RSS
Home
Stepfather of 'Baby Grace' convicted of capital murder
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
Royce Clyde Zeigler II, left, enters the 10th District Court in Galveston, Texas on Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009
A Spring, Texas, man was convicted Friday of capital murder for the 2007 beating death of his stepdaughter, Riley Ann Sawyer. Riley's remains were found in a plastic container in Galveston Bay by a fisherman back in October, 2007. It took police a month to identify her, so she was dubbed "Baby Grace" in the interim.
According to an Associated Press report, Riley was identified when her Ohio grandmother, Sheryl Sawyers, saw an artist's rendering of the girl and reported that the child's remains might be those of her missing granddaughter.
Riley's mother, Kimberly Trenor, is currently serving a life sentence for the death of the child after being convicted in February of capital murder.
Royce Clyde Zeigler II, Riley's stepfather, was sentenced to life in prison without parole even though his lawyers insisted that he was in another room at the time of Riley's death and that he had nothing to do with her murder.
The two-year-old girl was reportedly being taught a lesson about manners back in July of 2007. To teach her about saying "please" and "thank you," "Trenor and Zeigler beat Riley with belts, dunked her head in a cold bath water and threw her onto a tile floor, fracturing her skull, prosecutors said. An autopsy determined the child died of several skull fractures."
After her death, Riley's body was hidden in a plastic container in a shed on the family's property for months. Eventually, they drove the container, with Riley's body inside, and dumped it in Galveston Bay.
Related Articles:
Comments
