Mourners left wooden crosses, angels and other reminders of a 2-year-old girl that made headlines worldwide as "Baby Grace".
The memorial service, held in Mentor, OH, previously the home of Riley Sawyers and her family, before she and her mother moved to Texas.
Riley, whose body was identified as that of Baby Grace, was beaten and tortured by her mother, Kimberly Trenor, and her husband/companion, Clyde Zeigler II.
"Hundreds came Sunday to the Brunner Funeral Home to remember Riley Sawyers and other loved ones as part of the Brunner's Annual Tree of Remembrance Service. Those who honored their family also took a moment to comfort family and friends of Riley, whose body was found floating in a plastic container in Galveston Bay this summer."Riley's relatives are touched by the support and telephone calls they are receiving from around the country, said Laura DePledge, the Sawyers' attorney. Relatives are raising money to help bring Riley's body to Ohio to be buried.
Though the physical memorial service was held in Ohio, Riley Sawyers and "Baby Grace" will be mourned much further away.
Donations can be made in her name at the FirstMerit Bank, 7800 Reynolds Road, Mentor, 44060.
When it was speculated that Baby Grace's body might be that of Madeline McCann, a missing English girl, papers all over the United Kingdom and Europe carried her story.
In Texas, after the body of Baby Grace was found, people volunteered time and information hoping to help identify her. Tips from all over the world poured in. Police worked around the clock to sift through these bits of hope.
People sent in money to raise a reward fund. Candlelight vigils were held. People prayed.
One man in England wrote President Bush, asking why more wasn't done to find out why more wasn't being done to identify Baby Grace.
Letters and comments from Scotland, England, France and elsewhere speculated who this small girl might be.
Now the world knows: it was Riley Sawyers.
People gathered in Ohio to mourn Riley: some had known her, some had not, but all were saddened by her story.
Sunday, hundreds of people in Mentor, OH said prayers and honored the memory of Riley Sawyers.
Thousands upon thousands elsewhere, from all over the world, sent their thoughts and prayers to join them.
by Mondoreb
[image:rocksaltplum]
Source:
Cleveland Plain Dealer - Mourners Recall Riley "Baby Grace" Sawyers
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.
COMPLETE LISTING:
Baby Grace stories by Death By 1000 Papercuts
[updated: December 11, 2007]
The story of "Baby Grace", whose body was discovered on a sandbar in a cooler, near Galveston TX on October 29, 2007. The body turned out to be that of 2-year-old Riley Sawyers.
Madeline McCann's story is that of a 4-year-old girl, abducted from her parents' resort room while the family was on vacation in Portugal.
Some speculated for awhile that Baby Grace may have been the missing Madeline. Her whereabouts is still unknown.
Baby Grace, Riley Sawyers, Madeline McCann:
He Says, She Says Battle Begins
Grand Jury Bring Capital Charges
Capital Murder Charges and Probable Cause
Riley Sawyers' Pregnant Mother: Riley Needed Some "Manners"
Case Has Had False Leads and Alarms
Additional Charges, Additional Questions
Mother's Grim Tale of Abuse and Death
Madeline McCann:"Killed by a Pedophile"
Mother Beat, Tortured Toddler
22 Other Little Girls to be Investigated
Baby Grace, Riley Sawyers: Our Deepest Sympathy
Baby Grace, Riley Sawyers: Couple Arrested
Riley Sawyers: Where is She? What's Happened to Her?
Baby Grace and the Little Lost Girl, Riley Sawyers
Grandmother Believes Baby Grace is Granddaughter
Baby Grace and Riley Sawyers Possible Match
Baby Grace: FBI Reward Comparison
Police Follow Tip to Dead End; Missing Girl
FBI Now to Announce $20,000 Reward
FBI Offers $20,000 Reward But No Press Release; The Madeline McCann Connection
VIDEO Who Is Baby Grace: A Video Timeline
Baby Grace: A Timeline - "She Could Be From Any Place in the World"
VIDEO Hundreds of Tips Flood Police
Baby Grace, Madeline McCann and the Little Lost Girls
Three Possible Matches Found
Baby Grace Not Only Missing Little Girl
Is Baby Grace Madeline McCann?
The Heartbreaking Story of Baby Grace
MADELINE McCANN
Case Has Had False Leads and Alarms
Madeline McCann:"Killed by a Pedophile"
by Little Baby Ginn & Mondoreb
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page
"The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it."--Albert Einstein
2-year-old Riley Sawyers was savagely and repeatedly beaten and tortured until she was dead. The punishment was inflicted on her by her alleged mother--the one person a defenseless toddler turns to for protection and comfort.
Kimberly Dawn Trenor and her accomplice/boyfriend/husband completed their vile deed and then stashed the little girl's body in a storage shed. After many days, they took a trip to buy their Wal-Mart version of Riley's casket: a cooler commonly used for picnics.
At that moment, Trenor's mothering instinct apparently asserted itself: Riley Sawyer's body was found wrapped in plastic and laid in her temporary resting place. It was set adrift in Galveston Bay, to be found on a sandbar by a fisherman.
It's a mystery why they treated Riley's body more gently after she was dead than when she was living through what must have been her last confused, hurting, terror-filled moments.
Her mother described to police how she "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."
Speculation
The charges currently against the pair consist of tampering with evidence and injuring the child. What additional charges they face is speculation at this moment.
The final scene described by Trenor is one where acts were committed that were devoid of any human emotion.
That would seem to rule out various "done in haste" or "in the heat of the moment" defenses. What the charges will be and what kind of defense will be offered, if any, is again speculation.
Zigler reportedly tried to end his life last week as the police closed in, leaving behind a note that "his wife was not responsible". He was less successful at ending his own life than that of his companion's 2-year-old.
Was that an attempt at achieving a nobility in death that was missing in his life?
The questions heard most often asked by readers who emailed or commented at this point: How could a mother do this to her baby? Why did it have to be so violent? Why not give the child to someone who loved her?
It's hard to say why little Riley death was so gruesome.
If the child was a bother, why not contact the grandmother in Ohio or the father?
Both made repeated efforts to contact Kimberly Dawn Trenor.
There has been talk of a custody struggle between the Kimberly Dawn Trenor and Riley's father.
The final sadistic acts committed on the person of Riley Sawyers are easier to understand if Riley isn't viewed as a human being; as a little, defenseless child.
Those acts are a little easier to understand if one sees her two-year-old daughter, Riley Sawyers, not as most would view her--a helpless toddler, crying out in fear and panic at her final treatment--but as Kimberly Dawn Trenor apparently saw her.
Not as a child, but as a pawn.
by Mondoreb
Sources:
Mother's Grim Tale of Abuse and Death
Toddler Tortured: Little Riley Never Had a Chance
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.
Major Ray Tuttoilmondo, Galveston County
The grim details of the last days of little Riley "Baby Grace" Sawyers life have begun to emerge.
From today's Galveston County Daily News:In an interview, Kimberly Dawn Trenor, 19, of Spring, told investigators that she and her husband, Royce Clyde Zeigler, 24, beat her daughter with two leather belts the morning of July 24, an affidavit says.
Kimberly and Royce went to Walmart for the specific purpose of picking out a "suitable" container to dispose of little Riley's dead body. One can imagine the two walking the fluorescent lit aisles, looking at various sized plastic containers until choosing the "right" one.
They also held her head underwater in the bathtub and Zeigler picked her up by her hair and threw her across the room, slamming her head into tile floor, the affidavit says.
An autopsy on Oct. 30 found that the child had three skull fractures on the back of her head.
The pair also smothered the girl by pushing her face into a pillow in her room and into the cushions of a couch, the affidavit says.
Trenor told investigators that, during the beating, her husband gave the girl child’s pain medication and covered her with a purple towel after she was dead, the affidavit says. [1]
They then wrapped her in plastic and placed her in a blue plastic tote. They put the tote out in a storage shed in the backyard of their Spring home. The authorities are not quite sure how long little Riley's body was kept there, anywhere from one to two months.
One could see Kimberly looking out the kitchen window to the storage shed where her daughter's body lay while she washed the dishes or cooked dinner. Of Royce mowing the lawn or waving to the neighbors, the children who played in the yards next door. Of Kimberly and Royce talking in quiet whispers, discussing where they could take Riley, where no one would ever find the evidence of what they had done.
The couple took the remains in their car and tossed them into the water near the Galveston Causeway, the affidavit says.
When the plastic storage tote containing Riley's body was found resting on a sand bar the Galveston County Sheriff's Department took over the investigation. They found her wrapped in plastic, she wore a little pink skirt and matching blouse, little tennis shoes that flashed bright lights from the heels. No one had reported a little girl missing. No one knew who this little girl in the plastic tote was. They released a composite sketch of Riley and dubbed her "Baby Grace." [2]
On Oct. 29, a fisherman found the plastic bin with the little girl inside.[1]
Did Kimberly and Royce see the newspaper and media reports about the unidentified "Baby Grace" case? Did they discuss the case with neighbors? Did they believe that dumping Riley's body into Galveston Bay would be the end, that somehow, they would be in the clear?
They both sit in Galveston County Jail. One wonders what possible defense their attorney's will present. Bets are, they'll soon point the finger of blame at each other.
[1] - Galveston County Daily News
[2] - Baby Grace and the Little Lost Girl, Riley Sawyers
By LBG
DBKP.com - Bigger, Better!.
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.
