Carter County

By September 1st, the day after Sailor's body was found, the couple left the area before officers got a chance to take them into custody, and they didn't bother returning home.

Instead, they showed up at a home in a rural part of Carter County, Tennessee.

Now, Carter County deputies had already been tipped off that the pair was wanted out of South Carolina and would be arriving in a black GMC SUV with a Texas license plate, headed for a home on some very rural, isolated back roads.

Deputies spotted the SUV, followed it in, and once it pulled into the driveway, they moved in and arrested both John and Jordan without incident on fugitive from justice charges.

Officials have not released why the couple was headed to that particular house, but of course we can speculate maybe it was a friend or family member that they planned to hide out with.

Either way, I think it's very weird that just after their daughter was found, instead of grieving and trying to search for answers and sticking around to wait to see what her cause of death was maybe, they just got up and left.

Very strange behavior.

From there, they were both held without bond at the Carter County Detention Center and on September 3rd at 9am, they had their first court appearance, an arraignment and extradition hearing.

I carried him to Tennessee one time.

I got a buddy up there in Carter County, Elizabethan.

and we went hunting, and of course, they had hounds, and anyway, he showed off that night.

He treed a big old coon.

Deputies were made aware that the Hayes' had...

Plans to travel from South Carolina to a residence in Carter County, Tennessee, which is where Jordan, again, has a lot of family members.

But during the same time, investigators were also working on obtaining arrest warrants for what they believed was done or what wasn't done to keep Sailor safe.

Tennessee deputies watched the couple's SUV arrive at the home and confirmed that the South Carolina Warrens were active with extradition authorization.

Deputies then pulled in behind the vehicle and identified the driver as John Hayes with Jordan Hayes in the passenger seat.

They were both arrested without incident.

Both parents were charged with one count of being a fugitive from justice for a crime in another state and were transported to the Carter County Detention Center where they were being held without bond pending Thursday's extradition hearing.

But now let's read the arrest warrant for exactly why investigators believe they should be arrested in the first place.

Eventually, Confederate lines weakened enough for the four officers to continue west.

Crossing Roan Mountain and moving through Carter County, Tennessee, they finally reached Union forces near Knoxville.

Their journey was over, but the story did not end there.

The officers were taken to Washington, D.C., where Captain Andrew Benson personally recounted their escape to President Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton.