Preliminary autopsy on Saylor Hayes: No external signs of trauma, a strap attached to her ankle

A few hours after John and Geordyn Hayes arrived back in South Carolina, the preliminary results of their daughter’s autopsy was released by the Georgetown County Coroner’s Office.

The report said Salyor was wearing a bathing suit and “a strap was attached to her ankle that appeared consistent with a strap of a child’s wrist tether.”

The coroner’s comments did not indicate if the strap was a tracking device that her parents said they had placed on her wrist but was removed and still in Virginia.

The statement said her lungs had fluid, and the coroner reported no obvious external signs of trauma when he examined her. A final autopsy report will be issued in 8 to 10 weeks.

Police accused Salyor’s parents of deliberately directing officers searching for the girl away from the Waccamaw River surrounding their Pawley’s Island vacation home and face a criminal charge of placing Salyor at risk.