Riley Sawyers

**Riley Ann Sawyers** (March 11, 2005 - July 24, 2007) was an American girl. She remained unidentified for over a month after her body was discovered, and earned the nickname "**Baby Grace**" from the media.

## Background

Riley Sawyers was born on March 11, 2005 to her parents Robert Thomas Sawyers and Kimberly Dawn Trenor in Mentor, Ohio. Her mother became pregnant with her at age 15 when both parents were still attending highschool. Her father later dropped out during his junior year. Robert's mother, Sheryl, was Riley's main caregiver while her parents grew apart from one another, but still lived in the same house.

In May 2007, Riley and her mother moved to Spring, Texas, after her father got married in October 2006. Her mother ended up marrying a man named Royce Clyde Zeigler, Jr. in June 2007. They met on the online game *World of Warcrafts,* which Robert had introduced her in years prior, and she started to put a lot of her energy into the game before meeting Royce. After marriage, Royce met Riley, and he thought that she was not a disciplined child, and wanted her to use phrases such as "sir" and "ma'am" when talking to others, and he believed beating her for her mistakes was the best way to teach her a lesson, even though she was still a child.

## Death

On July 24, 2007, Royce and Kimberly were "disciplining" Riley by beating her with leather belts and holding her head in a bathtub full of water. Royce also picked up Riley by her hair and flung her across the room, causing her to sustain a major head injury. Riley was commanded to stand up, but due to her injuries, was unable to, with Kimberly stating how her daughter had no control over her legs anymore. Riley tried to stop the beating by shouting out that she loved her parents as they were abusing her, but she ended up passing away. After Royce and Kimberly realized they had killed Riley, they drove out to buy a plastic container, and wrapped Riley's body with garbage bags and stuffed her into the container. They kept the container with them for 2 months, and then decided to dump it in Galveston Bay in September 2007.

Later on October 29, 2007, a fisherman stumbled upon the remains of a toddler. When the body was being examined, the coroner found 3 skull fractures to the young girl's head, causing police to open up a homicide investigation. Police were unable to identify the remains at first, so they nicknamed the little girl "Baby Grace", and created a forensic sketch of what the toddler would've looked like in life, and released it to the public. Eventually, Riley's grandmother saw the sketch of the victim, identifying it as her granddaughter, and DNA later confirmed that the body belonged to Riley, and they subsequently arrested her parents for her murder.

## Aftermath

The parents confessed in detail to what they had done in a video-tape, and shortly before Thanksgiving 2007, Royce tried to commit suicide by overdosing to avoid trial on Riley's murder, but failed. He also left a suicide note saying that Kimberly was innocent, and that he was to blame.Both later took accountably for what they had done, and Kimberly was sentenced and convicted of the murder on February 2, 2009, being sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Royce was also charged with the murder along with evidence tampering, and was convicted on November 9, 2009 and was also sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

A few months after Riley's body was discovered, on January 14, 2008, her cremated remains were returned to her family in Ohio, and an employee raised enough money through a fundraiser to pay for funeral costs. A ceremony also took place later to honor Riley's memory, and she was interred at the Mentor Municipality Cemetery.