Baby Grace Trial: Suicide Note Shown to Jury

November 3, 2009 by Cathy Ribble
Filed under: News

A suicide note was introduced into evidence which authorities said was penned by Royce Clyde Zeigler II, on trial for capital murder of his 2-year-old stepdaughter known as Baby Grace.

The note claims his wife’s innocence and that he is guilty of “past sins,” but the note falls short of referring specifically to the death of Riley Ann Sawyers.

Zeigler is accused of killing Riley Ann in a day-long disciplinary session, storing her body for weeks at the couple’s home, and then throwing her body off a bridge in Galveston Bay. Zeigler admitted to dumping the body in a videotaped interview with authorities.

The Defendant reportedly wrote several suicide notes and then took several pills one week before his arrest in November, 2007. The defense team claimed that the note was merely another attempt by Zeigler to protect his wife, Kimberly Dawn Trenor. Trenor was convicted of capital murder in February and received life imprisonment.

Authorities lifted several suicide notes from a notebook which was found in the couple’s bedroom. The original notes were not located, but forensic document specialists were able to lift impressions left on underlying pages.

FBI Special Agent Gabriel Watts testified for the state today concerning the notes. The notes were displayed on a large screen for the jury to see. Watts told the jury that some of the words were difficult, if not impossible, to read because of the difficulty in lifting the impressions. A suicide note by Trenor had also been lifted, but the defense believes that she never made an attempt on her life.

“I take my own life because of guilt for past sins…which I have confessed before I took my life,” Zeigler wrote. My wife Kimberly Zeigler is innocent…lived in fear with because of what I would do to her.”

Defense counsel did not cross-examine Watts at this time, choosing instead to call him as a defense witness after the state finishes the presentation of its case.

Prosecutors Kayla Allen and Criminal District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk were expected to call five witnesses today before resting their case.