Closing Arguments In Baby Grace Trial In Galveston

GALVESTON, Texas—A man charged in the 2007 death of his stepdaughter did not testify before the defense rested in his Galveston capital murder trial.

Closing arguments were scheduled Friday in the trial of Royce Clyde Zeigler II.

A toddler’s battered body was recovered in October 2007 in a plastic container in Galveston Bay. Emergency personnel dubbed her “Baby Grace” until relatives in Mentor, Ohio, saw news reports and identified the victim as 2-year-old Riley Ann Sawyers.

The defendant’s mother, Nellie Zeigler, testified Thursday that she loved Riley. The woman also said her 26-year-old son was loving and trusting.

His wife, Kimberly Dawn Trenor, earlier this year was convicted of capital murder over her daughter’s killing and received life in prison.

Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty against Zeigler.

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