Missing 6-Year-Old Found Dead

Faye Marie Swetlik's body found in South Carolina
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Feb 13, 2020 3:33 PM CST
Worst Possible Ending to Case of Missing Girl
A Cayce police officer approaches a vehicle at a road block near an entrance to the Churchill Heights neighborhood Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020, in Cayce, SC.   (AP Photo/Sean Rayford)

A tragic end to the case of the 6-year-old South Carolina girl who disappeared Monday after getting off her school bus: Faye Marie Swetlik was found dead Thursday, and a homicide investigation has been opened, authorities said. The body of a man also was found recently in the neighborhood where the child disappeared Monday, said Cayce Public Safety Director Byron Snellgrove. Snellgrove didn't immediately provide any evidence to link the two deaths, but said at a brief news conference to announce the developments that there was no danger to the public. He said no arrests have been made in the girl's death, the AP reports. “It’s with extremely heavy hearts that we announce we have found the body" of the child, Snellgrove said, speaking for only about a minute and taking no questions.

The coroner confirmed the girl's death but has not released the identity of the dead man, Snellgrove said. The girl's disappearance had brought more than 250 officers to the neighborhood in Cayce, just across the Congaree River from the state capital of Columbia. Searchers knocked multiple times on the doors of every home in the neighborhood. They also checked trash cans and a nearby landfill and towed cars. The girl was last seen getting off the school bus Monday. Her family discovered her missing about 3:45pm and called 911 after looking for her for about an hour, authorities have said. The girl's mother, the mother's boyfriend and her father all cooperated with investigators, authorities said.

(More missing child stories.)

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