‘Baby Grace’ Mystery Leads to Arrests

By JUAN A. LOZANO

GALVESTON, Texas – Investigators said Monday they are "fairly confident" that a toddler whose body washed ashore in a plastic box is the same little girl whom authorities dubbed "Baby Grace."

Police were awaiting DNA test results to confirm the child’s identity. Meanwhile, the mother and stepfather of 2-year-old Riley Ann Sawyers were in custody on charges of hurting the girl.

"It was a few weeks ago I held up this little shoe and asked ‘Who is Baby Grace? Who does this belong to,’" sheriff’s Maj. Ray Tuttoilmondo said at a news conference. "We’re now fairly confident we know the answer to that."

A fisherman found the child’s remains Oct. 29 in Galveston Bay. An autopsy revealed three skull fractures, but the cause of death has not been determined. Tuttoilmondo said he could not discuss details of the little girl’s death.

"We still don’t know the full details of what happened," he said.

Riley and her mother, Kimberly Dawn Trenor, moved this year from suburban Cleveland to Spring, about 75 miles north of Galveston.

Trenor, 19, and Royce Clyde Zeigler II, 24, were arrested early Saturday and charged with injury to a child and tampering with evidence, Tuttoilmondo said. Bail was set at $350,000 each.

Wendell Odom, Zeigler’s attorney, declined to comment on the case except to say Zeigler grew up in Spring and works as an instrument technician in the oil industry.

It was not immediately known who represented Trenor.

In Mentor, Ohio, the girl’s paternal grandmother wiped away tears at a news conference and held up the Elmo doll she had already bought Riley for Christmas.

"It’s hard to think that I’ll never see her again," Sheryl Sawyers said Monday of her granddaughter.

The Sawyers’ attorney, Laura DePledge, said the family takes comfort in knowing that the girl is "resting peacefully and is no longer subject to abuse."

DePledge said Trenor and Sawyers’ son, Robert Sawyers, also of Mentor, had been high school sweethearts. Sheryl Sawyers said she has not seen Riley since she and Trenor moved to Texas to be with Zeigler, whom Trenor met online.

Robert Sawyers, who works in an auto-parts store, was never married to Trenor but lived with her and their daughter in his parents’ home for about two years. He and Trenor split up after March 31, when he was charged with domestic violence against her.

DePledge said there was insufficient evidence to support the charge, which was reduced to disorderly conduct. Sawyers is now married and has a 3-month-old son.

"She had a very big imagination for such a little girl," he said of his daughter. "She could play with anything and have fun with it."

Riley was last seen alive three to four months ago, but Trenor never told police she was missing, Tuttoilmondo said.

Tuttoilmondo said Trenor told relatives that someone claiming to be a social worker from Ohio, where Riley’s father lives, took the girl in July.

Sheryl Sawyers said Trenor’s claim didn’t make any sense. She called Texas authorities after learning of Baby Grace to see if a missing-person report had been filed in Riley’s case. When she saw a sketch of Baby Grace, she thought it might be her granddaughter, authorities said.

Tuttoilmondo said investigators became emotionally involved in determining the little girl’s identity.

"Any way you look at it, we carry a piece of her with us and will always carry a little piece of her with us," he said. "She’s still our little girl."

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Associated Press Writer M.R. Kropko contributed to this report from Mentor, Ohio.