GALVESTON, Texas – A mother was convicted of capital murder Monday for the death of her 2-year-old daughter, who was whipped with belts and flung onto a tile floor to teach her manners, before her body was dumped in a box in Galveston Bay. Jurors deliberated less than two hours before finding Kimberly Trenor guilty. She received an automatic sentence of life without parole. Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty.

"Justice has been served today. Today it's about Riley" — the victim, Galveston County District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk said after the verdict.

Trenor and her husband, Royce Clyde Zeigler II, were accused of killing Riley Ann Sawyers while disciplining her in July 2007. Prosecutors said Trenor and Zeigler beat Riley with belts, dunked her head in cold water and threw her onto a tile floor, fracturing her skull. Zeigler's capital murder trial will be held later.

After Riley's death, the couple stuffed her body in a plastic box and hid it at their suburban Houston home before dumping it in Galveston Bay, according to authorities.

Sheriff's investigators dubbed the toddler "Baby Grace" during the weeks they worked to identify her remains, found by a fisherman. Many of those investigators were in the courtroom Monday and cried as the verdict was read.

"We all made a promise to that little girl ... that we would find the people responsible for her death and bring them to justice and we did," sheriff's Sgt. Michael Barry said.

Riley's identity was a mystery for weeks until her paternal grandmother in Ohio, Sheryl Sawyers, saw an artist's sketch of the girl and told authorities in Texas she thought it was her granddaughter.

Sawyers testified during the trial and was in the courtroom as the verdict was read. She did not speak with reporters afterward.

"She looked at Kimberly as a daughter," said Laura DePledge, an attorney for the Sawyers family. "It's a victory for Riley, but it's another loss for Sheryl and the Trenor family."

Trenor admitted taking part in the discipline session but blamed 25-year-old Zeigler for throwing Riley across the family room and causing the skull fractures.

Trenor's defense attorney, Tommie Stickler Jr., said he was disappointed by the verdict but wasn't surprised by how quickly the jury decided. Jurors had the option of convicting Trenor of two lesser charges.

"This was unacceptable abuse that will be punished but it's not capital murder," Stickler said during his closing arguments.

Stickler said Trenor never intended to kill her daughter, depicting her as a frightened 18 year old at the time of Riley's death who was being controlled by her husband.

But prosecutor Kayla Allen told jurors Trenor was a strong person who killed her daughter because the girl was in the way of her happiness with her new husband.

The foreman, Randall Rothschild, said jurors felt the case was "pretty cut and dried."

"It's an emotional trial because of the victim," Rothschild said as his eyes became teary. "That was hard to set aside (emotions) and stick to the facts. But we did and justice is served."

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No need to give her the death penalty. She'll be dead soon enough after she gets to prison & the other inmates (who actually LOVE their children) find out who she is and what she did.

exactly. some people can't get pregnant and would die for a child and these animals do this??? they'll get theirs in prison...

GOOD! Bitch deserves it.

Thank God. That was/is such a heartbreaking case and those two absolutely deserve to FRY for it. How can he say that it's not capital murder? You can NOT throw a child against floors and walls, beat her with belts, hold her underwater, and kick and beat her and say you didn't intend to kill her. Children are NOT rag-dolls!

I remember watching that on the local news when it first happened.... very very sad. I hope she enjoys her time in prison. Before they rip her black heart out and feed it to her while she chokes on her own vomit.

Not only do I think this bitch and her sorry excuse for a husband deserve the death penalty, I think it should be done slowly and in the most painful way possible. How the hell can a 2 year old understand why they are being treated that way? No child, no matter of age, race, or any other things should have to endure suffering like that. Prison is too fucking good for people like this. I hate that my tax dollars are going to be feeding her for the rest of her life. I hope she finds a way to hang herself in her cell. Cruel? Not as cruel as this bitch.

she doesnt deserve the death penalty, she'd be getting off easy. they both would. inmates hate nothing more than child killers. she'll get hers. that poor little angel =(