GUILTY TX - Riley 'Baby Grace' Sawyers, 2, brutally murdered, Spring, 24 July 2007

[NewMom2003]

Would you guys be interested in starting a forum for Riley?

I PM'd Christine earlier this week asking if it was possible, but haven't heard back from her yet. Maybe I need to PM another mod?

I think there is much more to come out and if we had a forum, we could keep everything more organized. Besides I am going to follow this case until the bitter end and I have a feeling that all my other fellow WS's posting on this thread will too.

 

[ckwood32]

I couldn't even bring myself to read about this story for a very long time - I still can't look at the pictures. It makes me want to cry. I hug my 5 year old a lot more now. I just look at her and wonder how anyone could ever abuse a child!!!

 

[believe09]

Would you guys be interested in starting a forum for Riley?

I PM'd Christine earlier this week asking if it was possible, but haven't heard back from her yet. Maybe I need to PM another mod?

I think there is much more to come out and if we had a forum, we could keep everything more organized. Besides I am going to follow this case until the bitter end and I have a feeling that all my other fellow WS's posting on this thread will too.

Count me in! I think this definitely could use a forum.

In regards to timelines etc...I think that it is clear that the Sawyers were working through the court system, which is perfectly legit. How would they know that this situation was so deadly for Riley? The key is what happens from here in the next set of circumstances when a mother takes off (illegally) with a minor child and relocates to another state. Should the other parent travel to that state and snatch the child back? Tough call-I think that the Trenors need to be held accountable for obstructing Robert's attempts to locate his child. This is a case that can be used as an example for new law, or new processes in court regarding non traditional families and custody. IMO.

 

[interestedmom]

I couldn't even bring myself to read about this story for a very long time - I still can't look at the pictures. It makes me want to cry. I hug my 5 year old a lot more now. I just look at her and wonder how anyone could ever abuse a child!!!

You are not alone. I feel the same way. I just could not imagine doing that to her or allowing someone else do it. I don't understand....

 

[believe09]

Another thought-what could Grandma Sawyer's resources have been when she found out from Kimberly that she was taking off with Riley to Texas? Roberts custody/contempt hearing was months after the event...by then Riley was dead or soon to be dead. This is part of the debate, I think.

 

[MsPooh]

they said that the Father had gotten joint custody, Mom disappears with Riley to Texas and by the time they found them it was too late.

 

[PaperDoll]

thanks you guys for answering my questions :blowkiss:

So what I'm hearing is that mom and stepdad just took off to Texas without telling anyone? just up and moved? hum, I'm still a little confused but that is nothing new :boohoo:

 

[PaperDoll]

they said that the Father had gotten joint custody, Mom disappears with Riley to Texas and by the time they found them it was too late.

Oh, ok, now that makes sense. thanks MsPooh

What a horrible thing to do.. Riley was such a cutie pie.. just a real sweet looking little girl.. how sad.. how sad for her bio-dad as well..

 

[JanetElaine]

thanks you guys for answering my questions :blowkiss:

So what I'm hearing is that mom and stepdad just took off to Texas without telling anyone? just up and moved? hum, I'm still a little confused but that is nothing new :boohoo:

Actually it's in one of the posts here, the timeline one I think, that Kim's parents had told the Sawyers' on May 29 that she went to Canton (about an hour south of Mentor, also in Ohio) and would be back in June... but she had actually moved (or was in the physical process of moving) to Spring, TX. So the Sawyers' at least were lied to, and whether her parents knew the truth, who knows....

 

[JanetElaine]

Another thought-what could Grandma Sawyer's resources have been when she found out from Kimberly that she was taking off with Riley to Texas? Roberts custody/contempt hearing was months after the event...by then Riley was dead or soon to be dead. This is part of the debate, I think.

Good question and I'm curious to see where that debate (hopefully there will be one) will go.

 

[Taximom]

More of the same
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/29/national/main3552225.shtml?source=mostpop_story
Zeigler wanted his wife to spank Riley with a belt when she failed to say things like "please" and "yes sir" or "no sir," Stickler said Wednesday. Zeigler didn't believe Trenor was doing it, however, because the 2-year-old's behavior wasn't changing.

Although the affidavit said the couple abused Riley over a four- to six-hour period, Stickler said it wasn't a continuous event. Instead, Zeigler grew increasingly enraged as he spanked Riley and she kept forgetting to do things the way he wanted.


I'm really looking forward to jailhouse justice. I'd love to see him cowering and saying "Yes Sir".

 

[FLMom]

I remember one of the earlier articles, just not where to find it. They had joint custody, but the "mother" had primary custody with the father having secondary. Becuase she had primary, when the dad went to court he was told that due to his "secondary" status, he could not stop the move-away. This was of course, after the fact as they had already moved.

 

[SeekingJana]

It has been confirmed that the woman who gave birth ( and possibly death) to Riley is pregnant again. OMG.

She is being held in a special ward for pregnant women.

 

[paddy01]

Just watched a report on Zeigler, where a classmate (who wishes to remain anonymous) states Zeigler was a bully in junior high, go figure!
This report didn't surprise me one bit, take one look at that face, it should be in the dictionary next to the word bully. Would like to know what his upbringing was like, did his parents discipline him the same manner as he wanted Kimberly to disciplined Riley? Is he going to use "I was abused as a child"? I hope they put him in a cell with lots of bullies!

 

[Opie]

It has been confirmed that the woman who gave birth ( and possibly death) to Riley is pregnant again. OMG.

She is being held in a special ward for pregnant women.

And I hope and pray there is a social worker in the delivery room waiting to take this new baby to a real home with real human beings.

MANDATORY STERILIZATION!

 

[Texana]

Sawyer did not have joint custody with Riley, he was the noncustodial parent according to several news stories here, and that is why he could not stop Trenor from moving in with Zeigler. It's not entirely clear when the the Sawyers realized she was actually in Texas, if they knew that or the PI found it out for them.

It's so awful to think that the grandmother was trying to find Riley and yet tragically couldn't find her and save her in time.

 

[gitana1]

In response to speculation that Kimberly Trenor may have been a poor, frightened woman too scared and abused to protect or save her child, I respectfully call B*ll Sh#t!!!! Here's why:
1. She admitted in an affidavit that she joined in on the abuse of Riley on the last day of her the baby's life. She too beat Riley and I believe she actually made the statement that "they" held the child's head under water.
2. She had sex with the monster (she's pregnant) after her baby was tortured to death and while her child's battered body was floating in the bay. Can you imagine that? I mean, she wasn't in Auchswitz or Rawanda or Darfur where someone had a gun to her head and all the political power in the world. This is not a case of wartime rape by the enemy. She admits she was not physically abused. Come on! How bad could mental/emotional abuse be after only one month of being with the creep that she could lose every ounce of motherly instinct?
3. She lived with the knowledge that her little baby's body was sitting in a storage shed just feet away from her, for months, and just went on with life? And she wasn't chained? She wasn't beaten to within an inch of her life to prevent her from screaming in agony and killing him, killing herself, calling the police, screaming in the street, SOMETHING in response to the sheer horror of the reality of that little body in a box in her shed???? That's because she felt no horror. IMO, she just did not give a s&%*!
4. I saw her on camera at her house when reporters asked questions about where her child was and if her child is Baby Grace. (Does anyone have a link?). She did not seem scared or dazed or abused or out of it in any way. What I saw was a determined, stubborn b*#!ch of a woman with not an ounce of feeling or worry about the situation. It was just a moment on camera but it that's what I got from it.

I really wish to write a letter to the attorneys for both of these murderers to tell them that their attempts to downplay the evil, malicous, inhuman quality of their clients, are not working. That Zeigler's lawyer tries to say his client is just a big teddy bear just makes me hate his client all the more. What is wrong with this kind of slimy lawyer? I am an attorney. I could never utter such unethical garage in my life to get an edge on a case. Besides, it does not work. It just makes the lawyer look like a nut. What he should do is shut his mouth and counsel his client to do the right thing and plead guilty for the things he has done. This case really scares me. It is eerily similar to one I have been litigating. Mom got re-married and fought (and won) to move out of state with her child. But step dad insists that the three year old call him yes sir and no sir and memorize long bible passages. He also spanks the kid. When I argued in court for an order that he not be allowed to do so (which I got), mother's attorney argued that stepdad spanking the child was part of the family "discipline plan". Sound familiar? He apparently keeps spanking the child against the court orders but we cannot prove it. I hope it doesn't end up like Riley's situation.

 

[believe09]

[/quote]I really wish to write a letter to the attorneys for both of these murderers to tell them that their attempts to downplay the evil, malicous, inhuman quality of their clients, are not working. That Zeigler's lawyer tries to say his client is just a big teddy bear just makes me hate his client all the more. What is wrong with this kind of slimy lawyer? I am an attorney. I could never utter such unethical garage in my life to get an edge on a case. Besides, it does not work. It just makes the lawyer look like a nut. What he should do is shut his mouth and counsel his client to do the right thing and plead guilty for the things he has done. This case really scares me. It is eerily similar to one I have been litigating. Mom got re-married and fought (and won) to move out of state with her child. But step dad insists that the three year old call him yes sir and no sir and memorize long bible passages. He also spanks the kid. When I argued in court for an order that he not be allowed to do so (which I got), mother's attorney argued that stepdad spanking the child was part of the family "discipline plan". Sound familiar? He apparently keeps spanking the child against the court orders but we cannot prove it. I hope it doesn't end up like Riley's situation.[/quote]

You can't get a restraining order for the child in your case? I would think that if the child were asked if he/she were still being spanked by a judge in judges chambers or in front of their pediatrician during an appointment, and the pediatrician documented it, that this would be sufficient proof. Doctors records in my state are considered absolute proof...

 

[reb]

<MANDATORY STERILIZATION!>

or in this particular case,, how about mandatory abortion....?? no way should those skumbag's genes be spread into the world.. plus, that would be child abuse, to let a child have those 2 monsters for parents! please,, spare them!

 

[hollyjokers]

Regarding her being abused and participating only by being a battered & abused partner - seems like her parents would have helped her & Riley get back to Ohio if she gave them any indication they were in trouble. Just not a very sympathetic defendant in her case I'm afraid.

Just spent a nice weekend with our 20-month old great-niece who is an absolute doll. Can't imagine anyone terrorizing a little girl like they did, her own child! Makes me sick & pi$$ed off. Riley's little face reminds me of a Sandra Kuck painting.