CAYCE, S.C. – The body of Faye Marie Swetlik, a 6-year-old girl who mysteriously vanished in front of her South Carolina home Monday, has been discovered. Sadly, her death is being treated as a homicide, investigators said.
“It is with extremely heavy hearts that we are announcing we have found the body, who the coroner has identified, as Faye Marie Swetlik,” Cayce Public Safety Director Byron Snellgrove said during a brief news conference Thursday afternoon.
No arrests have been made as the investigation continues. He did not say where the body was located or provide a cause of death.
Furthermore, Snellgrove announced that during the investigation a deceased male was located in the Churchill Heights neighborhood. It was unknown whether the two deaths are linked.
Investigators were last looking for the drivers of two unfamiliar vehicles seen in the Churchill Heights neighborhood of Cayce, S.C., around the time Faye was last seen, Fox News reported.
The Cayce Department of Public Safety late Wednesday released new video of the cars, which appear to be a Chevy Trailblazer SUV and a silver sedan. Police later said they identified the SUV and were continuing to search for the sedan.
Thus far, police said there is no evidence that points to a kidnapping. However, investigators have not ruled out abduction or other possibilities, like she wandered away from her home or was harmed by someone she knew.
The first-grader vanished around 3:45 p.m. Monday shortly after getting off her school bus. She was last seen playing in front of her home. Moreover, family searched for Faye for about an hour before calling 911, authorities said.
“Her mother, her mother’s boyfriend and her father have all been cooperative with us,” Cayce Public Safety Director Byron Snellgrove said.
Detectives have said that in the course of the first 72 hours, more than 250 officers from multiple agencies were sent out to canvass the neighborhood, going door-to-door to every house and even searching some homes, Fox reported.
Helicopters and tracking dogs have also been utilized during the frantic search, which included a nearby wooded area. Hundreds of hours of video were scrutinized and witnesses interviewed as the investigation has developed.
Flyers with Faye’s picture were posted all over Cayce, a city of 14,000 neighboring the state capital of Columbia.
“Faye is a bubbly energetic first-grader at Springdale Elementary School,” Snellgrove said. “When she walks into a room, she brightens it up.”
The department also provided a tip line, (803) 205-4444, for anyone with information to call.
