The Police News
Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009
Check this page throughout the trial of Royce Ziegler, charged with the murder of Riley Ann Sawyers, "Baby Grace."
Background story from the Houston Chronicle
Day 1 - Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Morning Session
GALVESTON - This morning in the 10th District Court opening statements in the trial of Royce Clyde Ziegler, II marked the next phase in seeking justice for young Riley Ann Sawyers the murdered child who became known as 'Baby Grace'.
Ziegler, 26, is married to Riley's mother Kimberly Dawn Trenor who stood trial last year and is now serving Life Without Parole in a Texas prison for her part in the torture and death of her daughter Riley.
Trenor has been transferred from state prison to the Galveston County Jail but it remains to be seen if she will testify at Ziegler's trial. At her trial last year, Ziegler accompanied by his lawyer invoked his Fifth Ammendment rights and did not testify against his wife.
Royce Ziegler entered the courtroom this morning looking apprehensive and a bit haggared as he sat down at the defense table alongside his attorneys Dee McWilliams and Neal Davis, III. He was dressed in a white shirt, blue blazer and khaki pants.
Before the jury of nine men and three women were brought into courtroom Judge David Garner ruled on pre-trial motions. The attorneys were instructed that opening statements would be limited to 20 minutes for each side.
The charges were read and the defendant plead Not Guility.
Kayla Allen opened for the prosecution. She outlined the history of Riley Sawyer, Kim Trenor,Royce Ziegler and their meeting and subsequent family life. Allen said that jurors would hear testimony as to Ziegler describing Riley as a brat and a handful and that he would get her under control.
Allen described the lie Ziegler told to the Sheriff's investigators, and family and co-workers repeatedly. She pointed out the descrepencies between Ziegler's first statement and second statement given to detectives. In the first statement he denied even being there when Riley was killed. In the second one he said he only participated in the coverup of Riley's death to give her a "proper burial," which was important to Kim Trenor.
Allen continued that within 30-days of Riley's murder, Trenor made a doctor's appointment to have her IUD removed shortly after becoming pregnant with Ziegler's child. The couple was moving on after Riley's death.
In closing Assistant D.A. Allen reminded the court that Royce Ziegler is a liar and the jury should not believe anything he says now.
Neal Davis, III, attorney for the defense was next to address the jury and suggested that Royce Ziegler was guilty, but guilty only of being manipulated and guilty of not calling the police but not guilty of capital murder.
He painted a picture of a defendant who is, "socially inept. shy, gullible and not good with women." Davis told of Ziegler and Trenor meeting on the internet and starting a relationship. Ziegler flew to Ohio to meet her and her family then he, Trenor and Riley flew back to Houston together and Ziegler rented a house so he could provide for his new family.
Davis went on to tell how Ziegler started a new job and bought Trenor a van and helped her with her child support case. Trenor did not clean or cook and did not work,and that the television babysat Riley.
Ziegler finally told Trenor he couldn't live like that anymore and that he would be willing to pay for the house, pay for her van and he would move back with his parents. Trenor begged him not to leave.
Davis said pieces of the puzzle were still missing and that Ziegler is "not guilty, but innocent and the state has no idea exactly how Riley died."
He closed his opening statement by saying, "this is an emotional trial but the prosecutor's case must be based on more than emotion or assumption."
Galveston County Sheriff's Lieutenant Tommy Hansen was called as the first prosecution witness. When the court recessed for lunch, he was on the stand describing videos of his interrogation of Ziegler following his arrest. He returned to the stand after the noon break.
Joan Meidam, The Police News inside the courtroom.
Day 1
Afternoon Session
The Prosecution called their first witness, Lt. Tommy Hansen of the Galveston County Sheriff's Office. Lt. Hansen testified that he has 36 years of law enforcement experience. He recounted details of the original call for recovery of human remains, that were discovered by a fisherman in Galveston Bay, as well as steps taken to preserve the evidence and his presence at the autopsy.
Lt. Hansen further testified that nothing was recovered to positively identify those remains. He recounted calling in the FBI and various 
other agencies to help follow up on the hundreds and hundreds of leads produced in the case after the artist's sketch of Baby Grace was released to the media.
During Lt. Hansen's testimony two video interviews with Royce Zeigler and law enforcement professionals were played for the jury.
The first interview with the defendant showed Mr. Zeigler to be cooperative although somewhat nervous. During that interview DNA samples were taken from him to include a mouth swab and hair samples. Mr. Zeigler showed great discomfort after the hair samples were taken at one point, verbally expressing his pain.
The defendant chronicled his history with Ms. Trenor, meeting her in a chat room of the video game, World Of Warcraft. The relationship then progressed with emails and phone calls culminating with Mr. Zeigler flying to Ohio to meet Ms. Trenor and her family. After spending some time in Ohio, the defendant, Ms. Trenor and Riley all flew back to Houston together. After spending a week in Houston, Ms. Trenor needed to go back to Ohio to attend to business regarding a custody dispute between the Sawyers and herself. Mr. Zeigler was paying for her trip to Ohio. Before leaving she and Mr. Zeigler got married.
Ms. Trenor and Riley were expected to spend two weeks in Ohio but the trip was cut short as Ms. Trenor felt scared by Sheryl Sawyers. Ms. Trenor and Riley returned to Houston. Mr. Zeigler went on to say that he encouraged Trenor to work but that she was afraid that by doing so she could be traced through her social security number. He stated she spent much time playing video games.
The defendant went on to describe "rocky times" he experienced with Ms. Trenor; recounting one time when he came home to find her dressed in lingerie, in bed communicating with a 'friend' on her laptop. They argued about this.
Mr. Zeigler went on to say that he left disciplining Riley to Ms. Trenor and when she did so he left the room. Ms. Trenor would have Riley stand in a corner and would use "the back of her hand" on Riley's 'butt' to stop her from running away from being in time out. He further stated that he never spanked Riley. Upon intense scrutiny by Lt. Hansen and Sgt. Burrows, Zeigler admitted to spanking her once.
Mr. Zeigler went on to say that the last time he saw Riley was in July. He maintained that he received a phone call from Ms. Trenor and when he arrived at home he found Ms. Trenor on the floor crying. She told Mr. Zeigler that CPS had come and taken Riley away because of allegations of sexual abuse. He also said he noticed a bruise on Ms. Trenor's chest.
At that point Mr. Zeigler advised Ms. Trenor to contact her attorney and work things out about Riley. He recounted being shown a letter from CPS by Ms. Trenor which she had found in storage, since they were in the process of moving into his mother's house to save money for the custody battle involving Riley. The defendant also said that Ms. Trenor had told him that Sheryl Sawyers has Riley and that Trenor's parents have seen her. Mr. Zeigler spoke with Ms. Trenor's father who told him, he had seen Ms. Sawyers buying clothes for a little girl.
The interview nears ending with investigators telling the defendant that there are problems with his story and they are giving him a chance to correct his answers. The defendant is asked to explain the purchases at Wal-Mart when the plastic box, garbage bags and other items were purchased. At this point the defendant becomes visibly agitated and upset.
When the defendant was confronted with the fact that investigators knew his story was fabricated and that Baby Grace is really Riley, Mr. Zeigler "swears to God he doesn't know that." The investigators told Mr. Zeigler they know he took the day off of work, calling in sick. Mr. Zeigler vehemently denies any responsibility and says he wants an attorney since investigators want to 'insist he did it."
The second taped interview with Mr. Zeigler was at his request with the Galveston County Sheriff's Office after he was taken into custody. The interview with him was conducted by Lt. Tommy Hansen, Sgt. Mike Berry and an FBI agent. The defendant was given a waiver of rights and stated that he did not want an attorney present with him.
Mr. Zeigler told the investigators that he was not allowed to make any phone calls, the reason given him was that he was not fully processed yet. The defendant said he needed to contact his parents in order to have his medication brought to him at the jail.
Sgt. Berry, the lead investigator in the case told Mr. Zeigler that people were concerned about his previous suicide attempt. The defendant responded that his attempt at ending his life was to "take the heat off of Kim." He went on to tell investigators that he cannot go back into suicide watch and threatened to smash his head against the door if he was put back there again.
Mr. Zeigler continues talking with the investigators and starts a recount with the vague phrasing of "the night before." He relates a story of an argument he and Ms. Trenor had and he told her to 'fix the problem.' He was tired of Riley "running amok," causing trouble out in public, the custody fight with the Sawyers and even his Real Estate guy told him to divorce her. He further stated his mother was on his case telling him that Riley needs discipline.
At this point, investigators are encouraging the defendant to give them further information regarding what happened that night. Mr. Zeigler stated; "I don't know if this is going to bury me or what," when being asked to tell the truth. Investigators kept trying to get the defendant to clarify what he meant by "the night before."
The defendant's interview continued with him relating the facts of the next day after the argument. He stated that Ms. Trenor and Riley went out running errands. He was feeling ill and stayed in bed. He awoke to the sound of Ms. Trenor attempting to put Riley in time out in her room. He stated that in the past Riley would not stay in time out in her room and spanking her seemed to make things better. He blames Sheryl Sawyers for the court dates and the expense of paying for problems.
According to Mr. Zeigler, the next thing he hears is his name being called aloud. He got up to find Ms. Trenor and Riley in the living room, Riley laying on the floor. He performed CPR on Riley and wanted to take her to the emergency room but Ms. Trenor was afraid to do so. He further stated that Riley wasn't breathing when he first arrived in the room. He put Riley in the bathtub and then he "freaked out" and didn't want anything bad to happen to Ms. Trenor.
Mr. Zeigler's account continued that he was respecting Ms. Trenor's wishes to have a "proper burial" and that is why they made the trip to Wal-Mart. When they arrived home, the defendant told Ms. Trenor to clean up Riley. Ms. Trenor dressed Riley and he picked her up and they put the garbage bags around her. They were both wearing gloves.
Upon further questioning the defendant becomes very vague and confused answering questions with the response of; "I don't know." He related telling Ms. Trenor to clean up the mess and that he could not take any more stress.
Mr. Zeigler also recounted an unsuccessful attempt to bury the body the next night. Ms. Trenor and Mr. Zeigler came to Galveston two to three weeks later to dispose of Riley's remains. He admits to putting the box in the water at Ms. Trenor's insistence. He maintains he had not been feeling well since the night Riley died, leaving Ms. Trenor to do much of the driving.
During the course of the interview the topic of the CPS letter came up. The defendant stated that Ms. Trenor had the laptop and that she created it while he was at work. When she showed him the letter he advised her that no one would believe it and that he found out about the letter the day Ms. Trenor gave it to her attorney who was helping her in the custody case. Mr. Zeigler further stated that all he wanted to do was to get Ms. Trenor and Riley away from Sheryl Sawyer and he was not in the room when "that stuff" happened.
As the video progresses Mr. Zeigler tells investigators that his mom was constantly bugging him about Riley and goes on to describe his belts that were used on Riley. He further went on to admit to loving both Ms. Trenor and Riley. He admits that Baby Grace is Riley and that she was so spoiled by Sheryl Sawyers that Riley would not respect Ms. Trenor. Mr. Zeigler also related an incident when Riley had a black and blue tush.
The defendant also told investigators that he really didn't follow the news reports and maintained he was in the other room when 'it' happened. Mr. Zeigler was asked if he remembered if there was a discussion about DNA and he responded that he really didn't remember but that it probably did happen. He also stated that he did give the ultimatum to Ms. Trenor, because he didn't want anything bad to happen.
Attorney for the defense, Dee McWilliams undertook cross examination of Lt. Hansen. He elicited testimony that there were many stressors on the defendant such as the custody battle, paying for attorneys for Ms. Trenor and the phony CPS letter with the allegation of sexual abuse of Riley at the hands of Mr. Zeigler. Further cross revealed the letter was created on a laptop while Mr. Zeigler was at a work function.
Cross examination continued with Mr. McWilliams asking Lt. Hansen as to the type of questions he asked the defendant. He asked the witness questions as to what information Lt. Hansen thought was critical and crucial to the investigation that the defendant's memory failed on. Further cross examination revealed that the defendant's first interview was voluntary as were the DNA samples taken from Mr. Zeigler, as he was not at the time under arrest. Lt. Hansen testified that when doing a background check on Mr. Zeigler that the defendant had never been in trouble before.
Mr. McWilliams also solicited testimony from the witness that investigators did not interview former coworkers of the defendant even though he had spent much more time on that job than at the position he held at a more recent job. Lt. Hansen also testified that investigators did not interview any friends of Mr. Zeigler.
Continued testimony by the witness revealed that Ms. Trenor had been bounced around in her life and that the defendant was her protector. Mr. Zeigler still maintained he loved Ms. Trenor and never said that Ms. Trenor killed Riley as he wasn't there. Further testimony showed that a search of the home revealed no blood, damage to the walls or recent repairs to the walls.
Lt. Hansen testified that at the end of the first interview the defendant was taken into custody and the second interview took place approximately ten hours later. He also corroborated Mr. Zeigler's suicide attempt and that the defendant is on medication for high blood pressure, as well as, anti-anxiety medication. Testimony also showed that after the second interview Mr. Zeigler did get his phone call, although Lt. Hansen remarked that he was not in charge of running the jail.
Testimony also revealed that no fiber, fingerprint or DNA evidence connects Mr. Zeigler to Riley's death or that arguments between the defendant and Ms. Trenor ever had any kind of physical altercation. Lt. Hansen agreed with Mr. McWilliams that the ultimatum to Ms. Trenor combined with the stress of Riley's behavior; along with the high blood pressure and anxiety, that Mr. Zeigler very well could have stayed in bed all the next day.
Redirect examination of Lt. Hansen will continue in the morning.
