‘I wuv you’: Community says goodbye to slain 6-year-old SC girl at emotional memorial service

CAYCE, S.C. — The South Carolina community that searched, prayed and then cried said goodbye Friday to a 6-year-old girl who disappeared from her front yard and was found dead three days later.

The memorial service for Faye Marie Swetlik was held at Trinity Baptist Church in Cayce.

Many who attended the emotional ceremony wore bright colors, especially pink and purple, to honor the bubbly spirit of the first-grader.

Faye’s sweet voice and precious face lit up the church as videos showed the little girl.

“I wuv you.”

The girl who brightened so many lives loved to sing, “You Are My Sunshine.” Faye’s voice filled the church, “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.”

The pastor read the eulogy written by Faye’s mom, Selena.

“Faye loved hard,” the pastor read aloud.

Selena said Faye got her name because Faye is French for fairy.

“Faye is French for fairy and when I was pregnant, she felt like fairies,” the mother’s words read to the community. “I wanted her to believe in magic.”

She was magic.

“Faye was designed by God for a very special purpose and look at the difference she made it such a short time,” the mother said in the eulogy.

Before the ceremony, there was a procession of motorcycles and tow trucks. One of the trucks carried Faye’s pink bike.

“I’ve never seen people come together over one little precious girl,” said community member Sonya Joy. “It’s a beautiful thing.”

Faye’s mom said she always brought people together. She asked if anything comes from Faye’s tragic death, it’s that we all learn to love like she did.

“So, I ask of you, love a little more, be a little more kind, compliment a stranger,” she said.

The girl was playing in her front yard after getting off the school bus Feb. 10 when she disappeared.

More than 200 officers searched for her until Thursday, when Faye’s rain boot was found in a neighbor’s trashcan. This led police to search a nearby area for a fourth time. That’s when they found her body, recently placed in the woods.

DNA evidence connected the girl’s death to that neighbor, 30-year-old Coty Scott Taylor, authorities said.

Right after Faye’s body was found, Taylor was found dead. He died by suicide, according to the Lexington County Coroner’s Office.

Officers questioned Taylor and went into his home the day before the girl’s body was found, but Cayce Public Safety Director Byron Snellgrove said they found no evidence of the girl at that time.

Investigators have not said why Taylor, who had no criminal record, wanted to kidnap the girl.

The coroner’s office said that, out of respect for Faye’s family, they were refusing to release any details about the condition of the girl’s body or disclose any other way she might have been injured beyond dying of asphyxiation.

The girl’s disappearance shocked Cayce, a town of about 13,000 just west of Columbia, the state capital. Several prayer vigils were held while she was missing and after her body was found. Both the county coroner and the police chief in Cayce said they and their employees were shaken.

More than 100 people came out in pouring rain for a candlelight vigil Tuesday evening at Cayce City Hall.

Pieces of the community memorial in Faye’s neighborhood have been donated to help other children. The family donated stuffed animals to Prisma Children’s Hospital in nearby Columbia, South Carolina.

The hospital said the donation made by Faye's grandmother and other family members will do a lot for patients.

“We use all of our donations to help children, turn their hospital room into a more familiar environment,” said Christy Fink, with the hospital.

Donations for Faye are still being collected.

In her obituary, Faye’s family said she was gone too soon but wouldn’t be forgotten.

“She made everyone believe in all things good again. She left behind a world that loved her. May she forever sparkle," they wrote.

Autopsy results to be released for slain 6-year-old SC girl, dead neighbor Autopsy results to be released for slain 6-year-old SC girl, dead neighbor

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