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Post by Admin on Feb 15, 2020 21:40:07 GMT
Police discovered the body of 6-year-old Faye Swetlik in her neighborhood near the remains of an unidentified male. Faye’s death is now being investigated as a homicide. The body of 6-year-old Faye Swetlik, missing since Monday after vanishing outside her home in South Carolina, was found Thursday, authorities said.  "It is with extremely heavy hearts that we are announcing that we found a body that the coroner has identified as Faye Marie Swetlik," Chief Byron Snellgrove of the Cayce Department of Public Safety said at a news conference. Snellgrove said police are treating the case as a homicide. Her autopsy will be conducted Saturday, according to the Lexington County Coroner's Office. "At this time no arrests have been made," Snellgrove said, adding "we need you to know that this is a fluid investigation and we are working diligently." A deceased male was also found during the search, the police chief said, and the investigation is only beginning. |
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Post by Admin on Feb 17, 2020 22:11:49 GMT
 The family of Faye Swetlik will not have to worry about covering funeral expenses as they prepare to lay the little girl to rest.  The 6-year-old was reported missing on February 10 when she vanished after getting off her school bus. The young girl's body was discovered days later in a wooded area.  The body of 30-year-old Coty Taylor was found inside his home moments later. Though the investigation is ongoing, Cayce Police say they believe the deaths are connected.  The Cayce community rallied behind Swetlik's loved ones in the days of searching, and have continued to support them since her death. |
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Post by Admin on Feb 19, 2020 7:35:33 GMT
South Carolina authorities hold a press conference to announce the autopsy results of Faye Swetlik, the 6-year-old who was found dead after going missing.
The Cayce Department of Public Safety will give new information this afternoon on the death of Faye Swetlik, the South Carolina girl who vanished in front of her home last week.
Officers have scheduled a 3 p.m. Eastern news conference where they'll release her cause of death as well as that of a neighbor found dead in her neighborhood.
On Monday, February 10, Swetlik was reported missing by her mother at her home in the Churchill Heights neighborhood in Cayce. The girl had come home from school just before 3 p.m but an hour later, she couldn't be found.
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Post by Admin on Feb 20, 2020 22:22:48 GMT
Cayce Public Safety Director Byron Snelgrove told reporters during the news conference that the clues found Thursday morning were a child's polka dot boot and a soup ladle that had freshly dug dirt in it.
Snelgrove said he happened to be at the scene at the time of the discovery of these items. He said he called for assistance, and while waiting for the assistance to arrive, he went into the woods behind the townhomes.
"I located the body of Faye Swetlik," Snelgrove said, pausing as he appeared to hold back tears.
About the same time, Snelgrove said officers were notified that a man was bleeding on the back patio of nearby 602 Picadilly Square, which was Taylor's home.
Arriving officers found a man dead at that location, Snelgrove said.
The man was later identified as Taylor, but Snelgrove only referred to him as "the deceased male" during the news conference.
SLED agents immediately collected DNA samples from the two crimes scenes and inside Taylor's home, according to Snelgrove.
"That DNA, once tested, connected the unknown pieces of this horrific crime," Snelgrove said.
Snelgrove said Taylor was interviewed by police on Wednesday afternoon, calling him cooperative. Taylor gave consent to investigators to look through the house, according to Snelgrove.
"Those agents did not see anything that alerted them to believe that he had knowledge or was any way involved in Faye's disappearance, at that time," Snelgrove said.
Evidence in the case led investigators to believe that Taylor abducted and killed Faye, and it appear he acted alone, Snelgrove said.
"Evidence further shows that Faye's body was moved during the shadow of night to behind the townhouses where she was found in the early morning hours on Thursday morning, under the cover of darkness," Snelgrove said.
Snelgrove went on to describe the massive investigation that grew from about 50 officers that first day to move than 300 state, local and federal law enforcement officers.
"In my 33 years of law enforcement, I have never seen such a large group of officers, investigators, firefighters and other first responders and staff come together in the way that everyone did here. Nor have I seen federal, state and local law enforcement agencies come together as a team, working around the clock as one unit with one goal: to try and bring a little 6-year-old baby girl home," Snelgrove said, with his voice breaking.
A memorial service for Faye will be Friday at 7 p.m. at Trinity Baptist Church in Cayce.
Dozens of first responders and community members prayed for Faye's family Tuesday night at Cayce City Hall.
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Post by Admin on Feb 24, 2020 1:11:35 GMT
 She was magic before she was born. She danced in her mother's pregnant belly, her mother later told her. It felt like her daughter twirled, wings fluttering, to a song only she could hear. So when she was born, her mother made magic her name, and her name sounded like a song. Faye Marie has a French translation: "Fairy Mary." On Friday, there was a final act of magic in the life of Faye Marie Swetlik, the 6-year-old girl who disappeared from her front yard and was found dead three days later. For about 40 minutes Friday night, Faye was once again the smiling 6-year-old singing "You Are My Sunshine" on a school stage with her classmates. The silly girl stomping through rain puddles on the pavement. The sweetheart with something she had to tell you, directly into the camera: "I love you."  This was the Faye projected on the screens in the sanctuary at Trinity Baptist Church. The video tribute was part of a public memorial in her honor. The pews were filled with about a thousand people, many with a child or two curled into their arms. Thousands more viewed the service through the church's Facebook page. "One of the best things about Faye was her uncanny ability to bring people together," said pastor Eddie Coakley, reading from the eulogy written by Faye's mother, Selena Collins, "and everyone here today is a testimony to that." In Collins' eulogy, she asked that people honor Faye's memory through love, the most important magic. That they try to be a little bit more like Faye, "to be a little bit more kind, to compliment a stranger, to dance in the rain, to stop and smell the flowers, to show just a little more bit love to everyone you meet."  It was a service dedicated not just Faye but the world she believed in. Her world was one that was purple and pink and sparkly, like the lights and flowers on the altar, one where even the rocks weren't really rocks if you looked close enough, just like the one with a painted smile in the lobby. A video of six-year-old Faye Swetlik plays during her remembrance service at Trinity Baptist Church Cayce Friday, Feb. 21, 2020. "One look in her bright blue eyes and the world was OK again," Collins' eulogy |
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