Police: Mother describes beating of 2-year-old, hiding her body

[Gunny]

(CNN) -- Before dying, 2-year-old Riley Ann Sawyers was beaten with belts, picked up by her hair, thrown across the room and held under water, according to an affidavit from the Galveston County Sheriff's Office.

The affidavit says the girl's mother, Kimberly Dawn Trenor, described to police how her daughter died and was put in a plastic storage box that Trenor and her husband, Royce Zeigler, later dumped into a Galveston waterway.

Trenor told police Zeigler tried to commit suicide the weekend before Thanksgiving, and wrote a note that said, "My wife is innocent of the sins that I committed."

The body of the then-unidentified toddler was found on October 29. A fisherman found Riley's body stuffed inside a blue storage container that washed up on an uninhabited island in Galveston's West Bay.

A medical examiner said the child's skull was fractured, and a forensic dentist estimated her age at 2 to 3 years.

Police dubbed the child "Baby Grace." A police artist's sketch of her was widely circulated in the news media and prompted a call to Galveston police from Riley's grandmother in Ohio, who had not seen the girl in months.

On Saturday, police arrested Trenor and Zeigler on charges of injuring a child and tampering with physical evidence, the sheriff's department said. Their bonds were set at $350,000 each.

The affidavit, obtained by CNN, says when police interviewed Trenor on November 23, she "gave a voluntary statement on video with her attorney present in which she describes her involvement, with Royce Zeigler, in the physical abuse, death and disposal of the remains of her daughter, Riley Ann Sawyers."

Trenor's statement said on July 24, she and Zeigler both beat the child with leather belts and held her head under water in the bathtub. She said Zeigler picked the girl up by her hair and also threw her across the room, slamming her head into the tile floor.

After her daughter died, Trenor's statement said, she and Zeigler went to a Wal-Mart that night and bought the Sterilite container, a shovel, concrete mix, and other supplies.

The statement said the box containing the child's body was hidden in a storage shed for "one to two months." Then, Trenor said, she and Zeigler carried it to the Galveston Causeway and tossed it in, and she saw it drifting away.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/26/body.found.arrest/index.html

And people wonder why I advocate in some cases sparing the taxpayers money in favor of bullet ....

 

[Annie]

And people wonder why I advocate in some cases sparing the taxpayers money in favor of bullet ....

It's rare I would agree, but in this case I think I'd make an exception.

 

[Alpha1]

And to think there are posters on another site arguing if the death penalty is cruel and moral..... ....After these two are convicted and given the death penalty, I'd be honored to do it for nothing.....over at period of a few years if possible....

 

[no1tovote4]

I'd prefer that they be stuck in a lonely 8x8 cell, with one 60 Watt bulb, three spam sandwiches a day and the holy book of their choice there to live out all the rest of their days without ever having a conversation with an actual human being.

 

[Gunny]

I'd prefer that they be stuck in a lonely 8x8 cell, with one 60 Watt bulb, three spam sandwiches a day and the holy book of their choice there to live out all the rest of their days without ever having a conversation with an actual human being.

Now I could see that ... provided that is the extent of the taxpayer's expense. No free medical, dental, etc.

 

[Alpha1]

But deep down you KNOW they will have color cable TV...first class health care, 3 squares a day, and nothing to do but read books and write letters, until a lucky appeal gets them a parole from some bleeding heart liberal .......................so get real....

 

[Gunny]

But deep down you KNOW they will have color cable TV...first class health care, 3 squares a day, and nothing to do but read books and write letters, until a lucky appeal gets them a parole from some bleeding heart liberal .......................so get real....

Back to Plan A ... bullet.

 

[Alpha1]

Yeah Gunny...don't forget they will get their Social Security and Medicare too ....I think maybe 1000 rounds, carefully placed over a few months....

 

[Gunny]

Yeah Gunny...don't forget they will get their Social Security and Medicare too ....I think maybe 1000 rounds, carefully placed over a few months....

I only do bullets in instances such as this when guilt is not in doubt. There is a confession.

I really do not support the death penalty as it is applied by our judicial system where doubt exists; yet, the accused are STILL sentenced to death. And if you think our judicial system is flawless, I'll see if I can find you a link to the OJ Trial.

 

[Alpha1]

Just joking Gunny....except for the 1000 rounds...

 

[Kagom]

It's rare I would agree, but in this case I think I'd make an exception.

Pretty much what I was going to say. People like this don't deserve the luxury of rotting in jail.

 

[rOckNrOllsCar11]

so sad

 

[Gunny]

so sad

Extremely. I have 2 daughters. It's unfathomable to me that anyone could do such a thing to a two-years-old. Certainly no humanoids fit to live in society amongst civilized people.

 

[AllieBaba]

Where's Jillian, sneering at the stats which say that children who are subjected to non-related adults in the house are more likely to be raped, abused and/or killed?

This guy isn't the baby's father.

 

[rOckNrOllsCar11]

But deep down you KNOW they will have color cable TV...first class health care, 3 squares a day, and nothing to do but read books and write letters, until a lucky appeal gets them a parole from some bleeding heart liberal .......................so get real....

Obvioulsy you don't know what prison is like. Serioulsy dude, I know people that would eat your family for lunch because prison has made them so hard and virtually already dead.