* Riley Ann Sawyers (2005-2007)

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Sweet Riley ... Never stood a Chance

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This website is dedicated to a special little angel, Riley Ann Sawyers whose brutal murder rocked the world.

On 29 October 2007, a fisherman spotted a blue plastic container ashore on a remote area of West Galveston Bay. He called 911 to report his grim discovery. Inside the container were the remains of a little girl wearing a pink and white outfit. She was considered to be anything between 2-3 years old and dubbed Baby Grace by Galveston County Sheriff. The case led to a nationwide search for the girl’s identity, which was later confirmed as Riley.

Forensic Artist and the Identikits ...

In the meanwhile, Lois Gibson (Galveston’s Forensic Artist) put together an identikit, sketching directly from Baby Grace’s corpse.  She described how very small she was, like someone whose diaper you should be changing. Please click to read the article.

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Five days after the release of Gibson's post-mortem sketch, Riley's grandmother (Sheryl Sawyers) in Ohio recognized her granddaughter’s sweet face and contacted the police.

Failed Visitation Rights

In May of this year, Kimberley Trenor (Riley’s Mom) failed to deliver Riley to the father (Robert Sawyers) for a scheduled visit, and Sawyers asked local courts to order Trenor to obey the custody agreement.

At least two court summons sent to Trenor were returned unopened, the second on Sept. 19.  Sawyers would later learn that Trenor had moved to Texas in June to move in with and marry Ziegler, whom she had met on the Internet.
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The Confession

Tom Stickler said he and his client first made contact with investigators as far back as Nov. 14, after pressure from endless media coverage of her daughter’s death became too much for Kimberly.

Stickler said that on the morning of Nov. 23, he and Trenor went together to Galveston so she could share the whole story with police.

Trenor described her husband, Royce Zeigler, 24, as “authoritarian,” and said he was unaware of her decision to talk to authorities. 

THE BRUTAL TORTURE AND MURDER

Trenor, 19, told police Friday that Riley Ann Sawyers, the little girl known to many as Baby Grace, was beaten and tortured to death in the Spring home she shared with her husband on July 24. 

After her arrest last week, Trenor told police she and Ziegler had beaten Riley with a belt, held her head underwater, and Ziegler had thrown the toddler against a wall sometime during the day. When little Riley died, they stuffed her body in a plastic trunk and put it in a shed. After a couple of months, they threw the trunk in Galveston Bay.