grays said, but it didn’t change they way they felt about Saylor. “It’s a child,” Kareem said, and their search efforts made it more personal, Amanda added. After she joined the procession on the floating dock to toss a flower into the swirling water, Grant Smith said she was still searching for answers. “This is Pawleys Island, things like this don’t happen here,” she said. “This is a love community.”