Police say child's body found in Texas is likely that of former Ohio girl

GALVESTON, Texas (AP) - Investigators said Monday they are "fairly confident" that a toddler whose body washed ashore in a plastic storage bin was a girl whose Ohio grandmother called authorities after seeing a sketch of the child dubbed "Baby Grace."

But authorities are still trying to determine how her brief life ended.

The mother and stepfather of 2-year-old Riley Ann Sawyers were in custody. Investigators were awaiting DNA test results but believe their efforts, including releasing the sketch, helped identify the child found by a fisherman Oct. 29 in Galveston Bay.

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

An autopsy revealed three skull fractures, but the cause of death has not been determined.

Tuttoilmondo said he could not yet discuss details of how and where the little girl died, and what role the couple might have played.

"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, a Hosuton suburb 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, said Zeigler grew up in Spring and works as an instrument technician in the oil industry. Odom declined further comment on the case.

It was not immediately known who was Trenor's attorney. The couple's next court appearance was expected to be scheduled on Tuesday.

The girl's paternal grandmother, Sheryl Sawyers, said she hopes the charges against the couple, who got married in June, are upgraded to reflect the child's death. "She's not just injured. She's dead," Sawyers said at a Mentor, Ohio, news conference Monday.

Galveston County District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk said officials don't know yet what additional evidence might develop.

"But we will certainly be guided by whatever develops when considering what additional charges, if any, will be presented to the grand jury," Sistrunk said in an e-mail.

Sawyers, occasionally wiping away tears and holding up the Elmo doll she had already bought Riley for Christmas, said she still wanted an answer to the question of a motive. "I want to know why," she said.

"It's hard to think that I'll never see her again," Sawyers said of her granddaughter, who would have turned 3 on March 11.

The Sawyers' attorney, Laura DePledge, said the family now 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, 20, also of Mentor, were high school sweethearts.

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. He 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.

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

Sheryl Sawyers said she has not seen Riley since she and Trenor moved to Texas to be with Zeigler, whom Trenor met online.

Tuttoilmondo said Trenor told relatives that someone claiming to be a social worker from Ohio took the girl in July.

Sheryl Sawyers said the mother's claim that a social worker from Ohio had taken the baby in Texas didn't make any sense.

She had 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 searched the couple's Spring home, but he declined to say what was found or what they may have said about Riley's disappearance when they were questioned on Friday.

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 in Mentor, Ohio, contributed to this report