of her identity , and police dubbed her `` Baby Grace . '' After authorities distributed composite sketches of the girl nationwide , Sheryl Sawyers , the girl 's paternal grandmother , contacted police from her Ohio home to say the drawing resembled her granddaughter . DNA testing confirmed the child 's identity . According to an affidavit , Trenor told police Riley had been beaten and thrown across a room and that her head was held under water before she died on July 24 , 2007 . She said the couple hid the girl 's body in a storage shed for one to two months before they put it in the plastic container and dumped it into the bay . The disposal of the girl 's body led to the evidence-tampering charge . A medical examiner said Riley 's skull was fractured in three places , injuries that would have been fatal . A capital murder charge carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison , the Chronicle reported . A cross has since been erected on the island where the toddler was found , which was named Riley 's Island in her honor , according to the Houston
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- A woman accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter and dumping her body in Texas ' Galveston Bay went on trial Tuesday on capital murder charges in the child 's death , court officials said . Kimberly Dawn Trenor has pleaded guilty to an evidence-tampering charge , her attorney says . Kimberly Dawn Trenor , 20 , pleaded guilty last week to tampering with evidence in the case , but she pleaded not guilty to the capital murder charge , said her attorney , Tom Stickler . Trenor 's husband , Royce Clyde Zeigler II , 25 , also faces capital murder and evidence-tampering charges , but is being tried separately and has not been arraigned . The body of Trenor 's daughter , Riley Ann Sawyers , was found in October 2007 in a large plastic blue container on an uninhabited island in Galveston Bay . Jurors in Trenor 's trial also will determine her sentence on the evidence-tampering charge , which carries a penalty of two to 20 years in prison , according to The Houston Chronicle . Riley Ann 's case drew national attention after a fisherman found her body . Authorities were unsure