"baby grace"

Stepfather convicted in death of ' 'Baby Grace'

GALVESTON, Texas (AP) -- A Southeast Texas man was convicted Friday of capital murder in the 2007 beating death of his 2-year-old stepdaughter whose battered body was found in a container floating in Galveston Bay.
Jurors deliberated for 4 1/2 hours before finding Royce Clyde Zeigler II guilty in the death of the child known as "Baby Grace." He will receive an automatic life sentence because prosecutors did not seek the death penalty. Jurors also could have convicted Zeigler of a lesser charge of manslaughter.
Zeigler and his wife, Kimberly Trenor, the toddler's mother, were accused of killing her during a discipline session that spun out of control. Trenor was convicted of capital murder in February and also received an automatic life sentence.
Investigators called the child "Baby Grace" until relatives in Ohio identified her as Riley Ann Sawyers.
Prosecutors said Zeigler and Trenor killed the toddler at their home in Spring, a suburb north of Houston, during a July 2007 discipline session intended to teach her proper manners. Authorities said Zeigler was upset the 2-year-old didn't consistently use "please" and "thank you."
Prosecutors said 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. An autopsy determined the child died of two skull fractures.
After Riley's death, the couple stuffed her body in a plastic box and hid it for months in a storage shed at their home. Then they drove about 75 miles southeast to Galveston Bay, where they dumped the container and body in October 2007, according to authorities.
Riley's remains were discovered by a fisherman on a small island in the bay.
During the trial, Ziegler's attorneys told jurors their client was in another room when Riley died and there was no evidence he killed her.
But prosecutors said Zeigler lied repeatedly to investigators, giving them conflicting statements on the girl's death. Prosecutors showed the Galveston County jury video of Zeigler admitting dumping the child's body in the bay.
Riley's identity was a mystery for weeks until her paternal grandmother in Ohio saw an artist's sketch of the girl and told authorities in Texas she thought it was her granddaughter.
Trenor and Zeigler met playing an online video game and married in June 2007 after Trenor moved with her daughter from Mentor, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, to live with Zeigler in his home in Spring. © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

That's so sad.. Poor baby girl =[

I live in Spring and I never heard of that happening..

What horrible human beings.

i cant belive they didnt see the death penatly...ugh that poor baby

How could anyone do that to any child, especially their own? That's horrific. I wish they would have sought the death penalty.

Quoting Oxy Moron (BBM+MCCF):“ How could anyone do that to any child, especially their own? That's horrific. I wish they would have sought the death penalty.”

I agree! I'm surprised they didn't! Especially it being in Texas..

Ya. Wow that is crazy! I dont understand how any parent could hurt their child, let alone sit there and watch someone else do it. Wow there are some sickk sickk ppl in this world,.

I cannot read/hear about things like this without crying and/or wanting to puke. It makes me sick. These are the people that children are supposed to feel safe with. Poor little girl. And sadly, this kind of stuff happens FAR TOO OFTEN.

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I remember when this happened. Very sad story. RIP Riley!!

i can imagine that poor baby was screaming her heart out, crying, and begging.... the fact the abuse continued i can't work out how cold they must of been.... i can't call it animalistic as that would be insulting to animals.....
they were monsterous....

Quoting kitty la reaper:“ i can imagine that poor baby was screaming her heart out, crying, and begging.... the fact the abuse ... [snip!] ... how cold they must of been.... i can't call it animalistic as that would be insulting to animals..... they were monsterous....”

And yet, between beatings, Riley would say, "I love you mommy" to her!  

Quoting HAMommy™:“ And yet, between beatings, Riley would say, "I love you mommy" to her!  ”

After watching the vid, I want to beat the living shit out of her Mother. I can not, for anything in the world, understand how anyone could do that to their baby. I would die before harming my daughters, hell, I hate smackingmy oldest'sbooty when she's acting up. What horrible excuses for human beings, I hopethey get beaten over and over and over in prison.