Baby Grace, Riley Sawyers: Mother's Grim Tale of Abuse and Death

Major Ray Tuttoilmondo, Galveston County

Sheriff's Department (James Nielson: Chronicle)

The grim details of the last days of little Riley "Baby Grace" Sawyers life have begun to emerge.

From today's Galveston County Daily News:

In an interview, Kimberly Dawn Trenor, 19, of Spring, told investigators that she and her husband, Royce Clyde Zeigler, 24, beat her daughter with two leather belts the morning of July 24, an affidavit says.

They also held her head underwater in the bathtub and Zeigler picked her up by her hair and threw her across the room, slamming her head into tile floor, the affidavit says.

An autopsy on Oct. 30 found that the child had three skull fractures on the back of her head.

The pair also smothered the girl by pushing her face into a pillow in her room and into the cushions of a couch, the affidavit says.

Trenor told investigators that, during the beating, her husband gave the girl child’s pain medication and covered her with a purple towel after she was dead, the affidavit says. [1]

Kimberly and Royce went to Walmart for the specific purpose of picking out a "suitable" container to dispose of little Riley's dead body. One can imagine the two walking the fluorescent lit aisles, looking at various sized plastic containers until choosing the "right" one.

They then wrapped her in plastic and placed her in a blue plastic tote. They put the tote out in a storage shed in the backyard of their Spring home. The authorities are not quite sure how long little Riley's body was kept there, anywhere from one to two months.



One could see Kimberly looking out the kitchen window to the storage shed where her daughter's body lay while she washed the dishes or cooked dinner. Of Royce mowing the lawn or waving to the neighbors, the children who played in the yards next door. Of Kimberly and Royce talking in quiet whispers, discussing where they could take Riley, where no one would ever find the evidence of what they had done.

The couple took the remains in their car and tossed them into the water near the Galveston Causeway, the affidavit says.

On Oct. 29, a fisherman found the plastic bin with the little girl inside.[1]

When the plastic storage tote containing Riley's body was found resting on a sand bar the Galveston County Sheriff's Department took over the investigation. They found her wrapped in plastic, she wore a little pink skirt and matching blouse, little tennis shoes that flashed bright lights from the heels. No one had reported a little girl missing. No one knew who this little girl in the plastic tote was. They released a composite sketch of Riley and dubbed her "Baby Grace." [2]


Did Kimberly and Royce see the newspaper and media reports about the unidentified "Baby Grace" case? Did they discuss the case with neighbors? Did they believe that dumping Riley's body into Galveston Bay would be the end, that somehow, they would be in the clear?

They both sit in Galveston County Jail. One wonders what possible defense their attorney's will present. Bets are, they'll soon point the finger of blame at each other.

[1] - Galveston County Daily News
[2] - Baby Grace and the Little Lost Girl, Riley Sawyers

By LBG



DBKP.com - Bigger, Better!.
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Baby Grace, Riley Sawyers: 22 Other Missing Little Girls to Be Investigated

The news conference announcing the details behind the arrests of Riley Sawyers' mother, Kimberly Trenor, and her companion Royce Zeigler II revealed that the original tip that lead them to the pair came from Ohio.

Police also were "fairly confident" Riley Sawyers was Baby Grace, the name police gave the little girl whose body was washed ashore outside Galeveston TX last month in a cooler.

Police said tips came in from "around the world" concerning Baby Grace, including several concerning Madeline McCann, the English girl who disappeared from her parents' resort room in Portugal earlier this year.

The McCann case has been getting major coverage in the U.K. and many people are following its twists and turns carefully.

The police spokesman, Maj. Ray Tuttoilmondo, also stated that investigators now would turn their attention to 22 other missing little girls.

"We still need the public's help because we still have 22 little girls with question marks by their names," Tuttoilmondo said.

The press would do well to start doing some checking into these 22 other little girls: Who are they? What is their story? Without the coverage Baby Grace began to receive in the press, the Riley Sawyers' arrests may never have come about.

No missing persons reports were filed in Riley Sawyers' case.

When press accounts of the Baby Grace case reached Mentor, Ohio, they spurred the father's family and Riley Sawyers' grandmother to start asking some questions. It was this checking and these questions which led police to Saturday's arrests.

DBKP is going to be examining these same questions: Who are these 22 little girls?

We have the names of three: Deonna Shipman, Karen Matusiewicz, Celestia Langille, as well as Langrille's brother, Everett. These are four altogether from the United States. There is still the case of McCann from the U.K.

From CNN, concerning today's press conference:
Police Say "Likely" Riley Sawyers is Baby Grace

Police said Monday that they are "fairly confident" that the toddler whose body washed ashore in Texas last month is 2-year-old Riley Ann Sawyers.

That says it all: a little bitty shoe," said Maj. Ray Tuttoilmondo of the Galveston County Sheriff's Department, holding up a child's pink and white sneaker at a news conference Monday.

The mother, her story of the child's disappearance and the background of Riley Sawyers follows.

Riley's mother and a man identified as her boyfriend were arrested Saturday. Kimberly Dawn Trenor, 19, and Royce Clyde Zeigler II, 24, are accused of injuring a child and tampering with physical evidence, the sheriff's department said.

The couple lives in Spring, Texas, a Houston suburb about 75 miles north of Galveston. Previously, Riley and her mother had lived in Mentor, Ohio.

They reportedly told relatives that Riley was taken by social workers from Ohio in July.

The arrests followed searches Saturday that were the result of a tip from family members in Ohio that came in on November 7, the sheriff's department said.

The girl's grandmother, Sheryl Sawyers, of Cleveland, Ohio, told CNN affiliate WKYC that Riley Ann has been missing since June. Police said she was last seen alive in Texas three or four months ago.

The girl's family in Ohio has been "very helpful" in this case, Tuttoilmondo said, adding that the FBI and a Galveston County police officer visited with the family in Ohio on Sunday.

There may have been a custody dispute between the child's mother and her paternal family, Tuttoilmondo said. "There was some issue with that. How far it had gone, I'm not sure."

Investigators circulated composite sketches of a little girl wearing a pink skirt and matching top -- clothing authorities said she was wearing when she was found. The other sketch, a close-up rendering of the child's face, shows a fair-skinned toddler with long blond hair.

More on the 22 girls whose leads the police say they will next be examining.

Tuttoilmondo said tips poured in from "around the world." Many of the callers said they knew a child who resembled the composite.

Investigators were able to track down more than 80 children referred to by the tipsters. But the whereabouts of another 22 toddlers is still unknown, he said.

"We still need the public's help because we still have 22 little girls with question marks by their names," Tuttoilmondo said.

22 question marks that need answers. For the family of Riley Sawyers, the DNA results could definitely provide their answers. As painful as those answers might be, at least they will know; there will be some cloture. They will then watch as justice for Riley is sought.

For 22 other families, the search will continue.

by Mondoreb



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.