The parents of Saylor Hayes, a nonverbal five-year-old autistic girl who was found dead after disappearing in South Carolina, appeared in a Tennessee court for the first time on Thursday following their arrest. John Herb Hayes III, 70, and Geordyn Nichole Hayes, 31, each face a charge of unlawfully placing a child at risk or wilfully abandoning a child, with authorities also accusing them of misdirecting search efforts after their daughter went missing. The case has drawn attention both for the scale of the search effort and for allegations that the parents hampered rescuers' attempts to find the girl.

Saylor's body was recovered on Monday morning after an overnight search involving deputies, K-9 units, boats, a helicopter and an underwater drone, backed by hundreds of volunteers and Georgetown County Emergency Management. Arrest warrants allege the parents failed to provide adequate supervision for a child known to be drawn to water and prone to wandering, and that they directed searchers to rely on a tracking device, Project Lifesaver, despite knowing Saylor was not wearing it — the tracker band was later found more than 300 miles away in Virginia. Both parents waived their right to an attorney and waived extradition to South Carolina during Thursday's hearing, and will remain in a Tennessee jail until South Carolina authorities collect them within 10 days, with a status hearing set for 14 September if they are not.