Three days after being reported as missing, the body of 6-year-old Faye Marie Swetlik was found on Thursday afternoon (Feb. 13) in the same Cayce, South Carolina neighborhood she disappeared from.

“It is with extremely heavy hearts we’re announcing we found a body the coroner identified as Faye Marie Swetlik,” Bryon Snellgrove, Cayce Department of Public Safety Director, told reporters at a news conference.

On Monday afternoon, Swetlik got off a school bus and was seen playing in her parents’ front yard when they noticed they hadn’t seen her since 3:45 p.m. They called the police at 5 p.m. and a search was launched throughout the area to find the missing child.

Authorities say that the body of the first-grader was found in the same Churchill Heights neighborhood that she vanished from, and that there was also a “deceased male” nearby.

Although they are saying that the community is not in danger, they are ruling her death a homicide and have launched an investigation into the shocking death.

Snellgrove did not field any questions during the somber press conference, and he wouldn’t verify if authorities believed that the two deaths are connected according to WDPE

As news of the horrifying discovery spread, reactions poured in online from across the country:

While no arrests have been made, police are still actively searching through the wooded Churchill Heights area in search of answers.

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