GALVESTON, Texas – Investigators said yesterday they are “fairly confident” that a toddler whose body washed ashore in a plastic box is the same little girl whom authorities dubbed “Baby Grace.”
Police were awaiting DNA test results to confirm the child’s identity. Meanwhile, the mother and stepfather of 2-year-old Riley Ann Sawyers were in custody on charges of hurting the girl.
“It was a few weeks ago I held up this little shoe and asked ‘Who is Baby Grace? Who does this belong to,'” sheriff’s Maj. Ray Tuttoilmondo said at a news conference. “We’re now fairly confident we know the answer to that.”
A fisherman found the child’s remains Oct. 29 in Galveston Bay. An autopsy revealed three skull fractures, but the cause of death has not been determined. Tuttoilmondo said he could not discuss details of the little girl’s death.
“We still don’t know the full details of what happened,” he said.
Riley and her mother, Kimberly Dawn Trenor, moved this year from suburban Cleveland to Spring, about 75 miles north of Galveston.
Trenor, 19, and Royce Clyde Zeigler II, 24, were arrested early Saturday and charged with injury to a child and tampering with evidence, Tuttoilmondo said. Bail was set at $350,000 each.
Wendell Odom, Zeigler’s attorney, declined to comment on the case.
