The warrants charge Javeayah's mother, Michilae Herring, 22, and her father, Johmarea Harris, 23, with homicide by child abuse. Herring also faces a charge of filing a false police report. Both were denied bond.
Investigators allege both parents showed "extreme indifference to human life" by failing to obtain medical treatment after Javeayah suffered injuries "from physical abuse at the hands of" Herring. The warrants state that both parents confessed.
The charges follow a search that began June 30, when Herring called 911 shortly before 9 p.m. and reported her daughter missing, telling dispatchers the child had been playing outside before disappearing.
“She was outside playing, and I came out here after cooking dinner a little bit, and I’m looking for her, but I don’t see her nowhere,” she said.
The child's body has yet to be recovered.
Hundreds of local, state and federal officers have joined the search, including agents from the FBI and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.
"This is the hardest announcement in my 36 years working in law enforcement," Sawyer said in a statement posted by the Aiken County Sheriff's Office. He said investigators are continuing to search for Javeayah in an area of interest outside Aiken County.
Sawyer also said investigators believe "it was already too late to save her the moment the 911 call came in on June 30."
The sheriff expressed gratitude for the community's encouragement, prayers, shared information, donations of food and water, and "countless acts of kindness that reminded us why we are so proud to serve this community," during the search.