DNA Of Four Men Was Found On Her Body | True Crime Documentary

DNA Of Four Men Was Found On Her Body | True Crime Documentary

As investigators searched for missing 6-year-old Faye Swetlik, they worked around the clock following up on every lead to bring the little girl home safely. Around 1:00 AM, a surveillance camera picked up a light moving through the woods next to a residential neighborhood. Someone was out in the dark, walking slowly and shining a light on the ground as if searching for something. Less than seven hours later, that same man walked into a Walmart. He spent about 20 minutes in the gardening section, standing around uncertainly before purchasing bags of soil and fertilizer. At 7:47 AM, the camera caught him again in the same forest, carrying a bag deeper into the trees. A minute later, he emerged without it.

Meanwhile, over 250 officers, alongside FBI agents and volunteers, were desperately searching for 6-year-old Faye Swetlik, who had disappeared from her own front yard the previous afternoon. There was no trace and no clear answers. That same morning, while going through trash bins near one of the houses, investigators found a child’s polka-dotted rubber rain boot along with a dirt-covered kitchen ladle. Less than 30 minutes later, the search shifted dramatically. In the woods less than 60 meters from her home, an officer discovered a partially buried body, and right beside it lay a second small boot. Almost immediately after, another call came in from the same neighborhood: a man was found dead in a backyard, lying in a pool of blood. At that moment, police did not yet know if the two scenes were connected, but the truth was closer than anyone realized.

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Just before 3:00 PM, 6-year-old Faye Marie Swetlik hopped off her school bus near Springdale Elementary School. She met her mother, Selena Swetlik, and the two walked the short distance home together, chatting about their day as they always did. Faye was described as a bright, cheerful, energetic child, full of life. Selena called her her “little magical fairy”—a tiny spark of joy who loved playing and making everyone around her happy. Selena noted that Faye was always the first to compliment complete strangers, stopping people to admire their hair or outfits and constantly making new friends.

Upon arriving home, Faye had a quick snack and went outside to play in the yard. Selena checked on her every few minutes, and everything seemed normal. A neighbor reported seeing Faye running toward the shared fence near NAPA Auto Parts between 3:30 PM and 4:00 PM. Around 3:45 PM, Selena stepped outside again, only to realize her daughter was gone. After searching the immediate area and checking with neighbors, she called 911 at 5:00 PM.

“Tell me what’s happening.”
“I can’t find my daughter. She was playing outside and I don’t know where—I can’t find her.”
“All right, I’m going to stay on the line with you, but I’m going to get Cayce PD on the line too. Don’t hang up, okay?”
“Okay.”
“All right, ma’am, you’re on the phone with Cayce. Go ahead.”
“Yes, ma’am. Can you spell your daughter’s name?”
“My daughter’s name is Faye Swetlik. F-A-Y-E.”
“What’s her last name?”
“Swetlik. S-W-E-T-L-I-K.”
“And what was she wearing?”
“She was wearing a polka-dotted rain boot, a flowered skirt, and a black T-shirt with a neon design on it.”
“How long has she been gone?”
“Last I saw her was probably about an hour ago.”
“How tall is she?”
“She’s 3 feet 10 inches.”
“How much does she weigh?”
“65 pounds.”
“You last saw her in the front yard. You didn’t see which way she went?”
“No, she was right in front of my front porch.”

Within minutes, police arrived, and by 5:30 PM, around 50 first responders were on scene. By 6:00 PM, the FBI had joined the investigation. Community members volunteered to help immediately, though authorities requested that volunteers hold back so trained professionals could conduct a systematic search. Shortly after, Faye’s father, Chad Swetlik, was informed of her disappearance. FBI agents searched his home, but Faye was not there, and phone records later confirmed Chad had been at home at the time she vanished.

Officers began going door-to-door requesting security footage. Ashley Hunter, a spokesperson for the City of Cayce, asked residents in the Churchill Heights community to share recordings from Ring, Wyze, or other home security systems. The FBI deployed a helicopter alongside K9 units. However, Public Safety Director Byron Snellgrove noted that there was initially insufficient evidence to confirm an abduction, meaning the case did not meet the criteria for an Amber Alert.

By 7:00 AM the following morning, a dedicated tip line had received nearly 300 calls. Over 250 officers set up checkpoints throughout Churchill Heights, stopping and searching every vehicle entering or exiting the area. During a press conference, authorities released details regarding Faye’s appearance, noting she was wearing a black shirt with the word “PEACE” on the front and had shoulder-length hair. They urged residents with security camera footage recorded between 2:00 PM and 5:00 PM on the day of her disappearance to contact investigators at 803-205-4444.

Law enforcement methodically interviewed everyone connected to Faye, including Selena, her live-in partner Carter, and Chad Swetlik. Following thorough alibi checks, home searches, and phone record analyses, Faye’s family members were officially cleared as suspects. On February 12th, police released images of two vehicles seen leaving the neighborhood around the time Faye went missing; however, both drivers were quickly identified and cleared, returning the investigation to a standstill.

On Thursday morning, February 13th, officers carried out a final check of neighborhood dumpsters before scheduled trash collection. While searching trash containers near homes on Piccadilly Square, investigators made a critical discovery at house number 602. The evidence immediately redirected search teams back to the nearby woods.

Less than 30 minutes later, Public Safety Director Byron Snellgrove located Faye’s body in a shallow grave less than 200 feet from her home. It was later determined that she died from asphyxia just hours after being abducted, and her body was moved shortly thereafter. Within minutes of finding Faye, officers received a report from a nearby property on Piccadilly Square, where a man was found dead in the backyard from a fatal neck wound.

During a subsequent press briefing, authorities confirmed the discovery:
“It is with extremely heavy hearts that we announce we have found a body identified by the coroner as Faye Marie Swetlik. We are now treating this case as a homicide. During the course of our investigation, a deceased male was also located in the Churchill Heights neighborhood. At this time, we feel there is no danger to the community.”

The deceased man was identified as 30-year-old Cody Scott Taylor. Investigators immediately began examining his background. Acquaintances described Taylor as withdrawn, distant, and isolated, noting that he often referred to himself as asexual and identified with incel communities. He worked at Wingstop alongside his roommates. Although he had studied mathematics at the University of South Carolina around 2009 without graduating, he had no prior criminal record beyond minor traffic violations.

Investigators established that Taylor abducted Faye from her yard and killed her within hours, hiding her body in his apartment for two days. During the active search, police had knocked on Taylor’s door while he was away; officers spoke with his roommate, collected a DNA sample from Taylor’s laundry bag, and noticed a missing person flyer for Faye on the table. When Taylor returned home later that day, his roommate observed that he appeared nervous and noticed a sharp, unusual smell in the apartment.

Surveillance footage later revealed that at 1:00 AM on February 13th, Taylor navigated the nearby woods with a flashlight. Later that morning, he walked to a local Walmart, spent 20 minutes in the garden department, and purchased bags of soil, fertilizer, seed packets, and a box of Pop-Tarts. He returned via a Lyft ride, during which he acted noticeably distant when the driver asked about the ongoing search for Faye. At 7:47 AM, cameras recorded Taylor carrying a bag of soil into the woods and returning without it.

Upon discovering Faye’s rain boot and a dirt-covered ladle in Taylor’s trash container, police located Faye’s body in the woods. Shortly after officers arrived at the scene, Taylor stepped onto his back porch and committed suicide by cutting his own throat with a knife. Subsequent forensic analysis detected Taylor’s DNA under Faye’s fingernails, on the ladle, and on a black laundry bag, confirming that he acted entirely alone.

A public memorial was held at Trinity Baptist Church on February 21st. A pink tow truck escorted Faye’s mother and her ashes in a procession accompanied by dozens of motorcycles and service vehicles. Hundreds of community members and first responders gathered wearing pink and purple—Faye’s favorite colors—to pay their final respects and leave messages in tribute journals. Case operations were officially closed following the completion of all forensic and investigative reports.
Those pages slowly filled up with warmth, with memories, with quiet grief. It took a full year to officially close the case, a long, exhausting process filled with checks, forensic work, and endless attempts to piece everything together. But even after all that time, there was still this feeling of something unfinished, like something important had slipped away.

It’s impossible to know exactly what happened that day or why it happened. Police confirmed that all the available evidence points clearly in one direction, forming a consistent version of events. But even with that, there are still so many questions that will probably never be answered, and honestly, that uncertainty is what makes this story even more unsettling.

The motive behind the crime was never established, and most likely it never will be. Cody Scott Taylor didn’t leave a note, didn’t leave any kind of explanation at his home, nothing that could help people understand why. Several agencies tried to pull data from his phone, hoping to find at least something that could shed light on the situation, but those efforts didn’t lead anywhere.

The same with his computer; no meaningful evidence was found. And that just deepened this feeling of emptiness, like the answers should be there, but they’re just not. Even though the Cayce Police Department completed its part of the investigation, the case wasn’t completely let go. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the State Law Enforcement Division continued their work, keeping certain directions open in case anything new could still come up. It felt like an effort not to fully close the door, even when the main conclusions had already been reached.

In July 2021, Public Safety Director Byron Snellgrove, who played a key role in Faye’s case and had been there from the very beginning, announced his retirement after more than 35 years in law enforcement. His departure became another quiet but symbolic ending for someone who had seen many tragedies over the years, but this one, without a doubt, left a mark. “For me, after 65 hours of searching, the memory of finding little Faye Marie Swetlik’s body in a shallow grave on the morning of February 13th, 2020, it’s something that will never leave me.”

This tragedy deeply affected the officers who had been involved in the search from the very first moments. They worked without rest, combing through areas, checking every detail, hoping for a different outcome. But even almost a year later, the memories of this case never faded. They stayed with them like this quiet but constant weight that just doesn’t let you fully move on.

“The disappearance and murder of Faye Marie Swetlik immediately became and will always remain deeply personal for each of us.” Those words didn’t sound like a formality. They felt real, like something coming from people who had seen too much and still couldn’t stay unaffected. For them, this wasn’t just another case. It was something that hit on a personal level, leaving a mark that doesn’t fade with time.

Faye’s death also had a deep and lasting impact on the community she lived in. People who once felt safe suddenly found themselves dealing with fear, with vulnerability. And that feeling didn’t go away after the news cycle ended or after the funeral. It stayed in everyday life, in conversations, in the silence between words, and it still lingers.

In memory of Faye, Springdale Elementary School created what they call a “buddy bench,” a place that became a symbol of support, kindness, and connection. It’s not just a bench on a school playground. It’s a quiet reminder that even after the darkest moments, people still try to hold on to light, the same kind of light Faye once brought into the world. “If you feel like you don’t have a friend to play with, you can go sit down on a buddy bench and somebody else will come and sit down with you and talk to you, or somebody will come up to you knowing that you need a friend. Kids are awesome that way.”

In her farewell speech, Selena Swetlik, holding back her emotions but not hiding the pain, spoke to everyone there with a simple but deeply meaningful request to honor Faye through love. She spoke slowly and clearly, like she wanted every single word to stay with people long after that moment. According to her, love was that invisible force, that real kind of magic, that defined Faye Marie Swetlik and made her so special to everyone who knew her. And you could feel it in her voice—not just grief, but this attempt to find meaning in something that shook everyone.

She asked people to take just a moment and really think about who Faye was in everyday life. To try and be a little more like her, not as some perfect ideal, but as a real example of kindness and sincerity. To be kinder, even when it’s hard. To give compliments to strangers without expecting anything back. To allow yourself those simple joys, like dancing in the rain without caring who’s watching. Stopping in the middle of a busy day just to smell the flowers. And actually noticing the beauty in the small things we usually miss. And more than anything, just give more love, honestly, freely, to everyone you meet. Because, as she said, it’s in those small, almost invisible actions where something truly lasting lives. Even when the words run out and the pain is still there.