Saylor Hayes: 5-Year-Old Died in SC, Parents Arrested and Their Shady Past Becomes Exposed

Serialously with Annie Elise

The podcast episode investigates the tragic case of five-year-old Saylor Hayes, who disappeared from a vacation rental in South Carolina in

Key takeaways

• The parents' claim that Saylor had a tracking device was false—evidence shows the device remained at their Virginia home.
• Saylor was nonverbal and autistic with a documented history of wandering toward water, making her disappearance highly suspicious.

Main topics

• Child disappearance and investigation
• Parental negligence and possible foul play

Notable quotes

"She just escaped." – Father's description of his missing daughter, raising red flags.

Conclusion

The episode concludes with the parents' arrest and ongoing investigation, emphasizing that while

Transcript preview

Speaker 5 (0:21) Hey, Speaker 1 (0:25) true crime besties. Welcome back to an all-new episode of Serialistly. Speaker 4 (0:49) Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to an all-new episode of Serialistly with me, your host, Annie Elise. Happy Monday. I hope you had a fantastic weekend. You know, you're kick-starting your week off on the right foot, especially because I'm probably about to ruin your entire day, which I hate to do it, but unfortunately... There usually is no other option given the nature of the content that we discuss, right? Now, the case that I want to share with you today, it's one that's actually happening right now in real time. And I briefly touched on it last week in Headline Highlights on Thursday, which I'm sure most of you know, but Headline Highlights is my Thursday show where I go through all of the headlines of true crime that's happening that week. And so I briefly touched on it, asked if you guys wanted the deep dive. You said you did. I have been researching this case like crazy, following it like crazy. So I have all of my notes right here. And I really just want to run you through the case itself, the timeline, because I think the timeline is actually the most imperative part of this entire situation, and really get your feedback too. Because like I said, it is a case that is happening right now in real time and new information is coming up. pretty often. I wouldn't say every day, but relatively often. And so I would imagine we also will probably be doing an update together soon as well. But if you haven't guessed by now, or well, I mean, I guess you saw the title, so there's no guessing involved. But it's the case of Sailor Hayes. Now, for those of you who maybe didn't listen to headline highlights last week and don't know even a tiny bit of backstory about this case, first of all, What are you doing? You should be listening to Monday and Thursday episodes. Also Tuesday, 10 to Life episodes. But let me give you a quick background. Like I said, I have all my notes right here. So I'm going to be referring to them throughout the episode. Bear with me. It's not structured. It's not clean. But I wanted to get this episode out fast and just deliver as much of the backstory and information as I possibly could. So again, for those of you who are unfamiliar, let me give you the quick rundown before we get into like the timeline, the details. the shady ass TikToks and everything else that has transpired. So five-year-old Sailor Hayes had traveled with her family from Bristol, Virginia to a vacation rental in the Hagley Estate area of Georgetown County near Pauley Island. This is in South Carolina. Now, according to her parents, Sailor was nonverbal and autistic. She also really gravitated toward bodies of water. She just loved wandering off. She loved going towards the water. She kind of had this history of what they call elopement, meaning that she had a known tendency to just wander away from her family, her caregivers, whoever she was with. Just, I don't know if you would call it fiercely independent, but you know, you could call it that. Just really loved doing her own thing. especially loved water. And there were even some TikToks that had been made in the past where her mother was posting videos just of how much she did love water, but that she wore safety precautionary bracelets and vests and things like that because she wasn't obviously a great swimmer. So basically when she disappeared back on August 30th of 2026, it immediately triggered a massive surge because everybody was wondering what happened to this five-year-old little girl. How did she just disappear? If she's autistic and nonverbal, clearly there should be, if not the parents, a caregiver with her the majority of the time. So like, how would she have even had the opportunity to wander off? Like, what's going on? So not only did it spark a lot of interest and... Quite honestly, a lot of frustration as well, but it triggered a massive search, a search involving dozens of volunteers, multiple agencies, different law enforcement divisions, the sheriff's office, the fire department, people from all across the region. And like I said, the case quickly grabbed media attention. It was going viral all over social media. I would imagine even if you don't know the name Sailor Hayes immediately when I say it, if you are an avid Instagram user or TikTok user, chances are you probably saw one of the videos in the feed, more specifically the video of the mother being talked to while she's on kind of like this dirt path, gravel road by a vehicle. She's acting a little bizarre, in my opinion, not really seeming all that worried about her missing five-year-old. And that video, of course, spread like wildfire. So not only was it. The community, the region, the close-knit area that was keeping an eye out for Saylor and even hearing about this case. But it very quickly went nationwide to where everybody was talking about it. Everybody was trying to help. And hundreds of volunteers came together to start searching for Saylor. And also not for nothing, but also not just searching for her, but in a very real sense, trying to be a voice for her as well. Sadly, though, it didn't have the ending that everybody had hoped for, and Saylor was recovered from the Waccama River the following morning. And while the community came together to mourn this precious, beautiful five-year-old little girl, people still couldn't help but wonder what really happened here. What was going on between the bizarre interviews, the weird circumstances surrounding her disappearance or quote-unquote wandering off moment? There was something weird. There was some odd behavior going on from both of her parents, as a matter of fact, and not just from her parents, but at the time of the search and when all of this was happening, but during the search and then even afterward. Now, I have to say, this is one of those cases where the red flags, they started going up for me almost immediately, which is why I was keeping a close eye on it. I was archiving a lot of stuff I was finding on socials. That's why I wanted to talk about it in Headline Highlights last week. And it just, there was something that was not feeling right here. And I had this feeling, just this gut feeling in my core that there was going to be a lot more to the story. And unfortunately. I was right. Because just one day after Saylor was found, both of her parents were arrested. Now, as you guys know, when I cover cases like this in real time, I want to walk you through the entire timeline, everything we know, step by step, then dive into the details too that really matter and that really, to me, illustrate inconsistencies, red flags, and in this situation, a pattern. A pattern of past bad behavior. past child neglect, and who I believe are two very selfish, conniving, evil parents. So with that, now that I've given you a little bit of the backstory, you know what happened, you know how she was found, I want to get into the timeline and the details because this is what really, to me, makes this case explode wide open. Speaker 4 (8:01) So let's start at the very beginning. On August 30th, around 1139 a.m., John Hayes, Saylor's father, called 911 from the river behind the rental home. The rental home was at 76 Old Wakama Drive. And he said that his five-year-old daughter, Saylor, had, quote, escaped and that he couldn't find her. Which, very odd choice of words that she, his five-year-old just escaped. I don't know, doesn't sit right with me already from the jump, but. You listen to this call and tell me what you think. Speaker 8 (8:32) Georgetown County 911. Speaker 3 (8:34) I need help. My little four-year-old, five-year-old girl is very autistic, just escaped. I'm at 76 Walkamall Drive. She just took off. I need help finding her, please. 76 Walkamall Drive, as soon as possible. I don't see her anywhere. Speaker 8 (8:52) Is it old Waccamaw Drive? Speaker 3 (8:54) Yes. Okay. Speaker 8 (8:56) And you said she's five years old? Yes. Speaker 3 (8:59) She's autistic. She's very autistic. Speaker 8 (9:05) Okay. Is she white, black, Hispanic? Speaker 3 (9:08) White. Brown hair. Green eyes. Shit. Speaker 8 (9:19) What's she the last wearing, sir? Speaker 3 (9:23) I think she's wearing her bathing suit. What color? Sort of bluish. Sir, Speaker 8 (9:40) what's your name? Speaker 3 (9:42) Saylor. Speaker 3 (9:46) Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. I'm talking to him right now. Speaker 3 (10:11) Now, that's the playpen. Okay. She's autistic. I told them. Are they coming? They're Speaker 8 (10:17) on Speaker 3 (10:18) their way. Yes, ma'am. Speaker 8 (10:19) All right. Speaker 3 (10:20) Thank you. I'm Speaker 8 (10:21) getting more information from you, though, okay? Speaker 3 (10:23) Okay. I need to look for her. I can't give you more information. You need to go look Speaker 8 (10:28) at Speaker 3 (10:28) the water. Yeah, I need to go look at the water. I've got to look around, ma'am. I don't mean to be disrespectful, but I've got to find her. Yes, but I need you to call me so I can have a better... Speaker 3 (10:40) location, okay? Well, she doesn't talk. She's nonverbal. She's nonverbal. It's a problem. Speaker 8 (10:58) Does she come to her name if it's called? Speaker 3 (11:02) Not really. Half the time. Speaker 3 (11:07) So Speaker 4 (11:08) in that call, you can hear John explain that the family had been getting ready to go to the beach, that he had left Saylor buckled behind inside the SUV while he ran back inside the house to grab a few things. Then he said when he came back, Saylor was gone. Which, look, that's not that unusual on the surface, right? I will be honest with you. There have been times where I'm leaving my house and I have both kids in the car seat and I'm like, we're in the driveway and I'm like, oh shoot, I forgot my sunglasses or I forgot their water bottles for school. And I'm like, okay, stay here. I'm going to run back inside. I lock the car. It's literally in my driveway anyway. I live in a gated community. It's not, you know, overly worrisome, but I've never come back, thank God. And they've left and unbuckled themselves and, you know, have wandered off. However, in this situation. And again, maybe this is me being a helicopter parent. You tell me what you think. But if I had a child who was special needs and also nonverbal, I would not be leaving them for a moment inside a car, even if they were buckled up. Only because, think about it, what happened if someone, for whatever reason, they're at this vacation rental and they're by a river, somebody tried to break into the car and she's nonverbal and she can't scream for help. Or if she... Something happens inside the car where it wasn't long enough to where she would overheat or get hot, but where a buckle clips her on the stomach or, you know, whatever the reason is, that's just the nonverbal piece of it. But then taking into account the autism factor and just wanting to provide extra care and oversight for this young five-year-old. I don't know. Again, maybe I'm being too helicopter-y and too judgy, which is absolutely fair, but I don't know that. Even if I had to run back inside to grab something, I don't know that leaving her in the car would be my first choice. But, you know, to each their own. That I'm not trying to shame him or say he did the absolute wrong thing. I just, for me personally, don't know that that would be the personal choice that I would make. So anyway, as you heard in the call, he called and said, she just escaped. I can't find her. I don't know what's going on. I ran inside to grab a few things. And when I came back, Sailor was gone. Speaker 1 (13:22) As a parent, especially with back to school season here, I'm always thinking about whether my kids are actually getting what they need nutritionally. Because let's be real, kids can be very, very particular about what they will eat. And that's one of the reasons that I love Haya. Their chewable multivitamin has zero sugar and it's made with 15 essential vitamins and minerals, plus a blend of 12 organic fruits and vegetables. And my kids actually love taking them, which as a parent, anybody knows, you know, that's usually half the battle. 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