The Misery Machine - The Case of Riley Ann Sawyers

Starting point is 00:00:00 Riley Ann Sawyers was born on March 11, 2005 at the Geaga Regional Hospital in Menor, Ohio, located on the shores of Lake Erie. She was born to parents Robert Thomas Sawyers and Kimberly Dawn Trenner, and was described as being a beautiful little girl with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a big smile. Riley loved Elmo, the color pink, sledding in the Ohio winters, spraying the garden hose, and playing with her grandmother's makeup. Pictures of her showed that she enjoyed wearing tiaras, pretty dresses, fairy wings, and fancy hats. Riley's mother, Kimberly, was born on August 9th in 1988.

Starting point is 00:00:39 She grew up in Menor and was described as a good student. In fact, she was on track to graduate by her sophomore year. She met Robert while the two were walking laps in gym class together at Menner High School. The two became romantically involved and soon Kimberly found herself pregnant at age 15. The soon-to-be teenage parents enrolled in the grads program, which stands for graduation, reality, and dual support. This program teaches teenage parents' basic parenting skills and supports pregnant teens and their boyfriends so that way they can graduate from high school. Now, even though her grades started to slip, Kimberly did eventually graduate. Robert dropped out in his junior year in order to work at a machine shop to support his new family, later earning his GED.

Starting point is 00:01:22 After Riley was born, the couple moved in with Robert's mother, Cheryl Sawyer. who doted on her new grandchild. Initially, Kimberly was an attentive mother to baby Riley, but the relationship between her and Robert began to fall apart. Perhaps it was the stress of being two teenagers trying to raise an infant, or maybe it was the strain of trying to be a couple while under someone else's roof. Whatever the cause was, in October of 2006, Kimberly broke off the relationship. She returned the ring that Robert had given her,

Starting point is 00:01:51 but continued to live in the Sawyer's family home. Robert, however, was ready to move on, and he began dating Catherine Priester, a young woman from his bowling league, who had attended a different high school. Soon, Catherine became pregnant, and she also moved into the Sawyer's home when her own parents asked her to leave. The two eventually married. Most people find it awkward to live with your boyfriend, his mom, his ex-girlfriend, and their toddler while you're pregnant yourself, but apparently everyone got along. Kimberly and Catherine were like sisters, and Catherine even babysat Riley. According to Catherine, I took care of Riley.

Starting point is 00:02:27 She was a bundle of energy. She was well-behaved as a two-year-old. Sometime during these months, Robert introduced Kimberly to the game World of Warcraft, teaching her how to make a new online persona. She learned how to arm her character with battle skills and different abilities in order to fight various fantasy creatures. Kimberly became absorbed, playing for hours late into the night. Instead of being the teen mom on public assistant stuck living with her ex-boyfriend's mom,

Starting point is 00:02:56 she could be Firefly or Fiery, living an exciting fantasy life with her guild, going on adventures, rescuing them from harm. Perhaps when her character moved on to the next level in the game, it took away from the fact that she hadn't leveled up in real life. Sometimes Kimberly was so absorbed in the game that she wouldn't want to leave the computer and would ask others to bring her takeout for dinner. It seems likely that Robert's mother, Cheryl, was the primary caregiver for Little Riley at this point while Kimberly was distracted with her online fantasy life. Kimberly began chatting with another member of her guild, a guy whose online persona was that of a powerful warlock.

Starting point is 00:03:37 His real name was Royce Clyde Ziegler II, and he was five years older than her and from Houston, Texas. He told her about his real life working for a shell oil contractor, and clearly he made his life sound more interested. that her boring suburban existence. Kimberly talked about Royce with the Sawyers, but no one considered him a threat. He came to visit her once in Ohio, and that further cemented their relationship. In March of 2007, Kimberly filed a DV report against Robert, claiming he tried to choke her during an argument over where she had parked her car. Robert claimed that the disagreement hadn't been violent, and the charge was later reduced to disorderly conduct. Then on May 23rd, Kimberly and Robert were back in court to decide who should have custody of little

Starting point is 00:04:20 Riley. Neither party had a lawyer, and ultimately Kimberly was granted custody of their daughter. Shortly after this, Kimberly took Riley and disappeared without notifying the court that she was leaving the state as required. Riley's grandmother, Cheryl Sawyer, is believed that Kimberly's new online boyfriend Royce had influenced this move. According to Cheryl, I think pretty much, you know, like he could be anybody he wanted to be on the internet. Kim was young, I mean 18 years old, naive. Maybe he painted a pretty picture and that's, you know, what made her move down there. Kimberly resurfaced six days later when she and Royce filed for a marriage license in Spring, Texas, where Royce had rented a home.

Starting point is 00:05:00 The pair were married on June 1, 2007 in a civil ceremony after only meeting twice in real life. During to Kimberly, life in Texas was just great. Royce had a job and supported her, even bought her a van. Royce's mother, Nellie Ziegler, met Kimberly that first weekend in June, but didn't find out the couple had married until later. that month. Although Nellie's husband didn't approve of ready-made marriages, as he called it, Nellie opened her home to Kimberly and Riley. Nellie soon developed grandmotherly love for little Riley who had grown into a bright and charismatic toddler. She even offered to babysit

Starting point is 00:05:33 Riley if Kimberly would go back to work or attend college. Meanwhile in Ohio, the Sawyers had hired a lawyer named Laura DePledge who filed several motions and requests to bring Kimberly back to Ohio to account for Riley's whereabouts. As the Sawyers didn't have custody, these requests were denied. However, Kimberly did return to Ohio briefly for a child support hearing. She didn't tell anyone there where she was staying or that she had even gotten married. She told the Sawyers that Riley was with her father. After the hearing, Kimberly disappeared again, though she did obtain a Texas driver's license a week later. The Sawyers continued to try to locate Riley and Kimberly, contacting friends and relatives. Kimberly's family told the Sawyers that she might be

Starting point is 00:06:12 in Maryland, Virginia, or Pennsylvania, though these clues were obviously misguided. Finally, the Sawyers got a break when their lawyer discovered Kimberly's new Texas driver's license. They continued to try to serve court papers to her, however, these attempts were unsuccessful. As were their attempts to see Riley. Whenever they tried to call to talk to Riley, Kimberly told them that her daughter was playing outside or taking a nap. Kimberly and Royce's worldwin romance might have seemed like something straight out of the fantasy world where they had met. But Royce quickly showed a darker side, reflective of the warlock that he played online. He insisted that two-year-old Riley should use Sir and ma'am when speaking to adults,

Starting point is 00:06:53 and that corporal punishment was the best way to teach young children to say please and thank you. He wanted Kimberly to use a leather belt to whip Riley when she didn't behave. This discipline was something that Royce himself had learned as a child. His father had disciplined his own children in this manner, according to Royce's ex-stepmother, and sometimes this behavior correction strayed over the line into CA. Other ex-wives of Royce's father were called similar severe punishments. Royce must have decided that this was the typical behavior for a father figure and expected Riley to fall in line. Nellie Ziegler recalled visiting the newlyweds home in June to deliver milk and snacks

Starting point is 00:07:34 and that it took a while for Kimberly to answer after she knocked. Nellie said that Kimberly had a belt around her shoulder when she finally answered the door. A week later, Nellie went to change Riley's diaper and made a shocking discovery. She said, and I quote, Her little butt was bruised greenish, yellowish, purplish, and I got mad. I let her watch cartoons anxious for Kim and Royce to come over, end quote. She confronted Kimberly and Royce disapproving of the belt-driven discipline, and they promised that it wouldn't happen again.

Starting point is 00:08:02 She didn't see any more bruises on Riley after that conversation. As it turns out, Nellie didn't see much of Riley at all after that. She spent months in agony wondering what had happened to the sweet little girl that she doted on as if she were her own grandchild. Kimberly and Roy simply said that Riley had gone to a co-worker's house and then claimed that Child Protective Services had taken Riley back to Ohio. Of course, it had been weeks

Starting point is 00:08:26 since Riley's father and grandparents in Ohio had seen Riley, and their legal efforts to get her return continued in vain. On October 29, 2007, a fisherman named Robert Spin of Bayou Vista found a blue stair-like container washed up on an uninhabited island in Galveston Bay. along the northern Texas shore of the Gulf of Mexico. Inside the plastic storage box, he made a terrible discovery.

Starting point is 00:08:52 The body of a female toddler wrapped in three trash bags and surrounded by cement. A coroner examination determined that the body was of a female child with three severe fractures to her skull, which they thought may have led to her death. The extent of the injuries was described as having similar force to falling from a rooftop. Authorities began treating the case as a homicide, while the pathologist at the Galveston County Medical Examiner's Office continued to examine the body to determine the exact cause of death. Due to decomposition, they were not initially able to determine the exact date of the girl's

Starting point is 00:09:30 death, but they'd been able to tell that she had been dead for at least two weeks. The Galveston County Sheriff's Office, which was leading the investigation, sought help from the FBI and from the public to identify the child whom they had dubbed Baby Grace. The name Grace was chosen as a way for the public to empathize and hopefully someone would come forward with information. They described Baby Grace as a white girl, aged between two and three based on dental forensics. She had waist-length, wavy blonde or light brown hair, was 32 to 35 inches tall and weighed 25 to 30 pounds. She wore a target brand pink flowing skirt, a pink or red shirt, and size 8.5 white light-up Velcro sneakers with flowers on them. According to Major Ray toil Mondo, a spokesman for the sheriff's office, quote,

Starting point is 00:10:14 we're getting loads of phone calls, we're keeping our fingers crossed one of those calls is going to be the right one. For us, she is a whole lot more than an unidentified girl. She's somebody's child, somebody's missing her. She is more to us than just a case number, more to us than just an unidentified body. She's very much a human being. She's someone's child, someone's grandchild, someone's cousin, someone's best friend. and to us, that is the most important part about this case."

Starting point is 00:10:42 The authorities continued to plead for the public's help in identifying Baby Grace. Galveston Sheriff Jean Leonard said, we recognize that this death could be the result of an accident. One thing is that this is a young person who has not received an appropriate burial. Another thing is for someone to come forward and clear up the entire matter. About a week after the discovery of Baby Grace's body, the police recruited forensic artist Lori Gibson to create a sketch of what the child might have looked like while she was still alive. This sketch was released to the public and hundreds of tips poured in from all over the country. Several callers believed that Baby Grace's true identity might have been that of Madeline McCann,

Starting point is 00:11:25 a four-year-old British girl who disappeared from a resort hotel in Portugal the May before, making international headlines, but investigators were able to rule out that possibility. On November 6, 2007, residents gathered on nearby Tiki Island for a memorial service for Baby Grace. Mourners gathered around a four-foot wooden cross, on which was written in loving memory of Baby Grace. After speeches, songs, prayers, and poems, the cross was brought by boat to the desolate island where Baby Grace's body had been found. Royce's mother, Nellie, heard about Baby Grace on the radio and found the forensic sketch online. She eventually learned that the Ohio authorities didn't have Riley and tried to confront her son and Kimberly about Riley's whereabouts. At this time, Nellie thought Riley must have been kidnapped and wanted to know why they hadn't gone to the police to report her missing.

Starting point is 00:12:19 Both she and her husband berated Kimberly and Royce, and after being called a liar, Kimberly jumped up and began swearing at Nellie. She stormed upstairs, but Nellie wasn't done. She hollered up at her, what kind of mother are you? You show no emotion. You never talk about her. you never seem to care where she's at. After some more heated words, Kimberly and Roy simply left, leaving Nellie to wonder what had happened to Riley.

Starting point is 00:12:42 Some time in the following days, Riley's grandmother, Cheryl Sawyer, also saw the forensic sketch of Baby Grace online and thought it might resemble her missing granddaughter, whom she had not seen since May. She knew that Riley was likely living with her mother in the Houston area, not far from Galveston. She contacted the Galveston Sheriff's Office

Starting point is 00:12:59 who quickly began to put the pieces together. Their request, a Harris County Sheriff's deputy, Deputy Jones went to the couple's home in Spring, Texas to conduct a welfare check on Riley. The deputy spoke to Royce who told the deputy that there was a custody dispute with Riley's father in Ohio. Both he and Kimberly claimed that an Ohio CPS agent had come to their home, pushed Kimberly down, and then taken Riley back to Ohio. Kimberly told Deputy Jones that she thought Riley was with her grandmother, Cheryl Sawyer, or maybe Cheryl's sister. When asked if they had paperwork from Ohio CPS,

Starting point is 00:13:32 Kimberly said they did and offered to send it to the deputy. Through her civil attorney, Gene Meeks, Kimberly then sent a letter to the sheriff's office from the Ohio CPS, which stated that Riley had been removed from Kimberly's custody because of allegations of essay by Royce. However, this letter was later revealed to be a fake, created by Kimberly herself. Although Deputy Jones initially believed Kimberly's story, he became suspicious when Kimberly became uncooperative and didn't want to file a police report about Riley's disappearance. After talking to someone from Ohio Child Protective Services, who confirmed that they did not have an over-operative. open case regarding Riley in Ohio.

Starting point is 00:14:07 Deputy Jones contacted Kimberly and asked her to provide a DNA sample. They could rule out Riley as baby Grace. On November 23rd, 2007, Kimberly went with her attorney Tom Stickler to the Galveston County Sheriff's Office to give a DNA sample in a statement. The deputies were probably expecting Kimberly to remain uncooperative, but instead, she poured out her harrowing story. Kimberly told the deputies about how she had to be. had met Royce through World of Warcraft and how she had moved to Texas and how great everything

Starting point is 00:14:40 was after they got married. Then Kimberly began to tell the authorities about Royce's style of discipline. At first, Royce didn't interfere with Kimberly's parenting, but at work, Royce had complained to a coworker that Riley was a brat, saying that she was unruly, hard to discipline, and out of control. He expressed frustration that Kimberly didn't discipline Riley enough and told the coworker he was going to start spanking Riley with a belt. The co-worker advised Royce to go easy on Riley since she was little and in a new place. Another co-worker suggested that Royce and Kimberly come up with an agreement on how to discipline Riley and together the couple came up with a list of rules for Riley, which included bedtime, nap time, public behavior, picking up her toys,

Starting point is 00:15:27 and listening to her parents. According to Kimberly, Riley had more behavior problems beyond what was normal for a two-year-old, so she gave Riley more timeout. Royce told her she needed to be more aggressive and should spank Riley to get her to behave. Kimberly began to give Riley light spankings, but that wasn't enough, and Royce told her she should use a belt. She took his advice when he was present, and he also began to use a belt to beat Riley with. Eventually, Royce told Kimberly that he couldn't stand any more of Riley's behavior in public, that he was sick of the custody issues with Cheryl Sawyers. He said that he would continue to pay the rent and take care of Kimberly's financial needs, but that he was going to pack his bags and leave. Kimberly begged, don't go,

Starting point is 00:16:14 don't go, everything will change. So Royce remained at home that night. The next day, July 24th, 2007, Roy stayed home from work to make sure that Kimberly was disciplining Riley properly in his eyes. He told her that if Riley started misbehaving, she should go for the belt. Sometime that morning, Riley used the phrase I want instead of, please may I have. So Royce told Kimberly to get the belt. He said, this is a literal quote, we need to break her. He instructed two-year-old Riley that she needed to say yes, sir, and yes, ma'am, and continued to beat her throughout the day when she didn't do what he wanted, or if she screamed.

Starting point is 00:16:54 He would also shove her face into a pillow and into the couch in the living room. Royce told Kimberly that they needed to do more since Riley wouldn't stop screaming. He had Kimberly filled the bathtub with cold water and said that the next time Riley screamed, they would put her in the bathtub. Royce continued to hit Riley with the belt and then shoved her head under the water. Every time Riley screamed, she would be beaten again wherever her skin was exposed, which was everywhere because she was naked during the beatings and then she was dunked back under the water. At some point that day, the beating stopped.

Starting point is 00:17:28 They put ice packs on Riley to soothe her bruises and gave her Tylenol. Riley was awake at this point and trying to recover from her injuries. Roy said that she had had enough for that day, but evidently he changed his mind because he went and he got a thicker belt and resumed hitting Riley as hard as he could. He grabbed Riley by her hair and dragged her into the bathroom where he submerged her in the cold water again. She tried to run away. He'd get her around the neck with a belt and drag her by her neck. to stand for more beatings. Royce also picked up Riley and threw her across the room multiple times,

Starting point is 00:18:04 hitting her head on the tile floor. Kimberly said she heard the distinctive smack as Riley's skull connected with the hard tile. Kimberly also joined in with these beatings with a second belt, and helped hold Riley's head underwater. Kimberly noticed at one point that Riley was having trouble standing, but Royce said she was just acting. Another time during this hours-long torture, the little girl reached out to her mother and said, I love you. Kimberly paused the beating, but when Riley repeated the words, Royce told her that Riley was just trying to control her to stop the discipline. Eventually, Riley could no longer stand, so Kimberly got more Tylenol, which Royce tried to give to the girl. Riley had trouble chewing and swallowing this medicine, which was when Royce realized she was not faking it.

Starting point is 00:18:50 Kimberly said they needed to call an ambulance and get Riley to a hospital, but Royce refused because he knew he would go to jail. At this point, Riley's little body was black and blue from the beatings. She stopped breathing and Royce attempted CPR. He shoved his finger in her throat because he thought something might be stuck in there, but he found nothing. Kimberly sat on the couch and Royce placed Riley's body into her arms. She said she felt Riley's heart stopped beating. Her body grew cold.

Starting point is 00:19:18 After Riley died, Royce placed her body in the same bathtub where moments before they'd been torturing her. He put a purple towel over her body and told Kimberly that they needed to clean up and get rid of the pillow and the belts they used to beat Riley. He said they needed to get bleach and trash bags, so that night the couple went to Walmart. They each pushed a shopping cart which they loaded up with a blue plastic sterolite container, a chain, a clip to fasten the chain, quick dry cement, bleach, plastic gloves, a roll of trash bags, and a red handled shovel. The couple went home, scrubbed Riley's battered body with bleach to remove the fingerprints, and even took care to pour bleach down her throat to remove any DNA that may have been transferred from Royce when he tried CPR. Kimberly insisted that she dressed Riley. After all, it's one thing to beat your little girl to death, but sending her to her grave without a pretty outfit is just going too far.

Starting point is 00:20:18 Riley's body was adorned in her favorite color, pink. Then, Kimberly held open the trash bags while Royce triple bagged Riley's body. Together, they mixed up some of the quick dry cement in the blue tote and placed Riley inside. After all of that prep work, the couple then placed the blue container outside in a storage shed where it remained for one to two months. During this time, Royce's parents were trying to find out where Riley had gone, which is when Kimberly lied and said that Riley was staying with her aunt and uncle in Plainsville,

Starting point is 00:20:49 Texas because of the custody dispute with Cheryl Sawyers and Riley's father, Robert. Kimberly told the deputies during her interview that she and Royce made two attempts to get rid of Riley's body. The first night, she and Royce drove down a dirt road and Royce attempted to dig a hole in a field with a shovel, but gave up and said it would take too long. Next, they drove to Lake Houston to throw the blue tote off a bridge, or realized that the tote might hit the ground instead of the water, so they abandoned that plan. Another night, the couple drove to Galveston Bay and threw the container off the Galveston Causeway. Kimberly recalled watching as the blue container drifted off into the west, carrying away the battered body of her daughter. Despite the violence that Royce had exhibited, Kimberly wasn't concerned that he would hurt her physically. She was afraid that he might leave her with nothing.

Starting point is 00:21:38 In the weeks that followed, the couple took care to cover their tracks. Royce threw away the items used during Riley's death. After Baby Grace's unidentified body was found, they also threw away any items that had belonged to Riley, such as her clothes and toys. It was at this time that Kimberly also created the fake document from Ohio CPS, later used to excuse Riley's absence. The weekend before his interview, after Baby Grace's body had been found, Royce had attempted to self-cancel by taking a large amount of blood pressure medication

Starting point is 00:22:10 and antidepressants. He wrote on a spiral-bound notebook, My wife is innocent of the sins that I have committed. However, for Royce, that energy. That energy was fleeting at best. After Kimberly's interview, he too was picked up by police. At the time, he blamed Kimberly for Riley's death, told vastly different stories about how the day of Riley's death had gone,

Starting point is 00:22:31 initially claiming that he'd been sick in bed all day, but heard yelling and screaming elsewhere in the house. He also claimed that he went for a drive and came back to find Riley dead. Another time he said he'd been sick, went outside for a bit only to hear Kimberly yelling before he went back inside to do CPR and an unconscious Riley. In this scenario, he offered to bring Kimberly and Riley to a friend's house who could take them to the ER. Eventually, Royce admitted, it's partially my fault.

Starting point is 00:22:57 Because if I hadn't gotten into Kimberly, it would have never happened. After a search of Kimberly and Royce's home, the pair were arrested and charged with injury to a child in tampering with evidence. Bail was set for $350,000 each, which was later increased to $850,000. each. At the time, investigators were fairly confident that they had identified baby Grace. DNA obtained from Kimberly and from Riley's father, Robert, eventually confirmed what authorities had suspected. Baby Grace was two-year-old Riley Ann Sawyers. The forensic evidence against Royce and Kimberly include the testimony of Dr. Stephen Pustlenock,

Starting point is 00:23:38 the medical examiner who had performed Riley's autopsy. Her body was in an advanced state of decomposition at the time of her autopsy, so it was not surprising that he didn't find evidence of bruising on her body. He also couldn't confirm nor eliminate drowning or asphyxiation as possible causes of death because of the decomposition. However, he did find damage to Riley's vertebrae, which indicated that she had likely suffered from multiple hyperflections. That is to say, her head had been whipped forward badly enough, caused damage to her spine. He also observed that their brain appeared pink, which indicated that she had bleeding between her brain and her skull. The three skull fractures that he also found were of the sort that one would see from being tossed

Starting point is 00:24:21 off of a building or being thrown with a lot of force into something. This is not just a simple slip and fall injury. He determined that Riley's cause of death was blunt force trauma and that the manner of her death was a homicide. Kimberly was convicted of capital homicide on February 2, 2009. her trial, jurors wept when they watched the tape of her interview where she described torturing her own child, beating Riley to death despite Riley's I Love You in the middle of the whole ordeal. Kimberly's defense lawyers attempted to argue that Riley's death was not premeditated,

Starting point is 00:24:55 and Kimberly couldn't have known that disciplining Riley could lead to her death. However, this attempt failed and it took jurors only 90 minutes to reach a verdict. Prosecutors declined to seek the death penalty knowing it would be appealed. They wouldn't be able to prove that the defendants were a future danger to others, a requirement for the death penalty to be enacted. After all, parents who commit CA are rarely violent towards others besides their own children. Kimberly was sentenced to life without parole and is currently being held at the Mountain View prison in Gatesville, Texas.

Starting point is 00:25:30 Royce was convicted of capital homicide and evidence tampering on November 6, 2009. His former co-workers testified that he was creepy, uncomfortable to be around, and one had nicknamed him Psycho. Pictures from an office party apparently showed Royce and Kimberly playing softball in holy margaritas, a mere ten days after they had beaten Riley to death. Royce's defense team tried to argue that while he admitted to dumping Riley's body, there was no proof that he was involved in the day-long torture session, nor her death. However, jurors were not convinced, and the verdict was reached in only four hours and 30 minutes by the jury. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Starting point is 00:26:09 He is currently held the Wallace Pack Unit Prison in Navasota, Texas. Both Kimberly and Royce have appealed their sentences for various reasons, but all have been unsuccessful. In June of 2008, Kimberly, now age 19, gave birth to another child while in prison awaiting trial. The baby boy, born at Mainland Medical Center, was immediately taken from her and adoption papers were prepared. The identity of his new parents is confidential, but it's possible that he was adopted by relatives. Riley was loved by her father and her extended family. Her father, Robert Sawyer, remembers her as a darling little girl. He described her as a fun-loving girl with a big imagination,

Starting point is 00:26:51 which is very active, very hyper, but very well-behaved. He said of Kimberly, I never thought she could do anything like this. She loved Riley. You can't look at that little girl and you can't not love that little girl. It's heart-wrenching to think that she might have done this to such a beautiful little girl. Robert's mother, Cheryl, was devastated when the police confirmed that baby Grace was indeed her granddaughter Riley. She said it was hard to believe she would never see her again. On January 14, 2008, Riley's cremated remains were turned over to the Sawyer's family after sufficient evidence had been gathered from her autopsy.

Starting point is 00:27:29 Galveston deputies Greg Haynes and Jimmy Galane had vowed months prior to, to take Baby Grace home when the toddler's battered body was found in Galveston Bay, and they fulfilled that promise when they flew Riley's body to Northeast Ohio and served as pallbearers for her funeral. But the little girl will always hold a place in the hearts of the citizens in eastern Texas. The island in Galveston Bay where Baby Grace was found has officially been renamed Riley's Island. Riley's obituary reads, Heaven has a brand new angel. Her name is Riley Ann. We have to ask you favors. We know you'll

Starting point is 00:28:06 understand. It's hard for us to let her go, so innocent and so small. She did not get to live her life so soon you came to call. We know that you were with her and she was not alone. You saw that she was hurting and chose to take her home. We ask that you take care of her and give her all our love. We know that she is safe within, your arms dear God above. A wake was held on January 15th in East Lake, Ohio, near the town where Riley was born. Her handmade little coffin was just 36 inches long, made of brownwood with a cross affixed on the top. The casket had been donated to the Sawyer's family by a Texas man who had lost his own child at a young age. Inside the casket was an urn with Riley's ashes, a pink dress, and stuffed animals including her favorite Elmo doll.

Starting point is 00:28:59 Cheryl Sawyer's workplace, a nursing home, held a spaghetti dinner to raise money for a funeral. The local community also raised funds for a private jet to fly Riley's remains in the accompanying Texas deputies to Ohio. At her funeral, pictures of Riley show her sledding with her father and wearing angel wings in a Christmas photo. A video nearby showed happier times with images of Riley swaddled in a pink blanket as a newborn, or her grinning face splattered with spaghetti sauce. Her father shared memories of Riley spraying him with a garden hose and soaking the entire patio. Her funeral was held at St. B. the venerable church in Menor, Ohio, and her remains were buried at Menter Cemetery. Her gravestone bears an engraving of an angel and a picture of a smiling Riley and reads,

Starting point is 00:29:49 Riley Ann Sawyers, beloved daughter, granddaughter, and niece. March 11th, 2005, July 24th, 2007. Flooded on earth to bloom in heaven. On the back of the stone, it says simply, baby grace. About 200 people attended the service, and 700 candles were lit in her memory in 14 countries around the world. Riley's grandfather, Ray Sawyer, Sr., said the family was stunned by the international show of love and affection towards Riley. He said,

Starting point is 00:30:21 She is no longer just our baby. She is the world's baby.

The Misery Machine - The Case of Riley Ann Sawyers

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