Faye Marie Swtlik
(Photo : Twitter/FBI)

The body of a 6-year-old girl named Faye Marie Swetlik was found Thursday. She was reported missing last Monday after she vanished outside her home in South Carolina. 

The Day She Vanished

Faye lived with her mother in the Churchill Heights neighborhood and attended school at Springdale Elementary School. 

Her mother waited for her at the bus stop after school on February 10, a statement that a neighbor confirmed. The bus arrived around 2:50 pm. Faye and her mother walked back to their home at Londonderry Lane.

Her mother told the police Faye went inside to get a snack upon returning home. She then went outside to play in their yard and was never heard from again. 

Faye's family began looking for her around 3:45 pm. Her mother called 911 at 5 pm. Cayce Department of Public Safety, the agency investigating Swetlik's death, released the audio recording Friday. 

The Search

After the frantic 911 call, more than 100 officers joined in on the search. By Tuesday, the FBI assisted with more than 250 officers.

The police scoured the neighborhood for three days until they came upon a piece of evidence found in their neighbor's trash. The search party then focused on an area 100 to 150 feet away from Faye's front yard. The neighbor was identified as Coty Scott Taylor.

The police have not released the full details of the evidence, other than it was a detail that would have been listed on Faye's missing person flyer. 

Police discovered her body in the wooded area between her home and a parts store around 11 am on February 13. According to the investigators, Faye's body hadn't spent a lot of time in the area before it was discovered. 

The Link

Shortly after Faye's body was found, police announced another casualty. Taylor, Faye's neighbor, had also been found dead inside his home. 

Police had been inside Taylor's home during the three-day search. Taylor, who lived just steps away from the Swetlik's home, was neither a relative nor a friend of the family. 

Police have provided no details on his cause of death. The autopsy of Taylor's body is scheduled for Saturday.

Coty Taylor has not been named as a suspect, but police believe the deaths are connected.

Who is Coty Scott Taylor?

Coty Scott Taylor did not have a criminal history. He was not known to local law enforcement.

A search of court records revealed he had multiple traffic violations: one in Lexington County from February 2018, and at least four in Richland Country from 2013 and 2015.

Court records show Taylor won a case against City Garage and Body Shop in June of 2019. The case involved a disagreement about payment. 

According to WLTX-TV, Taylor graduated from Bluffton High School in 2007. He was a member of the school's robotics team and was involved with Model United Nations. He also attended the University of South Carolina but no record of him graduating was found. 

"A Bubbly Girl"

Faye Swetlik was last seen wearing flower print shorts, polka dot boots, and a black T-shirt with neon colors. Police have released a video that shows her getting off the school bus. 

Her family described Faye as a bubbly little girl. "She always wants to play and have fun," her family said in a statement released by Fox Carolina Tuesday. "She's not the type of kid that will up and walk away."

"We just want to find Faye and bring her home."

Are There Suspects?

According to Cayce Department of Public Safety Sgt. Evan Antley, there are no suspects or any persons of interest at this time. No arrest has been made either. 

"At this time I want to assure you, our community and all of our parents out there, that we have no reason to believe that there is an active threat in the ... community or the city of Cayce as a whole," Antley said

Police are treating the girl's death as homicide.