COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A 6-year-old South Carolina girl who disappeared earlier in the week after getting off her school bus was found dead Thursday, and a homicide investigation has been opened, authorities said.

The body of a man also was found recently in the neighborhood where the child, Faye Marie Swetlik, disappeared Monday, said Cayce Public Safety Director Byron Snellgrove.

Snellgrove didn’t immediately provide any evidence to link the two deaths, but said at a brief news conference to announce the developments that there was no danger to the public. He said no arrests have been made in the girl’s death.

“It’s with extremely heavy hearts that we announce we have found the body” of the child, Snellgrove said, speaking for only about a minute and taking no questions.

The coroner confirmed the girl’s death but has not released the identity of the dead man, Snellgrove said.

The girl’s disappearance had brought more than 250 officers to the neighborhood in Cayce, just across the Congaree River from the state capital of Columbia.

Searchers knocked multiple times on the doors of every home in the neighborhood.

They also checked trash cans and a nearby landfill and towed cars.