Susan Murphy-Milano...

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2007/11/28

So Very Precious : Riley Ann Sawyers

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@ 06:58 AM (24 months, 5 days ago)
 

The Galveston County Daily News

Riley Ann Sawyers

Raw video: Family of 'Baby Grace' speaks out

Yesterday, a beautiful 2 year old child was finally identified.  The efforts of police, and so many involved who diligently sought  to bring this helpless young life, justice. We had known her only as baby Grace, we all watched the media coverage as this child found by a fisherman, washed up on a shore in a container. Her name by the way, is Riley. I can not explain how a woman, who was her mother,  murdered this precious gift of life.  Who knows, perhaps Riley would have grown up to be a doctor or maybe a scientist discovering a cure for a fatal disease, we will never know.  And although she received national attention for being killed by her mother and step-father, her death now, will have more importance to each of us as parents, grandparents, neighbors and teachers.  This could have been your relative or neighbor.    This is just a reminder to all of us that life is so very precious.  We can't predict if we will see the sunrise the next morning.  So in memory of Riley, lets all remember to give our kids a great big kiss and tell them how important they are each and every day.

AP-Story0GALVESTON, Texas -- Authorities are trying to determine if the 2-year-old dubbed “Baby Grace” after her body was found in Galveston Bay was repeatedly abused by her mother and stepfather, an investigator said Tuesday.

A woman believed to be the mother of the girl told police she and the girl’s stepfather beat and tortured the child to death, court documents show. The girl, believed to be Riley Ann Sawyers, was found by a fisherman in a plastic box Oct. 29, but her identity was unknown for weeks.

The mother told authorities how the girl died “of her own volition,” sheriff’s Maj. Ray Tuttoilmondo said Tuesday on CBS’ “The Early Show.” One of the things authorities are looking at is whether or not there was a pattern of abuse against the girl, he said.

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT Probable cause document, part 1 (pdf)

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT Probable cause document, part 2 (pdf)

Baby Grace case timeline

Spring girl a Baby Grace match?

Law enforcement determined to ID Baby Grace

http://www.khou.com/perl/common/slideshow/sspop.pl?recid=6293&location=www.khou.com Baby Grace case

“In a little over 20 years of doing this, I’ve seen a lot ...  of heartbreaking cases,” he said. “I think this one certainly still remains in our hearts and always will.”

Investigators are awaiting DNA test results, but said Monday they are fairly confident of the girl’s identity. Her mother, Kimberly Dawn Trenor, and stepfather, Royce Clyde Zeigler II, were arrested early Saturday and are in custody on charges of hurting the girl.

The details in an arrest affidavit paint a chilling picture of the girl’s last days. In a statement to police included in the affidavit, Trenor, 19, said she and Zeigler, 24, killed Riley July 24.

The girl was beaten with leather belts, had her head held underwater in a bathtub and then was thrown across a room, her head slamming into a tile floor, the mother said in the document. She said they kept the body in a storage shed for one to two months before they put it in a plastic bin and dumped it into Galveston Bay.

An autopsy revealed that Riley suffered three skull fractures, but the cause of death has not been determined