Composite sketches released of girl stuffed in box

[Bailey]

Jury sees Baby Grace’s stained clothes

By Chris Paschenko
The Daily News

Published November 2, 2009

Baby Grace’s discolored clothes and shoes — and the plastic bags and container used to store the 2-year-old toddler’s body — were shown Monday to a jury hearing the capital murder trial of her stepfather.

Royce Clyde Zeigler II, 26, glanced briefly at the tiny, child-size 8 ½ shoes that were pulled from the decomposed body of Riley Ann Sawyers.

Zeigler is accused of killing Riley on July 25, 2007, after a daylong disciplinary session. Riley suffered three skull fractures, according to evidence submitted in the capital murder trial of Zeigler’s wife, Kimberly Dawn Trenor. Trenor’s trial ended Feb. 2 in a conviction.

Zeigler admitted in a videotaped interview with authorities to dumping Riley’s body into Galveston Bay. On Oct. 29, 2007, a fisherman found Riley’s remains in the box that washed onto an island. Sheriff’s Office investigators called the child Baby Grace until learning her identity 26 days later.

Even with the presentation of the clothing, there is no evidence linking Zeigler to the killing, defense attorneys said during Monday’s lunch break.

Sgt. Elias Cazares of the Galveston County Sheriff’s Office testified Monday about the items collected as evidence in Riley’s death and used to conceal her killing. Among those items shown to the jury were Riley’s clothes, which had dark stains from the decomposition of her body.

The jury also saw the contents of the blue plastic footlocker, which contained sand and cement and was still dirty and partially covered with mud and other debris.

During searches of Zeigler’s and Trenor’s house in Spring and a storage business, authorities recovered, among other things, spiral notebooks.

One of the notebooks contained “Rules for Riley,” a list of nine disciplinary rules such as “being polite, behaves in public.” The rules stated she could have chocolate, cake or treats only as a reward.

One of Zeigler’s attorney’s, Neal Davis III, asked Cazares whether the rules were reasonable, but Cazares said he found it odd the rules were written for a child that couldn’t read. Davis suggested the rules were a set of guidelines the parents would follow.

The couple provided handwriting samples, which were sent to the FBI for analysis, Cazares said.

Another notebook recovered by investigators contained a suicide note. Testimony in Trenor’s trial indicated the note was written by Zeigler. Prosecutors haven’t shown that note to the jury, and it hasn’t been entered as evidence. It claims Trenor’s innocence.

Prosecutors are expected to rest their case on Tuesday. The defense will have the opportunity to present witnesses as part of its case.

http://www.galvnews.com/story.lasso?...5cf856bbaa1ecf

[Bailey]

By Chris Paschenko
The Daily News

Published November 3, 2009

Baby Grace’s stepfather, in a suicide note authorities said was penned in his handwriting, claims his wife’s innocence and that he is guilty of past sins, testimony in his capital murder trial revealed Tuesday.

Royce Clyde Zeigler II, 26, who is accused in the July 25, 2007, killing of his 2-year-old stepdaughter Riley Ann Sawyers, wrote the suicide note and then took several pills one week before his arrest in November 2007.

Zeigler’s note doesn’t say what he is guilty of or what his wife is innocent of. His defense team claims the letter is not an admission of guilt in Sawyers’ death and yet another attempt by him to protect his wife, Kimberly Dawn Trenor, 21.

Sawyers died after a daylong disciplinary session, in which her skull was fractured three times, testimony revealed.

Sawyers’ body was stored for weeks at the couple home in Spring. Zeigler, in a videotaped interview with authorities, admitted dumping Sawyers’ body in Galveston Bay.

A fisherman found Sawyers on Oct. 29, 2007, in a box washed onto an island, and authorities called the girl’s decomposed remains Baby Grace until learning her identity 26 days later.

Suicide notes lifted from notebook

FBI Special Agent Gabriel Watts was among three witnesses called Tuesday to testify for the state.

Two suicide notes were lifted from impressions on underlying pages of a notebook, Watts, a forensic document examiner, said. Investigators found the notebook in the couple’s bedroom.

The whereabouts of the original suicide notes are unknown, but Watts lifted impressions from underlying pages of the notebook using technology at an FBI lab, he testified.

Watts identified Zeigler and Trenor as authoring separate notes by comparing known handwriting samples, he said.

‘Guilt for past sins’

Watts displayed the notes on a large screen for the Galveston County jury, hearing the case in Judge David Garner’s 10th District Court.

“I take my own life because of guilt for past sins … which I have confessed before I took my life,” Zeigler wrote. “My wife Kimberly Zeigler is innocent … lived in fear with because of what I would do to her.”

Some words were difficult, if not impossible to read, because of the difficulty of lifting impressions from underlying pages, the FBI expert said.

Zeigler also wrote that his family could “go burn in hell for their stress they have caused, so I … take my own life.”

The FBI also lifted Trenor’s suicide note, however the defense believes she made no attempt on her life.

“My heart is black dead,” Trenor wrote. “There is nothing left. I can’t live with myself after Riley.”

No confession to killing Baby Grace

Watts also testified the couple wrote together “Rules for Riley,” a series of nine disciplinary measures intended to teach the toddler to be polite, to go to bed at a certain hour and to pick up her toys.

Royce’s suicide note is yet another example of him trying to protect Trenor, Neal Davis III, one of Zeigler’s attorney’s, said.

Davis didn’t cross examine Watts, choosing rather to call him as a defense witness after the state finishes its case, Dee McWilliams, another Zeigler attorney said.

“If the state wants to hang its hat on (the note) as a confession to the crime, all you have to do is just read it,” McWilliams said. “It doesn’t say he’s guilty of killing Riley.”

Prosecutors Kayla Allen and Criminal District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk intend to call five witnesses today before resting their case.

Rhonda Craig, a forensic DNA examiner, testified she could find none of Trenor’s or Sawyers’ DNA on Zeigler’s three belts, submitted as evidence by the defense.

Minh Lu, a computer forensic examiner, took the stand and testified to making copies from computers collected during the investigation. FBI Special Agent Ben Stone was expected testify to the computers’ contents when the trial resumed from a lunch break.

http://www.galvnews.com/story.lasso?...8cffeb73081968

[Bailey]

By Chris Paschenko
The Daily News

Published November 4, 2009

GALVESTON — Royce Clyde Zeigler II was kindhearted, loving and caring, so much so that his friends were shocked to learn he’d been charged with capital murder in the death of a child, testimony revealed Wednesday.

Zeigler, 26, is accused of killing 2-year-old Riley Ann Sawyers in the Spring home he shared with his wife and co-defendant, Kimberly Dawn Trenor.

Trenor, 21, was convicted Feb. 2 of capital murder in her daughter’s death, which came slowly after a daylong disciplinary session left her with three skull fractures, testimony in the couple’s trial revealed.

Zeigler’s defense team presented friends who the defendant knew for years.

High school pal testifies

Reed Emerson went to high school with Zeigler and spent a lot of time with the defendant, studying and playing. Zeigler helped Emerson land a job at his company, testimony revealed.

Emerson described his encounters with Zeigler and Trenor, namely, how Trenor ignored Sawyers.

One day, Riley was playing kick ball with Emerson’s children. She missed the ball, fell to the ground and scratched her knee, Emerson testified.

“I jumped at her, trying to catch her,” Emerson said. “Royce came to see her, but Kim sat on the couch, paying no attention.”

Emerson found that odd, and said he didn’t care very much for Trenor.

Dena Fisher, one of Zeigler’s attorneys, asked Emerson whether he believed Zeigler was capable of murdering a child. Prosecutor Kayla Allen objected, and Fisher asked Emerson how he saw Zeigler interact with Sawyers.

“He was always carrying her, buying her presents, taking her to play games,” Emerson said. “He was very loving.”

Prosecution: Zeigler kindhearted?

Allen fired back with a series of questions about Zeigler admissions during videotaped interviews with authorities.

“Royce said in statements that he wrapped the body up in a plastic container and put it in the storage shed,” Allen told Emerson. “Do you consider that kindhearted?”

Emerson painted Zeigler as socially shy, but Allen showed the jury in Judge David Garner’s 10th District Court company picnic photos of Trenor and Zeigler appearing to have fun drinking and playing softball just 10 days after Sawyers’ July 25, 2007, death.

“Do you think a good-hearted person walks by a storage facility for three weeks,” Allen said. “You said he was very loving. Do you think throwing a child into Galveston Bay is very loving?”

Fisher asked Emerson whether he approved of Zeigler’s admission to storing and dumping Sawyers’ body.

“I was a little horrified by it,” Emerson said.

Emerson also testified he knew Zeigler to be a “neat freak.” When Emerson went to Zeigler’s apartment to help him move into the couple’s rented home in Spring, he found dirty diapers stuffed in closets.

The apartment was trashed, Emerson said, blaming the condition on Trenor.

‘I was shocked’

Melanie Allard testified Wednesday she moved next door to Zeigler’s family in 2001, and was a friend of the defendant.

Neal Davis III, another of Zeigler’s attorney’s, asked Allard if she was surprised when she heard the news the defendant was arrested.

“I was more than surprised,” Allard said. “I was shocked.”

Despite Zeigler’s admission to dumping Sawyers’ body in the bay, Allard testified she still didn’t believe Zeigler did it.

“He’s a very, sweet, caring person,” Allard said. “It’s beyond my imagination.”

Another notebook questioned

The first defense witness of the day was Gabriel Watts, an FBI forensic document examiner, who testified for the state that Zeigler’s handwriting was on a suicide note, which proclaimed Trenor’s innocence.

The defense asked Watts about another notebook, possibly with Trenor’s handwriting, which the defense and state had since August 2008.

Neither the state nor defense attempted to have it analyzed. Galveston County District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk offered to let the defense admit the notebook as evidence without objection from the state, but the defense declined.

It is unclear what information in the notebook, if any, was relevant to the case.

Garner dismissed the jury early for Wednesday’s lunch break, as the defense was awaiting the arrival of another witness. Testimony was expected to resume at 1 p.m.

http://www.galvnews.com/story.lasso?...68da99cf949671

[Bailey]

By Chris Paschenko
The Daily News

Published November 5, 2009
GALVESTON — In the two months or so Nellie Zeigler knew Baby Grace, she fell in love with the toddler, whose death is the subject of the capital murder trail of Zeigler’s son.

Nellie Zeigler testified Thursday of her interactions between her son, Royce Clyde Zeigler II, who was the stepfather of Riley Ann Sawyers.

Royce Zeigler II, 26, is accused of killing Sawyers on July 25, 2007, with his wife, Kimberly Dawn Trenor, 21, his co-defendant who was convicted Feb. 2 of killing her daughter.

Zeigler admitted to authorities he stored the child’s body in his carport and the dumped the remains into Galveston Bay. A fisherman found them Oct. 29, 2007.

Zeigler’s defense team called three witnesses to testify Thursday morning, including the defendant’s mother, his aunt, Nancy Rodriguez, and Harris County Precinct No. 4 Deputy Constable Patrick Cherry.

Nellie Zeigler’s testimony consumed much of the morning, as she described first meeting Sawyers in June until seeing her for what would be the last time July 23, 2007.

Instant family

Although Royce Zeigler’s relatives, who didn’t believe in instant-family relationships, didn’t care for Trenor, they quickly became attached to Sawyers, Nellie Zeigler testified.

Sawyers called Nellie Zeigler and her husband grandmother and grandfather.

“She was tall for her age and had a good vocabulary” Nellie Zeigler said of Sawyers. “She was more mature for her age than a toddler. I was so touched by her verbiage. She was beautiful.”

Prosecution witnesses painted Zeigler as a person who by his own admission couldn’t handle Riley’s outbursts in public. Sawyers ran amok because Trenor refused to discipline the child, Nellie Zeigler testified.

Nellie Zeigler described one evening when Sawyers was on the floor of her home, coloring and playing with Royce Zeigler’s brother Hiram Zeigler.

Trenor sat on the floor and Riley threw a crayon at her mother, Nellie Zeigler testified. Trenor tolerated the behavior until it happened again, and warned the child not to do it again or she would take her home.

Riley tossed another at her mother and initially refused orders to pick up the crayons and return them to their package, Zeigler said.

“By that time, Kim was upset and grabbed Riley by the arms and said ‘We’re going home right now,’” Nellie Zeigler testified.

Spanking

Nellie Zeigler talked about another June encounter, where her son called from work and asked his mother to take milk to Trenor and Riley at the couple’s home in Spring. That house is where authorities allege Sawyers suffered three skull fractures on the tile floor and died slowly and painfully

“I brought the milk, and she opened the door,” Nellie Zeigler testified. “She looked distracted. I noticed a belt hanging over her shoulder.”

Nellie checked on Riley and left, but on another occasion noticed a bruise on Riley’s hip.

Nellie Zeigler said she didn’t know whether the couple struck Riley with a belt, but warned them against it. She told them to put Riley in the corner or use a backhand to spank the child.

Excuses for Sawyers’ absence

Nellie Zeigler went to the couple’s home Aug. 8, to deliver Trenor’s birthday present and asked to see Riley. Trenor said Riley was spending the night at a friend’s house, Zeigler testified.

Zeigler returned Aug. 11, asking to see Riley.

“Kim sat me down and told me she decided that she had taken Riley to be with her aunt and uncle in Plainsville, Texas,” Zeigler testified.

Trenor said there was a custody case involving Riley’s biological father.

“In order for the state of Texas to protect her, she has to be a resident for six months,” Zeigler testified of what Trenor said.

Zeigler said she offered to quit her job to take care of the child full time.

Royce Zeigler eventually approached his mother, crying, asking her not to become involved, Zeigler testified.

“I thought they were having martial problems, and didn’t want to get involved,” she said.

Didn't understand

In September, Nellie Zeigler went shopping on a trip to Virginia to see her husband, who worked out of town. Nellie Zeigler bought Sawyers and Trenor clothes, which she showed to Trenor on her return.

“Royce started to cry, and Kim went by him and brushed him on the shoulder and said, ‘Cut that out.’ I didn’t understand.”

In November, Galveston County Sheriff’s Office investigators released a sketch of Riley, and Nellie asked her other son Hiram Zeigler to go to the couple’s home and find out where the child was.

Nellie noticed similarities between the Baby Grace police artist sketch and photos of Sawyers.

On Nov. 3, Trenor told Nellie Zeigler she’d thrown Sawyers’ belongings away in different Dumpsters, Zeigler testified.

“You act like she’s not coming back,” Zeigler recalled saying. “I really need to understand what’s going on.”

Trenor then made up a story about an Ohio child protective services worker forcibly removing Sawyers from the couple’s home amid allegations Royce Zeigler sexually abused Riley. The child wasn’t sexually abused, testimony revealed.

Garner dismissed the jury for lunch, and Mrs. Zeigler’s testimony was to resume Thursday afternoon.

http://www.galvnews.com/story.lasso?...25af7eb4766d10

[Bailey]

By Chris Paschenko
The Daily News

Published November 6, 2009
A jury of nine men and three women began Friday deliberating the fate of Royce Clyde Zeigler II, who is charged with capital murder in the death of his stepdaughter known as Baby Grace.

In closing arguments, defense attorneys pointed to what they said is the lack of evidence connecting Zigler, 26, to the toddler’s death in asking the jury to acquit him of capital murder or a lesser charge of manslaughter.

Prosecutors, however, asked the jurors to use “common sense” when considering all the facts and to convict Zeigler of capital murder in the July 25, 2007, death of 2-year-old Riley Ann Sawyers.

Zeigler and his wife, Kimberly Dawn Trenor, 21, disposed of as much evidence as possible to distance themselves from Sawyers’ homicide, Galveston County Criminal District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk said.

Trenor was convicted Feb. 2 of capital murder and sentenced to life without parole for killing her daughter. Sawyers died of injuries from three skull fractures, testimony revealed. Sistrunk said the injuries occurred during a daylong disciplinary session that went bad.

Sistrunk gave the jury a list of lies told by Zeigler.

Nellie Zeigler, Royce Zeigler’s mother, last saw Sawyers July 23, 2007, and when she asked about the toddler, the couple first told relatives that Sawyers was with a friend. They then presented a fake Ohio child protective services letter saying the agency took Sawyers.

“The worst of all was that grandmother Sheryl Sawyers paid somebody to come kidnap her,” Sistrunk said.

Zeigler admitted to authorities he stored Sawyers’ body in a box in his carport for weeks and then dumped her body in Galveston Bay. A fisherman found her decomposed body Oct. 29, 2007, and sheriff’s investigators called the girl Baby Grace until learning her identity 26 days later.

“They’re asking you to put this kid in jail for the rest of his life,” Dena Fisher, one of Zeigler’s defense attorneys, said. “They’ve got evidence of tampering with evidence but don’t have the smoking gun.”

The person that did this was tried and convicted of capital murder, and she’s sitting in prison, Dee McWilliams, another of Zeigler’s attorneys, said.

McWilliams showed the jury a transcript of his questioning of FBI Special Agent Don C. Gay, who was present during a videotaped interview with Zeigler.

“I had my beliefs,” Gay said when McWilliams asked whether there was any evidence Zeigler killed Sawyers.

“At that point, no,” Gay answered.

If the standard of Galveston County is that two people can kill a person and dispose of the evidence, we’ve got a lot of people we need to let out of jail, Sistrunk said.

“It’s what murderers do,” Sistrunk said of disposing evidence. “It’s what killers do.”

http://www.galvnews.com/story.lasso?...a70f1ec4e5fe9e

[Bailey]

By HARVEY RICE
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Nov. 6, 2009, 5:43PM

GALVESTON — A Galveston County jury deliberated for more than fours hours today before finding Royce Clyde Zeigler II guilty of capital murder in the death 2-year-old Riley Ann Sawyers, who became known as Baby Grace.

Prosecutors portrayed Zeigler as helping his wife kill his stepdaughter during a cruel disciplinary session and then concocting elaborate lies to help cover up the slaying and disposal of the body.

The defense countered in final arguments that Zeigler, 26, was a good man who had nothing to do with the death of Riley Ann Sawyers, but loved his wife so much that he helped her pack Riley's body in a box and eventually toss it into the Gulf of Mexico.

The arguments on the eighth day of Zeigler's capital murder trial before District Judge David Garner were made with dramatic flourishes by both sides before the nine men and three women on the jury began deliberations.

“If you've never seen the face of a man who killed a child, get a good look,” Galveston County District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk said as he pointed to Zeigler at the defense table.

“We don't have a video of what Royce Clyde Zeigler and the co-defendant did in the house that day,” Sistrunk told the jurors.

Causing a loud bang by kicking the blue, plastic box that Riley's body was found in on Oct. 29, 2007, and scattering dirt from it onto the courtroom floor, Sistrunk said, “It's not the state's fault that there was 12 pounds of rotting flesh in this box.”

Assistant District Attorney Kayla Allen held up a photo of the blond, blue-eyed girl, saying, “This is the Riley that came to Texas. Then Allen held up a second photo of Riley's skull showing three fractures. “In six weeks, this is what they reduced her to,” she said.

The prosecution accuses Zeigler of killing Riley July 25, 2007, at the Spring home he shared with her and Riley's mother, Kimberly Ann Trenor, 21.

Zeigler met Trenor when he was 24 and she was 19 while they were playing the Internet game World of Warcraft. He married her June 1, 2007, after spending a week with her, then moved her and Riley from Mentor, Ohio, to Texas.

Trenor was convicted of capital murder in February and is serving a life sentence.

Prosecutors said Zeigler could have called police or 911 when Riley was dying, but instead went with Trenor to a Walmart and purchased a shovel, a blue plastic box, gloves, masks, duck tape and black plastic garbage bags to use in disposing the body.

Zeigler admitted in a videotaped statement to investigators that he helped put Riley's body in the bags and blue box, which was placed in a garage storage room.

He said they tried to bury the box the next night, but he was emotionally unable to complete the job.

Prosecutors believe the box was in the storage room for up to two months. Zeigler said it was only three weeks before he and Trenor drove to the Galveston Island railroad bridge where he tossed the box into Galveston Bay.

A fisherman discovered the box washed onto an Island in West Galveston Bay on Oct. 29, 2007. Investigators named the then unidentified child Baby Grace.

Allen told jurors that once Riley was out of the way the couple was free to start a new life and that Trenor had a birth control device removed 30 days later and became pregnant.

“It's not reasonable for someone to make a baby with someone who just killed someone,” Allen said about Zeigler's claim of innocence. “They did it together.”

Zeigler and Trenor fabricated a number of lies about Riley's death, the most elaborate that an Ohio welfare worker barged into their house while Trenor was alone with Riley, knocked Trenor down and abducted the child.

Trenor then wrote a fake letter with an Ohio state letterhead saying that the child was taken because of accusations by the paternal grandmother in Ohio that she had been molested by Zeigler.

“The defendant has done nothing but lie since the very beginning,” Allen said. “They lied to coworkers, to friends, to family.”

Defense attorney Dee McWilliams told jurors that there was no direct evidence showing that Zeigler, not his wife, killed Riley. “The person who did this, they tired and convicted of capital murder and she's sitting in prison right now,” McWilliams said.

Defense attorney Dena Fisher pointed to the parade of character witnesses, including a Harris County deputy constable, who said that Zeigler was incapable of killing Riley. “This big, gentle giant, that he went from zero to 60 and bashed a kid's head in? Come on!” Fisher said.

Fisher said Zeigler had a history being kind and helpful toward women that showed his instinct to protect his wife. “He brought her down here when she and Riley were almost on the street,” Fisher said. “Something horrible happened that day and Royce tried to fix it.”

McWilliams said, “This young man no more killed that child than the man in the moon.”

Fisher told jurors that Zeigler is guilty of tampering with evidence and that he should be sentenced to prison for it, but that he's not guilty of capital murder.

The jury had the option of convicting Zeigler of the lesser crime of manslaughter, which has a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment. If he is convicted of capital murder, he will automatically be sentenced to life in prison without parole because the prosecution is not seeking the death penalty.

The prosecution did not pursue Trenor's evidence tampering charge after her capital murder conviction and is likely to treat Zeigler the same way.


http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...n/6707102.html

[Bailey]

By Chris Paschenko
The Daily News

Published November 7, 2009

GALVESTON — A jury Friday found Royce Clyde Zeigler II guilty of capital murder in the death of 2-year-old Riley Ann Sawyers, the toddler who became known to the world as Baby Grace.

The jury of nine men and three women deliberated four hours and 45 minutes before reaching the unanimous verdict.

Barring a successful automatic appeal, Zeigler, 26, will spend the rest of his life in prison, which was the same punishment a jury handed Feb. 2 to his wife and co-defendant, Kimberly Dawn Trenor, 21.

The jury began at 11:15 a.m. Friday deliberating Zeigler’s fate, and the verdict in Judge David Garner’s 10th District Court was celebrated with hugs between members of the sheriff’s office and Sheryl Sawyers, Riley Ann’s paternal grandmother.

“I wish it never had to happen, but I’m glad it’s over now and I can move on,” said Sawyers, who first alerted authorities to the possibility her granddaughter was Baby Grace.

Lack Of Evidence?

In closing arguments, defense attorneys said no evidence connected Zeigler to the toddler’s death. His attorneys asked the jury to acquit him of capital murder.

Prosecutors, however, asked the jurors to use “common sense” when considering all the facts and to convict Zeigler of capital murder in the July 25, 2007, death.

Zeigler and Trenor disposed of as much evidence as possible to distance themselves from Sawyers’ murder, Galveston County Criminal District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk said.

Sawyers died of three skull fractures, testimony revealed.

Sistrunk said the injuries occurred during a daylong disciplinary session that went bad.

List Of Lies

In closing arguments, Sistrunk gave the jury a list of lies told by Zeigler to friends, family and co-workers, which the jury heard during eight days of testimony.

Nellie Zeigler, Royce Zeigler’s mother, last saw Riley on July 23, 2007, and when she asked about the toddler, the couple first told relatives that Sawyers was with a friend.

They then presented a fake Ohio child protective services letter saying the agency took the child.

“The worst of all was that grandmother Sheryl Sawyers paid somebody to come kidnap her,” Sistrunk said.

When authorities investigated the case, they didn’t know where it would take them, Sistrunk said.

“We got for Riley a sense of justice,” Sistrunk said. “Now two people have been convicted and will spend a life sentence in the Texas criminal justice system. We were all touched by the terrible crime that hit us all. This was good for Riley, and we all loved her.”

Zeigler admitted to authorities he stored the child’s body in a box in his carport for weeks and then dumped her body in Galveston Bay.

A fisherman found her decomposed body Oct. 29, 2007, and sheriff’s investigators called the girl Baby Grace until learning her identity 26 days later.

“They’re asking you to put this kid in jail for the rest of his life,” Dena Fisher, one of Zeigler’s defense attorneys, said in closing remarks to the jury.

“They’ve got evidence of tampering with evidence but don’t have the smoking gun.”

The killer had already been tried and convicted of capital murder and was sitting in prison, said Dee McWilliams, another of Zeigler’s attorneys, in reference to Trenor.

‘I Had My Beliefs’

McWilliams showed the jury a transcript of his questioning of FBI Special Agent Don C. Gay, who was present during a videotaped interview with Zeigler.

“I had my beliefs,” Gay told McWilliams of whether he knew if Zeigler killed Sawyers.

McWilliams then asked Gay if he had evidence that linked Zeigler to the crime.

“At that point, no,” Gay answered.

Sistrunk said the circumstantial evidence was overwhelming. After Garner read the verdict, Nellie Zeigler sat stunned in the courtroom, telling relatives she only wanted one more chance to embrace her son.

Sgt. Mike Barry, lead investigator on the case, said he felt sorry for the pain Royce Zeigler’s family had to endure.

“My heart goes out to the Zeigler family,” Barry said.

“Mr. and Mrs. Zeigler and Hiram (Zeigler’s brother) were in a tough situation. I feel bad for them. They didn’t do anything. Their son Royce did.”

12 Pounds Of ‘Rotting Flesh’

Sistrunk blamed the lack of evidence on Zeigler and Trenor, who after Sawyers’ death in their Spring home drove to Walmart to purchase cleaning supplies, a shovel, gloves, plastic bags and a box.

“This defendant and his wife left us a bucket and rotting flesh,” Sistrunk said. “Twelve pounds of it.”

“It’s what murderers do,” Sistrunk said of disposing evidence. “It’s what killers do.”

http://www.galvnews.com/story.lasso?...774f9bf5f7827a

[Bailey]

By Chris Paschenko
The Daily News

Published November 10, 2009

GALVESTON — The attorney handling legal appeals for Kimberly Dawn Trenor, convicted of capital murder in the notorious Baby Grace killing, will ask an appellate court to consider a new trial.

Greg Russell has worked the appeal since Trenor’s Feb. 2 conviction for the July 25, 2007, beating death of her daughter, Riley Ann Sawyers.

Trenor’s co-defendant and husband, Royce Clyde Zeigler II, 26, was convicted Friday, also of capital murder. Barring a successful appeal, the husband and wife will spend the rest of their lives in prison.

The 2-year-old toddler died a slow, painful death, testimony revealed.

Russell said he mailed Trenor’s appeal to the First Court of Appeals in Houston on Monday.

“One of the arguments, points of error — and we’re going to have a couple — is that the evidence is insufficient that she did not have the culpable mental state for capital murder,” Russell said.

Russell declined to discuss additional points, but said the state failed to prove Trenor, 21, meant to kill Sawyers or that she intentionally or knowingly killed her.

Jurors chose capital murder convictions rather than lesser included charges of manslaughter, which deals with reckless incidents that result in death.

After Sawyers’ death, which prosecutors say was from a daylong disciplinary session that went bad, Zeigler admitted to storing Sawyers’ body for weeks in a box inside his carport in Spring.

Zeigler also admitted to tossing the box off the Galveston railroad bridge.

Oct. 29, 2007, a fisherman found the box containing the toddler’s remains wrapped in three plastic bags on an island in Galveston Bay.

Galveston County sheriff’s investigators named the girl Baby Grace until learning her identity 26 days later.

There is no timetable for the appeal, Russell said.

“Sometimes it takes four months,” Russell said. “Sometimes it takes a year. There’s no rhyme or reason. It has a lot to do with the backlog.”

Trenor remained Monday at the Galveston County Jail after she was brought by bench warrant from state prison. She didn’t testify against her husband, and her four-hour videotaped interview with authorities, implicating the couple in Sawyers’ death, wasn’t admissible in Zeigler’s trial.

Prosecutors field a motion to compel Trenor to testify, offering her immunity for anything she said, Russell said.

The immunity would have applied if she was granted a new trial, and prosecutors wouldn’t have used her statements against her if her appeal were successful, Russell said.

http://www.galvnews.com/story.lasso?...5c5f7be0d854c9