Riley Sawyers: Stepfather Delays Release of Baby Grace's Body

Prosecutors in the Riley Sawyers case have asked the judge to schedule a hearing on Jan. 3rd in order to hear the defense's request to have the stepfather, Royce Zeigler's experts examine the little girl's body.

Riley's mother, Kimberly Trenor and stepfather Zeigler were both charged with Capital Murder on December 12th by the Galveston County Grand Jury in Galveston, Texas. Their original bail of 350,000 was raised to 750,000.

Trenor's attorney, Tommy Stickler, said that he may also request permission for his experts to examine Riley's body unless the prosecutor makes autopsy records available. According to Stickler the prosecutor has refused to release the cause of death.

Riley's family, her father, Robert Sawyers and his mother, Sheryl, are back in Mentor, Ohio where Riley was born and lived there until her mother Kimberly took Riley to Texas last summer. Kimberly had an online relationship with Royce Zeigler. They married in June and settled in Spring, Texas.

"But right now the prosecutor won't even tell us what the cause of death is," Stickler said.

Riley was two years and 8 months old when it's alleged on July 24th Royce and Kimberly beat the little girl with leather belts then held her head underwater. The autopsy showed three skull fractures to the back of Riley's head. Riley's body was found at the end of November on a small uninhabited island in West Galveston Bay. Authorities released a composite sketch which Sheryl Sawyers recognized as possibly little Riley.

Kimberly and Royce are in the Galveston County Jail. It's reported that Kimberly Trenor is pregnant.

Little Riley's body will remain in Galveston for the unforeseeable future while her family waits for her return.

By LBG
Source - Houston Chronicle - Zeigler seeks to delay release of body
Image [wkyc.com]




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Riley Sawyers: Mom, Stepfather Claim Their Innocence

Riley Sawyers

Now that capital murder charges have been filed in the case of Riley Sawyers,'Baby Grace,' it's interesting to look back and see when and how the attorneys of Kimberly Trenor and Royce Zeigler began to defend their clients to the "court of public appeal' or potential jurors.

The defense of Kimberly Trenor began back at the end of November on the 28th when her attorney, Tom Stickler, told the media, four days after Trenor and Zeigler's arrest that there “there was no intentional desire to kill Riley.” [1]

Trenor gave a three hour videotaped interview on November 23. Accompanied by Stickler, Trenor's statement was used as probable cause in the arrest of both Trenor and Zeigler.

In the Affadavit to arrest Trenor and Zeigler on the charges of Injury of a Child, Trenor maintains that she and Zeigler spent at least 2 - 4 hours "beating" Riley. That she, Trenor, only engaged in hitting her little girl with a leather belt and holding Riley's head underwater while it was Zeigler who picked Riley up by her hair and threw her across the room, her tiny head hitting the tile floor. Trenor states that Riley was put "face first on her bed" and also "face first into the couch" but no mention in the affidavit of who it was who did this to Riley. According to Trenor, Zeigler gave Riley children's pain medication and that after Riley was dead, Zeigler laid a "purple towel" over the little girl's body. [2]

Trenor described her husband, Royce Zeigler, 24, as “authoritarian,” and said he was unaware of her decision to talk to authorities. [1]

According to Trenor, Zeigler stayed home from work on July 24 because his wife was not spanking Riley with a leather belt as his discipline plan directed.

That day, he used a second leather belt to whip the child, because the first one wasn’t big or thick enough to get the response from Riley that he wanted. [1]

Kimberly Trenor Ziegler's attorney, Tom Stickler, says that after the child was battered and her limp body wrapped in black trash bags and placed in a plastic storage container back in July, her stepfather, Royce Zeigler of Spring, poured concrete into the box before stashing her in a backyard shed for a month or two. [4]

Weeks later, after the couple drove to Galveston one late night and tossed the child off the Causeway, the stepfather panicked because the box didn't sink -- it floated west of the bridge, Stickler said. Royce Zeigler, 24, told his wife he should have put holes in the box, the lawyer says. [4]

Stickler says Trenor went along with the plan to dispose of her daughter’s remains because she was scared of her husband, whom she had married only a month before.

Stickler said his client “wanted to tell somebody from the beginning.” [1]

Court documents indicate that Zeigler attempted suicide the weekend before his wife spoke to investigators, leaving a note that said, “My wife is innocent of the sins I committed.” [1]

Juxtaposed against Trenor's attorney's statements, which paint Zeigler as the "leader," is Zeigler's attorney maintaining his client's innocence.

Neal Davis III, Zeigler's attorney, said Trenor's story isn't believable, from the information included in a chilling arrest affidavit.

"She is placing all the blame on Royce, but I think that once the facts come to light, once the timeline's established and the evidence is combed through ... I think her credibility is gonna become a big issue," Davis said. [3]
The day after the Galveston County Grand Jury returned with Capital Murder indictments Zeigler's attorney appealed to the future jury pool who may sit and a decide his client's fate.

"The death of this innocent child, however, was absolutely not caused by any action attributed to my client," Neal Davis III said in a statement. [4]

Zeigler's attorney Davis maintains his client's innocence:

Zeigler "is positively not guilty of the offense for which he stands charged," Davis added.[4]

Trenor's attorney claims the mother of Riley Sawyers had "no intentional desire" to kill her little daughter.

Zeigler's attorney claims his client is "positively not guilty of the offense he stands charged."

Neither one of these statements tells us that their clients are not guilty of killing little Riley Sawyers, only that Trenor's desire wasn't intentional and that Zeigler is not guilty of capital murder, at least as far as his attorney is concerned.

Any statements released by either attorney on behalf of their clients are tailored to appeal to the potential jury pool, the people who will someday be sitting in judgment of their clients.

At this point these are merely statements while the facts are a little girl is dead while the two people who were there, her mother and step-father, now claim they are both innocent. We won't know if the attorney's work at softening the potential jury pool in favor of their clients has worked until the foreman of the jury stands before the judge and reads the final verdict.

Whatever the verdict the only truly innocent in this sad story was Riley Sawyers.

By LBG

Source - 1 - KHOU-TV
Source - 2 - DBKP - Riley Sawyers: Capital Murder Charges and Probable Cause
Source - 3 - CBSNews.com
Source - 4 - abc13.com



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Baby Grace, Riley Sawyers: Grand Jury Brings Capital Charges

It took only three minutes for the Galveston County Grand Jury to decide to charge the mother and stepfather of little Riley Sawyers with Capital Murder in the death of the little two and 1/2-year-old girl.

Kimberly Trenor and Royce Clyde Zeigler II also face charges of tampering with evidence for allegedly putting Riley Ann Sawyers' body into Galveston Bay.

During the three-hour presentation, the grand jury heard testimony from five witnesses, including the FBI and the Galveston County Sheriff's Office.[1]

No word yet on if the decision has been made as to whether Galveston County Prosecutor Kurt Sistrunk will call for the Death Penalty.

Five witnesses, three hours of testimony, three minutes to deliberate, two charges of Capital Murder. The wheels of justice have begun to move for Riley Sawyers.

By LBG
Source - 1 - KHOU.com
Image [amysteinart.com]



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Riley Sawyer's Pregnant Mother: Riley Needed "Manners"

It was day like any other late July day in East Texas, hot and muggy, when Royce Zeigler, 24, decided to stay home from work to help 19-year-old Kimberly, his new bride of less than two months, "discipline" Riley.

Riley had become a problem. The little two 1/2-year-old girl didn't have any "manners". She refused to learn how to say things such as "thank you" or "yes sir" or "please."

According to Kimberly, Royce wanted her to use a belt to spank Riley.

No one knows what happened that day other than Kimberly Ziegler's statement on November 24th to the investigators at the Galveston County Sheriff's Department.

Kimberly told a horrifically sadistic tale, one of where the little girl was beaten with leather belts, of holding Riley's head under water, of pillows being used to smother Riley, of Royce grabbing Riley by her hair and throwing her across the room, her tiny head hitting the hard tile floor. Royce giving Riley cold medication, of Riley, now dead, being covered by a purple towel.

Kimberly went on to tell how that evening they got into their vehicle and drove to Walmart to search for something they could store Riley's body in. How they walked the aisles until they found a blue plastic Sterling storage tote, a "Walmart" casket for little Riley.

They wrapped Riley in plastic and then laid her into the storage tote. They then put the storage tote in the shed that sat out in the back yard. Little Riley stayed in that shed, day after day, night after night, her body decomposing in the hot humid Texas heat while Royce and Kimberly thought about what to do next.

Eventually they drove 75 miles to the Galveston Causeway with the storage tote containing Riley in the back. It was there at the Causeway that Royce and Kimberly left Riley believing their troubles were finally over. No one would know who this little girl was, if anyone ever found her. At least they hoped.

On October 29th, approximately 105 days since that fateful morning when Royce stayed home from work to teach Kimberly how to "discipline" Riley, a fisherman near Green's Cut found a blue plastic storage tote, inside the decomposing body of a little girl.

Riley's father, 20-year-old Robert Sawyers of Mentor, Ohio, is finding it difficult to believe Kimberly could have been involved.

"I never thought she could do anything like this," Robert Sawyers, of Mentor, Ohio, said in an interview on NBC's Today show.

"I mean, she loved Riley . . . You can't not love that little girl
the first time you see her, you know," said Sawyers, 20. "It's
heart-wrenching to think she might have done this to such a beautiful
little girl." [1]

Royce's attorney, Neal Davis III, has said that Kimberly is pointing the finger of blame at Royce in an attempt to save herself.

Once we start sorting through these facts, her credibility will be a big issue."
Davis said it's too early to know what prompted the beating.

"Before we make any kind of comment about what would provoke that and who was
provoked, we need to delve into the facts," he said.[1]

It has been also reported that Kimberly is pregnant and housed in the medical wing of the Galveston County Jail.

Trenor (Kimberly) is being kept in the medical wing probably out of fear that
other inmates might attack her because of the nature of the
allegations, Child Protective Services spokeswoman Estella Olguin said.

Galveston County sheriff's spokesman Maj. Ray Tuttoilmondo said he
is prevented by law from discussing an inmate's medical condition, but
in general, inmates are isolated when other inmates pose a threat.

If Trenor gives birth while in custody, she will not be allowed to
keep the child, Olguin said. She said Trenor is 5 feet 7 inches tall
and 125 pounds and does not show, so it's unlikely that she is more
than two months pregnant.[1]

On a hot and muggy late July day in East Texas, 24-year-old Royce Zeigler decided to stay home from work in order to show his 19-year-old new bride Kimberly how to teach her little 2 /12-year-old daughter Riley, some "manners." How to say "thank you, please, and yes sir."

Source - Houston Chronicle
Source - Riley Sawyers: Mother's Grim Tale of Abuse and Death

By LGB





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