KEY POINTS

  • Faye Swetlik, 6, was last seen playing outside her family's home in Cayce, South Carolina, after getting home from school
  • Police have expanded the search area to the surrounding areas outside Cayce with the aid of state law enforcement and more than two dozen volunteers
  • Authorities said the search for Faye has not yet met the criteria necessary to declare an Amber alert

Authorities expanded their search Tuesday for a 6-year-old girl who reportedly was last seen playing outside her home in Cayce, South Carolina, after coming home from school.

Faye Swetlik was last seen around 3:45 p.m. on Monday outside the family home near state Highway 302. Her family told police she had gotten off the bus and arrived home safely before she went missing. The Cayce Department of Public Safety said it contacted all known relatives but no one had seen her.

Faye is described as standing 3-foot-10, weighing 65 pounds, with strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes. She was last seen wearing a black shirt with neon colors, a floral print skirt, and polka dot boots. She is lactose intolerant and has a “speech impediment with a tethered tongue.”

The Cayce Police Department is asking any neighbors with doorbell cameras and home security systems to submit anything that may help in their search.

“We're looking for a safe return,” Cayce Police Sgt. Evan Antley told reporters. “We want you to share our message on social media. Talk to people in your family and in your neighborhood. We want to keep this girl's name circulating and get that info out as quickly and efficiently as possible.”

Search efforts are being assisted by more than two dozen volunteers and various local and state law enforcement agencies.

“We will be here until we find Faye,” Lexington County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Adam Myrick told reporters. “Our work will continue until we determine what happened here.”

An Amber alert has not yet been issued for Faye as authorities said the situation hasn’t met the criteria. The criteria to issue an Amber alert include:

  • A law enforcement agency or agencies must believe the child has been abducted
  • If the child is under 17 and the agency believes the child is in immediate danger or could come to serious harm
  • All other possibilities for the disappearance have been reasonably excluded
  • There is sufficient information available to give to the public
  • The child’s name and other critical data have been entered into the National Crime Information Center
Police
In this representative photo, police cruisers respond as demonstrators march in protest outside the Ferguson Police Department in Ferguson, Missouri, Nov. 26, 2014. Michael B. Thomas/AFP/Getty Images
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