Community to say goodbye to Faye Swetlik at a memorial Friday

A heartbroken community will come together Friday to say goodbye to a girl who was abducted and killed by a neighbor in South Carolina.

The memorial service for Faye Marie Swetlik, 6, will be Friday at 7 p.m. at Trinity Baptist Church in Cayce.

Faye’s family has said the memorial will be child friendly and is encouraging everyone to wear bright colors — especially pink and purple — to remember her lively personality, according to CNN affiliate WISH.

Tributes have poured in from people who knew her and her memorial page has been filled with messages of condolences.

One of her teachers, Morgen Sightler, posted a memory of Faye on her Facebook page, the affiliate reported.

“I will miss your morning hugs, your bright eyed smile, you skipping down the hall ready for anything and everything … your curiosity, your kindness, your stories, but most of all…your ability to love unconditionally,” the post said.

“I remember you telling me…. all about your new purple dress from Target and how it was just the right size for you. I pray you are dancing, skipping, and loving on everybody in that purple, size 7/8 dress right now in Heaven.”

Faye went missing on February 10. She was last seen playing in her front yard after taking the bus home from Springdale Elementary School.

Her body was found three days later in a wooded area between her family’s house and an auto parts store, according to authorities.

Police say she died of asphyxiation, and she was likely killed by her neighbor Coty Scott Taylor, 30.

The suspect’s body was found at his home about 150 feet from Faye’s house shortly after her body was discovered. Authorities have said he killed himself by cutting his throat.

According to Cayce Director of Public Safety Byron Snellgrove, authorities had interviewed Taylor two days after Faye went missing and had also searched his home.

But it was only after police found a child’s polka dot boot and a soup ladle with fresh dirt on it in a trash can that they had a breakthrough. Those two pieces of evidence helped them find Faye’s body. And DNA found on the two items linked Taylor to the 6-year-old. Snellgrove added that she was not killed in the woods, but her body was moved there not long before it was discovered.

A tribute posted on her obituary page says she’ll never be forgotten.

“She made everyone believe in all things good again. She left behind a world that loved her. May she forever sparkle,” it says.