COLUMBIA, S.C. — Investigators found a man dead inside his South Carolina home shortly after finding an item from a missing 6-year-old girl inside his trash can, authorities said.

Faye Marie Swetlik disappeared Monday while playing in her front yard after getting off the school bus, investigators said. Her death is being investigated as a homicide, although details about how she died have not been released.

The girl’s body was found Thursday in the woods, and police think it was put there after investigators found the evidence inside the trash can, Cayce Public Safety Sgt. Evan Antley said at a Friday news conference.

Antley didn’t directly link the death of 30-year-old Coty Scott Taylor, whose body was found at his home, to the girl’s killing. But Antley said the item found in Taylor’s trash on Thursday was something that would have been listed on the missing person flyer created after she disappeared. Both bodies were found Thursday after the item was found in the trash by investigators.

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