Riley Anne Sawyers was born on March 11th 2005 at the giaga regional hospital in Menor Ohio located on the shores of Lake Erie she was born to parents Robert Thomas Sawyers and Kimberly Dawn trener and was described as being a beautiful little girl with blonde hair blue eyes and a big smile Riley loved Elmo the color pink sledding in the Ohio Winters spraying the garden hose and playing with her grandmother’s makeup pictur of her showed that she enjoyed wearing Tiaras pretty dresses fairy wings and fancy hats Riley’s mother Kimberly was
born on August 9th 1988 she grew up in Menor and was described as a good student in fact she was on track to graduate by her sophomore year she met Robert while the two were walking laps in gym class together at Menor High School the two became romantically involved and soon Kimberly found herself pregnant at age 15 the soon Tobe teenage parents enrolled in the grads program which stands for graduation reality and dual support this program teaches teenage parents basic parenting skills and supports pregnant teens and their
boyfriends so that way they can graduate from high school now even though her grade started to slip Kimberly did eventually graduate Robert dropped out in his junior year in order to work at a machine shop to support his new family later earning his GED after Riley was born the couple moved in with Robert’s mother Cheryl Sawyers who doed on her new grandchild initially Kimberly was an attentive mother to baby Riley but the relationship between her and Robert began to fall apart perhaps it was the stress of being two teenagers trying to
raise an infant or maybe it was the strain of trying to be a couple while under someone else’s roof whatever the cause was in October of 2006 Kimberly broke off the relationship she returned the ring that Robert had given her but continued to live in the Sawyer Family Home Robert however was ready to move on and he began dating Catherine prer a young woman from his bowling league who who had attended a different high school soon Catherine became pregnant and she also moved into the Sawyer’s home when her own parents asked her to leave the
two eventually married most people find it awkward to live with your boyfriend his mom his ex-girlfriend and their toddler while you’re pregnant yourself but apparently everyone got along Kimberly and Catherine were like sisters and Catherine even babysat Riley according to Catherine I took care of Riley she was a bundle of energy she was well behaved as a 2-year-old sometime during these months Robert introduced Kimberly to the game World of Warcraft teaching her how to make a new online Persona she learned how to arm her
character with battle skills and different abilities in order to fight various fantasy creatures Kimberly became absorbed playing for hours late into the night instead of being the Teen Mom on public assistant stuck living with her ex-boyfriend’s mom she could be Firefly or fiery living an exciting Fantasy Life with her Guild going on adventures rescuing them from harm perhaps when her character moved on to the next level in the game it took away from the fact that she hadn’t leveled up in real life sometimes Kimberly was so
absorbed in the game that she wouldn’t want to leave the computer and would ask others to bring her takeout for dinner it seems likely that Robert’s mother Cheryl was the primary caregiver for little Riley at this point while Kimberly was distracted with her online Fantasy Life Kimberly began chatting with another member of her Guild a guy whose online Persona was that of a powerful warlock his real name was Royce Clyde zegler II and he was 5 years older than her and from Houston Texas he told her about his real life working for a Shell Oil
contractor and clearly he made his life sound more interesting than her boring Suburban existence Kimberly talked about Roy with the Sawyers but no one considered him a threat he came to visit her once in oh Ohio and that further cemented their relationship in March of 2007 Kimberly filed a DV report against Robert claiming he tried to choke her during an argument over where she had parked her car Robert claimed that the disagreement hadn’t been violent and the charge was later reduced to disorderly conduct then on May 23rd Kimberly and
Robert were back in court to decide who should have custody of little Riley neither party had a lawyer and ultimately Kimberly was granted custody of their daughter shortly after this Kimberly took Riley and disappeared without notifying the court that she was leaving the state as required Riley’s grandmother Cheryl Sawyers believed that Kimberly’s new online boyfriend Roy had influenced this move according to Cheryl I think pretty much you know like he could be anybody he wanted to be on the internet Kim was young I mean 18 years
old naive maybe he painted a pretty picture and that’s you know what made her move down there Kimberly resurfaced 6 days later when she and Royce filed for a marriage license in Spring Texas where Royce had rented a home the pair were married on June 1st 2007 in a civil ceremony after only meeting twice in real life according to Kimberly life in Texas was just great Roy had a job and supported her even bought her a van Roy’s mother Nelly zegler met Kimberly that first weekend in June but didn’t find out the couple had married until
later that month although Nelly’s husband didn’t approve of readymade marriages as he called it Nelly opened her home to Kimberly and Riley Nelly soon developed grandmotherly love for little Riley who had grown into a bright and charismatic toddler she even offered to babysit Riley if Kimberly would go back to work or attend college meanwhile in Ohio the Sawyers had hired a lawyer named Laura deedge who filed several motions and requests to bring Kimberly back to Ohio to account for Riley’s whereabouts as the Sawyers didn’t have
custody these requests were denied however Kimberly did return to Ohio briefly for a child support hearing she didn’t tell anyone there where she was staying or that she had even gotten married she told the Sawyers that Riley was with her father after the hearing Kimberly disappeared again though she did obtain a Texas driver’s license a week later the Sawyers continued to try to locate Riley and Kimberly contacting friends and relatives Kimberly’s family told the Sawyers that she might be in Maryland Virginia or Pennsylvania though
these Clues were obviously misguided finally the Sawyers got a break when their lawyer discovered Kimberly’s new Texas driver’s license they continued to try to serve court papers to her however these attempts were unsuccessful as were their attempts to see Riley when they tried to call to talk to Riley Kimberly told them that her daughter was playing outside or taking a nap Kimberly and Roy’s Whirlwind romance might have seemed like something straight out of the fantasy world where they had met but Roy quickly showed a darker side
reflective of the Warlock that he played online he insisted that 2-year-old Riley should use sir and ma’am when speaking to adults and that corporal punishment was the best way to teach young children to say please and thank you he wanted Kimberly to use a leather belt to whip Riley when she didn’t behave this discipline was something that Royce himself had learned as a child his father had disciplined his own children in this manner according to Roy’s ex-stepmother and sometimes this Behavior correction straight over the
line into CA other Ex-Wives of Roy’s father recalled similar severe punishments Roy must have decided this was the typical behavior for a father figure and expected Riley to fall in line Nelly zegler recalled visiting the newlyweds home in June to deliver milk and snacks and that it took a while for Kimberly to answer after she knocked Nelly said that Kimberly had a belt around her shoulder when she finally answered the door a week later Nelly went to change Riley’s diaper and made a shocking Discovery she said and I quote
her little butt was bruised greenish yellowish purplish and I got mad I let her watch cartoons anxious for Kim and Roy to come over end quote she confronted Kimberly and Roy disapproving of the belt driven discipline and they promised that it wouldn’t happen again she didn’t see any more bruises on Riley after that conversation as it turns out Nelly didn’t see much of Riley at all after that she spent months in agony wondering what had happened to the sweet little girl that she doed on as if she were her own grandchild Kimberly and Roy
simply said that Riley had gone to a co-worker’s house and then claimed that child protective services had taken Riley back to Ohio of course it had been weeks since Riley’s father and grandparents in Ohio had seen Riley and their legal efforts to get her return continued in vain on October 29th 2007 a fisherman named Robert spin of Bayou Vista found a blue stair light container washed up on an uninhabited Island in Galveston Bay along the Northern Texas shore of the Gulf of Mexico inside the plastic storage box he made a terrible
Discovery the body of a female toddler wrapped in three trash bags and surrounded by cement a coroner examination determined that the body was of a female child with three severe fractures to her skull which they thought may have led to her death the extent of the injuries was described as having similar Force to falling from a rooftop authorities began treating the case as a homicide while the pathologist at the Galveston County medical examiner office continued to examine the body to determine the exact cause of death due to De composition
they were not initially able to determine the exact date of the girl’s death but they’ had been able to tell that she had been dead for at least 2 weeks the Galveston County Sheriff’s Office which was leading the investigation sought help from the FBI and from the public to identify the child whom they had dubbed baby Grace the name Grace was chosen as a way for the public to empathize and hopefully someone would come forward with information they describ baby Grace as a white girl aged between two and three
based on Dental forensics she had waist length wavy blonde or light brown hair was 32 to 35 in tall and weighed 25 to 30 lb she wore a Target brand pink flowing skirt a Pinker red shirt and size 8 and 1/2 white light up velcro sneakers with flowers on them according to Major Ray Tut toyal Mondo a spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office quote we’re getting loads of phone calls we’re keeping our fingers crossed one of those calls is going to be the right one for us she is a whole lot more than an unidentified girl she’s somebody’s child
somebody’s missing her she is more to us than just a case number more to us than just an unidentified body she’s very much a human being she’s Someone’s Child someone’s grandchild someone’s cousin someone’s best friend and to us that is the most important part about this case end quote the authorities continued to plead for the Public’s help in identifying baby Grace Galveston Sheriff Jean Leonard said we recognize that this death could be the result of an accident one thing is that this is a young person who has not
received an appropriate burial another thing is for someone someone to come forward and clear up the entire matter about a week after the discovery of baby Grace’s body the police recruited forensic artist Lori Gibson to create a sketch of what the child might have looked like while she was still alive this sketch was released to the public and hundreds of tips poured in from all over the country several callers believe that baby Grace’s true identity might have been that of meline mccan a 4-year-old British girl who disappeared from a
resort hotel in Portugal the May before making international headlines but investigators were able to rule out that possibility on November 6th 2007 residents gathered on nearby Tiki Island for a memorial service for baby Grace MERS gathered around a 4-ft wooden cross on which was written in loving memory of baby Grace after speeches songs prayers and poems the cross was brought by boat to the desolate Island where baby Grace’s body body had been found Roy’s mother Nelly heard about baby Grace on the radio and found the forensic sketch
online she eventually learned that the Ohio authorities didn’t have Riley and tried to confront her son and Kimberly about Riley’s whereabouts at this time Nelly thought Riley must have been kidnapped and wanted to know why they hadn’t gone to the police to report her missing both she and her husband bered Kimberly and Royce and after being called a liar Kimberly jumped up and began swearing at Nelly she stormed upstairs but Nelly wasn’t done she hollered up at her what kind of mother are you you show no emotion you never
talk about her you never seem to care where she’s at after some more heated words Kimberly and Roy simply left leaving Nelly to wonder what had happened to Riley sometime in the following days Riley’s grandmother Cheryl Sawyers also saw the forensic sketch of baby Grace online and thought it might resemble her missing granddaughter whom she had not seen since May she knew that Riley was likely living with her mother in the Houston area not far from galvaston she contacted the G alist Sheriff’s Office who quickly began to put the pieces
together their request a Harris County Sheriff’s deputy Deputy Jones went to the couple’s home in Spring Texas to conduct a welfare check on Riley the deputy spoke to Roy who told the deputy that there was a custody dispute with Riley’s father in Ohio both he and Kimberly claimed that an Ohio CPS agent had come to their home pushed Kimberly down then taken Riley back to Ohio Kimberly told Deputy Jones that she thought Riley was with her grandmother Cheryl Sawyer or maybe Cheryl sister when asked if they had paperwork from
Ohio CPS Kimberly said they did and offered to send it to the deputy through her civil attorney Jee Meeks Kimberly then sent a letter to the Sheriff’s Office from the Ohio CPS which stated that Riley had been removed from Kimberly’s custody because of allegations of saay by Roy however this letter was later revealed to be a fake created by Kimberly herself although Deputy Jones initially believed Kimberly’s story he became suspicious when Kimberly became uncooperative and didn’t want to file a police report about Riley’s disappearance after
talking to someone from Ohio Child Protective Services who confirmed that they did not have an open case regarding Riley in Ohio Deputy Jones contacted Kimberly and asked her to provide a DNA sample they could rule out Riley as baby Grace on November 23rd 2007 Kimberly went with her attorney Tom stickler to the Galveston County Sheriff’s Office to give a DNA sample in a statements the deputies were probably expecting Kimberly to remain uncooperative but instead she poured out her harrowing story Kimberly told the deputies about how she
had met Roy through World of Warcraft and how she had moved to Texas and how great everything was after they got married then Kimberly began to tell the authorities about Roy’s style of discipline at first Roy didn’t interfere with Kimberly’s parenting but at work Roy had complained to a coworker that Riley was a brat saying that she was unruly hard to discipline and out of control he expressed frustration that Kimberly didn’t discipline Riley enough and told the coworker he was going to start spanking Riley with a belt the
cooworker advised Roy to go easy on Riley since she was little and in a new place another co-worker suggested that Royce and Kimberly come up with an agreement on how to discipline Riley and together the couple came up with a list of rules for Riley which included bedtime nap time public Behavior picking up her toys and listening to her parents according to Kimberly Riley had more behavior problems beyond what was normal for a 2-year-old so she gave Riley more timeouts Roy told her she needed to be more aggressive and should spank Riley
to get her to behave Kimberly began to give Riley light spankings but that wasn’t enough and Roy told her she should use a belt she took his advice when he was present he also began to use a belt to beat Riley with eventually Roy told Kimberly that he couldn’t stand any more of Riley’s behavior in public that he was sick of the custody issues with Cheryl Sawyers he said that he would continue to pay the rent and take care of Kimberly’s financial needs but that he was going to pack his bags and leave Kimberly begged don’t go don’t go
Everything Will Change so Roy remained at home that night the next day July 24th 2007 Roy stayed home from work to make sure that Kimberly was disciplining Riley properly in his eyes he told her that if Riley started misbehaving she should go for the belt sometime that morning Riley used the phrase I want instead of please may I have so Roy told Kimberly to get the belt he said this is a literal quote we need to break her he instructed 2-year-old Riley that she needed to say yes sir and yes ma’am and continued to beat her throughout the day
when she didn’t do what he wanted or if she screamed he would also shove her face into a pillow and into the couch in the living living room Roy told Kimberly that they needed to do more since Riley wouldn’t stop screaming he had Kimberly filled the bathtub with cold water and said that the next time Riley screamed they would put her in the bathtub Roy continued to hit Riley with the belt and then shoved her head under the water every time Riley screamed she would be beaten again wherever her skin was exposed which was everywhere because she
was naked during the beatings and and she was dunked back under the water at some point that day the beating stopped they put ice packs on Riley to sooth her bruises and gave her Tylenol Riley was awake at this point and trying to recover from her injuries Roy said that she had had enough for that day but evidently he changed his mind because he went and he got a thicker belt and resumed hitting Riley as hard as he could he grabbed Riley by her hair and dragged her into the bathroom where he submerged her in the cold water again
she tried to run away he’d get her around the neck with a belt and drag her by her neck to stand for more beatings Royce also picked up Riley and threw her across the room multiple times hitting her head on the tile floor Kimberly said she heard the distinctive smack as Riley’s skull connected with the hard tile Kimberly also joined in with these beatings with a second belt helped hold Riley’s Head Underwater Kimberly noticed at one point that Riley was having trouble standing but Roy said she was just acting another time during this
hours long torture the little girl reached out to her mother and said I love you Kimberly paused the beating but when Riley repeated the words Royce told her that Riley was just trying to control her to stop the discipline eventually Riley could no longer stand so Kimberly got more Tylenol which Roy tried to give to the girl Riley had trouble chewing and swallowing this medicine which was when Roy realized she was not Faking It Kimberly said they needed to call an ambulance and get Ry to a hospital but rce refused because he
knew he would go to jail at this point Riley’s little body was black and blue from the beatings she stopped breathing and Roy attempted CPR he shoved his finger in her throat because he thought something might be stuck in there but he found nothing Kimberly sat on the couch and Royce placed Riley’s body into her arms said she felt Riley’s heart stopped beating her body grew cold after Riley died Roy placed her body in the same bathtub where moments before they’d been torturing her he put a purple towel over
her body and told told Kimberly that they needed to clean up and get rid of the pillow in the belts they used to beat Riley he said they needed to get bleach and trash bags so that night the couple went to Walmart they each pushed a shopping cart which they loaded up with a blue plastic sterilite container a chain a clip to fasten the chain quick dry cement bleach plastic gloves a roll of trash bags and a red handled shovel the couple went home scrubbed Riley’s battered body with bleached to remove the fingerprints and even took care to
pour bleach down her throat to remove any DNA that may have been transferred from Royce when he tried CPR Kimberly insisted that she dress Riley after all it’s one thing to beat your little girl to death but sending her to her grave without a pretty outfit is just going too far Riley’s body was adorned in her favorite color pink then Kimberly held open the trash bags while Royce triple bagged Riley’s body get together they mixed up some of the quick dry cement and the blue tote and placed Riley inside after all of that prep work the
couple then placed the blue container outside in a storage shed where it remained for 1 to 2 months during this time Royce’s parents were trying to find out where Riley had gone which is when Kimberly lied and said that Riley was staying with her aunt and uncle in Plainsville Texas because of the custody dispute with Cheryl Sawyers and Riley’s Father Robert Kimberly told the deputies during her interview that she and Roy made two attempts to get rid of Riley’s body the first night she and Roy drove down a dirt road and Roy attempted to
dig a hole in a field with a shovel but gave up and said it would take too long next they drove to Lake Houston to throw the blue tote off a bridge but realized the tote might hit the ground instead of the water so they abandoned that plan another night the couple drove to galvaston Bay and threw the container off the galvaston causeway Kimberly recalled watching as the blue container drifted off into the West carrying away The Battered body of her daughter despite the violence that Roy had exhibited Kimberly wasn’t concerned that
he would hurt her physically she was afraid that he might leave her with nothing in the weeks that followed the couple took care to cover their tracks Royce threw away the items used during Riley’s death after baby Grace’s unidentified body was found they also threw away any items that had belonged to Riley such as her clothes and toys it was at this time that Kimberly also created the fake document from Ohio CPS later used to excuse Riley’s absence the weekend before his interview after baby Grace’s body had been found Roy had
attempted to self- cancel by taking a large amount of blood pressure medication and anti-depressants he wrote on a spiralbound notebook my wife is innocent of the sins that I have committed however for Roy that energy was fleeting at best after Kimberly’s interview he too was picked up by police at the time he blamed Kimberly for Riley’s death told vastly different stories about how the day of Riley’s death had gone initially claiming that he’d been sick in bed all day but heard yelling and screaming elsewhere in the
house he also claimed that he went for a drive and came back to find Riley dead another time he said he’d been sick went outside for a bit only to hear Kimberly yelling before he went back inside to do CPR on an unconscious Riley in this scenario he offered to bring Kimberly and Riley to a friend’s house who could take them to the ER eventually Roy admitted it’s partially my fault cuz if I hadn’t gotten into Kimberly it would have never happened after a search of Kimberly and Roy’s home the pair were arrested and charge with injury to a
child in tampering with evidence bail was set for $350,000 each which was later increased to $850,000 each at the time investigators were fairly confident that they had identified baby Grace DNA obtained from Kimberly and from Riley’s Father Robert eventually confirmed what authorities had suspected baby Grace was 2-year-old Riley an Sawyers the forensic evidence against Royce and Kimberly included the testimony of Dr Steven pelick the medical examiner who had performed Riley’s autopsy her body was in an advanced state of decomposition at the
time of her autopsy so it was not surprising that he didn’t find evidence of bruising on her body he also couldn’t confirm nor eliminate drowning or asphixiation as possible causes of death because of the decomposition however he did find damage to Riley’s vertebrae which indicated that she had likely suffered from multiple hyper flexions that is to say her head had been whipped forward badly enough to cause damage to her spine he also observed that her brain appeared pink which indicated that she had bleeding between her brain and
her skull the three skull fractures that he also found were of the sort that one would see from being tossed off of a building or being thrown with a lot of force into something this is not just a simple slip and fall injury he determined that Riley’s cause of death was blunt force trauma and that the manner of her death was a homicide Kimberly was convicted of capital homicide on February 2nd 2009 during her trial jurors wept when they watched the tape of her interview where she described torturing her own child
beating Riley to death despite Riley’s I love you in the middle of the whole ordeal Kimberly’s defense lawyers attempted to argue that Riley’s death was not premeditated and Kimberly couldn’t have known that disciplining Riley could lead to her death however this attempt failed and it took jurors only 90 minutes to reach a verdict prosecutors declined to seek the death penalty knowing it would be appealed they wouldn’t be able to prove that the defendants were a future danger to others a requirement for the death
penalty to be enacted after all parents who commit CA are rarely violent towards others besides their own children Kimberly was sentenced to life without parole and is currently being held at the Mountain View prison in Gatesville Texas Roy was convicted of capital homicide and evidence tampering on November 6 2009 his former co-workers testified that he was creepy uncomfortable to be around and one had nicknamed him psycho pictures from an office party apparently showed Royce and Kimberly playing softball and holding
Margaritas a mere 10 days after they had beaten Riley to death Royce’s defense team tried to argue that while he admitted to dumping Riley’s body there was no proof he was involved in the daylong torture set session nor her death however jurors were not convinced and the verdict was reached in only 4 hours and 30 minutes by the jury he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole he is currently held at the Wallace Pack Unit Prison in Navasota Texas both Kimberly and Royce have appealed their sentences for
various reasons but all have been unsuccessful in June of 2008 Kimberly now aged 19 gave birth to another child while in prison awaiting trial the baby boy born at Mainland Medical Center was immediately taken from her and adoption papers were prepared the identity of his new parents is confidential but it’s possible that he was adopted by relatives Riley was loved by her father and her extended family her father Robert Sawyer remembers her as a darling little girl he described her as a funloving girl with a big imagination
she’s very active very hyper but very well behaved he said of Kimberly I never thought she could do anything like this she loved Riley you can’t look at that little girl and you can’t not love that little girl it’s heart-wrenching to think that she might have done this to such a beautiful little girl Robert’s mother Cheryl was devastated when the police confirmed that baby Grace was indeed her granddaughter Riley she said it was hard to believe she would never see her again on January 14th 2008 Riley’s cremated remains were turned
over to the Sawyer family after sufficient evidence had been gathered from her autopsy galvaston deputies Greg Haynes and Jimmy galain had vowed months prior to take baby Grace home when the toddler’s battered body was found in galvaston Bay and they fulfilled that promise when they flew Riley’s body to Northeast Ohio and served as Paul bearers for her funeral but the little girl will always hold a place in the hearts of the citizens in Eastern Texas the island in galvaston Bay where baby Grace was found has officially been
renamed Riley Island Riley’s obituary reads Heaven has a brand new Angel her name is Riley an we have to ask you favors we know you’ll understand it’s hard for us to let her go so innocent and so small she did not get to live her life so soon you came to call we know that you were with her and she was not alone you saw that she was hurting and chose to take her home we ask that you take care of her and give her all our love we know that she is safe Within your arms dear God above a wake was held on January 15th in East Lake Ohio near
the town where Riley was born her handmade little coffin was just 36 in Long made of brown wood with a cross affixed on the top the casket had been donated to the Sawyer Family by a Texas man who had lost his own child at a young age inside the casket was a n with Riley’s ashes a pink dress and stuffed animals including her favorite Elmo doll Cheryl Sawyer’s workplace a nursing home held a spaghetti dinner to raise money for a funeral the local community also raised funds for a private jet to fly Riley’s remains in the accompanying
Texas deputies to Ohio at her funeral pictures of Riley show her sledding with her father and wearing angel wings in a Christmas photo a video nearby showed happier times with images of Riley swaddled in a pink blanket as a newborn or her grinning face splattered with spaghetti sauce her father shared memories of Riley spraying him with a garden hose and soaking the entire patio her funeral was held at St be the venerable Church in Menor Ohio and her remains were buried at Menor Cemetery her gravestone Bears an engraving of an
angel and a picture of a smiling Riley and reads Riley an Sawyers beloved daughter granddaughter and niece March 11th 2005 July 24th 200 seven buted on Earth to bloom in heaven on the back of the stone it says Simply Baby Grace about 200 people attended the service and 700 candles were lit in her memory in 14 countries around the world Riley’s grandfather Ray Sawyer Senor said the family was stunned by the international show of love and affection towards Riley he said she is no longer just our baby she is the world’s baby
