Faye Marie Swetlik abducted, killed by South Carolina neighbor, officials say after autopsy
CAYCE, S.C. – Investigators said 6-year-old Faye Marie Swetlik of Cayce was killed last week by Coty Scott Taylor, 30, a neighbor found dead after being interviewed by investigators following Faye's disappearance.
It appears that Taylor is the "sole perpetrator of this crime," Cayce Department of Public Safety director Byron Snellgrove said during a press conference Tuesday.
Autopsy results released Tuesday in the death of Faye, who was first reported missing eight days ago, show she died by asphyxiation, according to Lexington County Coroner Margaret Fisher.
An autopsy performed on Taylor over the weekend shows he died by suicide, Fisher said, according to Associated Press.
Investigators say Taylor killed Faye Swetlik hours after she was abducted from her yard on Feb. 10.
Fisher said the autopsy determined the child's death was a homicide and did not occur at the location where her body was discovered. Fisher said Faye's body had been at that location only for a short time.
Faye was last seen playing in her yard around 3:45 p.m. Feb. 10. She was reported missing to law enforcement around 5 p.m., after her mother searched the neighborhood and spoke with neighbors.
The report triggered a multi-agency search involving more than 300 law enforcement officers that spanned three days and centered on an area within about a mile of the first-grader's home.
More on Faye Swetlik case: The massive search for Faye Swetlik ended where it began — steps from her home
Between Monday and Wednesday nights, investigators conducted four perimeter searches of the neighborhood and collected video footage from nearly 50 locations, Snellgrove said. Snellgrove said they discovered video that appeared to show Taylor "doing some things that are suspicious to us," but Snellgrove would not elaborate.
By the end of the week, officers had followed 283 leads from a hotline set up during the search.
Law enforcement also knocked on every door of every home in the Churchill Heights neighborhood where she lived, going back to each house until they'd interviewed every resident.
Investigators interviewed the man they ultimately determined was responsible for Faye's death. Taylor lived about 150 feet from Faye's home.
Snellgrove said Taylor was interviewed by investigators on Wednesday afternoon and was cooperative and gave them permission to search his home. Investigators did not find anything at the home that led them to believe he was connected to the case at that time, Snellgrove said.
Taylor does have a roommate, but there was no indication that the roommate was involved, Snellgrove said.
Fisher said evidence shows Faye was already dead at the time Taylor was interviewed.
Investigators believe Taylor killed Faye within hours of her abduction on Feb. 10 and moved her body under the cover of darkness in the early morning hours of Feb. 13.
Snellgrove found Faye's body around 10:30 a.m. Feb. 13 after investigators found a child's polka-dot boot and a soup ladle with freshly dug dirt in it during a search of neighborhood trash cans.
The trash can in which the items were found was associated Taylor's townhome.
After calling for assistance to conduct an additional search of the wooded area behind that home, Snellgrove found Faye's body nearby.
A funeral for Faye will be held Friday at 7 p.m. at Trinity Baptist Church in Cayce, according to an obituary shared by Caughman-Harman Funeral Home in Lexington.
This article originally appeared on The Greenville News: Faye Marie Swetlik killed by Coty Taylor, South Carolina officials say
