COLUMBIA, S.C. — During their four-day search for 6-year-old Faye Swetlik in 2020, investigators went into her killer's townhouse and likely, but unknowingly, saw where her body was stashed, according to investigative files release Friday.
That's just one of the findings following the release of investigative documents. With the release, Cayce police declared the investigation into Swetlik's kidnapping and killing closed.
On Feb. 12, 2020 — two days after Faye's mother reported her missing — police were canvassing the Churchill Heights neighborhood of Cayce where Faye lived with her mother.
Investigators first stepped into Coty Taylor's townhouse at 602 Piccadilly Square that day.
Taylor was not home when investigators arrived at 11:15 a.m. But his roommate was. The roommate told police that he was at work when Faye went missing the afternoon of Feb. 10. He allowed investigators to search the residence.
As investigators searched, they saw a black laundry bag in a closet beneath the stairs. The laundry bag and the interview with the roommate were recorded on police body camera.
Faye's body was likely in the laundry bag, according to police documents.
But at the time of that search, "there was nothing overtly suspicious regarding the laundry bag and no evidence that made 602 Piccadilly Square notable from other residences," the summary of the search said.
Investigators returned to the home at about 5:45 p.m. Taylor was there, and he told investigators he was at home sleeping when Faye disappeared. Taylor let investigators search the house again. The investigative documents don't indicate that they found anything different from when they first searched the house.
Faye's body was found the next morning in a wooded area near the neighborhood. A short time afterward, Taylor was also found dead by suicide. After his death, the police searched the house once again.
Investigators found the laundry bag in the third search of the home in an exterior storage room. In a later interview, Taylor's roommate told investigators that the bag belonged to Taylor.
Tests showed that Faye and Taylor's DNA was in the bag, the investigative summary said.
A surveillance video showed that Taylor purchased gardening soil at a Walmart hours before Faye's body was discovered. Other video showed a man believed to be Taylor dumping what appears to be the soil in an area where her body was, according to Cayce police.
On Feb. 10, 2020, Faye's mother reported her 6-year-old daughter missing from her home in a Cayce neighborhood. Cayce police and state agents launched a rigorous neighborhood search that included at least one helicopter and search dogs. Snellgrove found her body in a wooded area in the neighborhood on the morning of Feb. 13.
Police say Taylor, a 30-year-old neighbor, abducted and killed her. His body was found by police with a knife wound in the neck shortly after Faye's body was discovered. Police found in Taylor's trash can a polka dotted boot that Faye was wearing as well as a ladle covered in dirt, presumably used to bury her. The Lexington County coroner said she was killed by asphyxiation the same day she was abducted.
People from Cayce and nearby towns made an impromptu memorial to Faye outside the neighborhood. One of Faye's teachers wrote a moving remembrance that thousands read. Hundreds attended Fay's funeral.
Months later, the town of Springdale, where Faye went to school, dedicated a plot in a park to her.
A year after Faye's death, her mother, father and grandmother spoke with The State. They siad they wanted Faye to be remembered as the bright and fun-loving child she was and not for her untimely death. Byron Snellgrove, director of the Cayce Department of Public Safety, said his department was deeply affected by the investigation. Five officers retired in the wake of the child's death.
Snellgrove is retiring in December.
Taylor was an honors student at Bluffton High School in Beaufort County before attending the University of South Carolina from 2007 to 2009 without graduating. Taylor didn't have a criminal record, police said in 2020. While searching for Faye, Cayce officers went to Taylor's home and asked him permission to search it, which he granted. But they found nothing useful and police moved on, Snellgrove had said.
The released documents are part of an opens record request filed by The State and other news organizations more than a year ago. Cayce police had said they were withholding the documents while the investigation was ongoing.
