ROMiEViZON - BABY GRACE www.romievizon.com

Please call the Galveston County Sheriff at 409-766-2222 or toll free 866-248-8477 if you have any information about BABY GRACE
Or call the Laura Recovery Center at 281-482-LRCF(5723) or (toll free) 866-898-5723; FAX: 281-482-5727

For now, they are calling her Baby Grace.

She had wavy, blond hair that fell to the middle of her back.

She wore a pink or red cropped shirt and a matching skirt. On her feet were white sneakers with pink flower decorations that lighted up and flashed when she walked.

Sometime before someone stuffed the unidentified 2- to 5-year-old child into a storage box several weeks ago, her skull was fractured, authorities said.

On Thursday, investigators issued an international plea for help to identify the little girl whose body washed up inside a blue utility box on a Galveston Bay island late Monday.

"It's despicable that someone would dispose of this little girl's body in the way that they did," said Galveston County sheriff's Sgt. Mike Barry during an emotional news conference Thursday. "We will follow any lead to try to find the identity of Baby Grace."

Baby Grace is the name investigators adopted for the little girl shortly after a fisherman found her body late Monday along the Intracoastal Waterway.

"It (Grace) means 'given,' or 'on behalf of,' " said sheriff's Maj. Ray Tuttoilmondo. "Now, we all feel that we are going to give her all our focus."

Galveston County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Stephen Pustilnik said the girl had been dead for at least two weeks, possibly more. Although a cause of death has yet to be determined, authorities are treating the case as a homicide.

An autopsy showed that the child "had skull fractures ... and there was no other trauma found," Pustilnik said. Authorities are trying to determine if the girl had been sexually assaulted, he said.

The FBI, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and the Houston Police Department are assisting in the investigation as authorities work to get a sketch of the child released to the public.

HPD sketch artist Lois Gibson met with the medical examiner early Thursday.

"I am really glad to get a chance to cry out for the baby," Gibson said. "I want to cry out for her; she can't talk. And I want to be her voice."

Gibson has worked for HPD on dozens of homicides and missing persons cases, including cases involving about six missing children.

Baby Grace is white and weighed between 25 and 30 pounds and stood about 32 to 35 inches tall.

The child was found wrapped in plastic bags and stuffed in a blue 92-quart tote locker with a black handle — Sterilite-brand model 1842, authorities said.

The girl's top was a pullover with three-quarter-length sleeves, and the bottom was a broom skirt. She wore panties with a Disney label inside and a figure that appeared to be a princess on the outside, investigators said.

Her shoes, made by Athletic Works, were the company's "Tiara" model and had been available at Wal-Mart stores. Her top and skirt are believed to have been sold by Target.

Investigators said they believe they will learn the girl's name and be able to find out how she died as word about the case spreads and the right person hears her description.

"There's a grandparent who hasn't seen their grandchild in the last couple of weeks," Pustilnik said. "There's an aunt or an uncle someplace, maybe locally, maybe somewhere in the state, maybe somewhere around the nation who has not seen the tragic end to this little girl, what she came to."

The body was found on a marshy sandbar in an area known as Greens Cut near Greens Lake, where there is a break in the barrier separating West Galveston Bay from the Intracoastal Waterway, he said.

Tuttoilmondo estimated that the cut is about five miles southwest of the Galveston Causeway.

Investigators in the sheriff's office are studying Galveston Bay's tides to determine the possible drift of the plastic storage container from another location, Tuttoilmondo said.

"I don't think there is any indication that where she was found is where she was killed," he said. "That's a foregone conclusion."

Earlier this week, Galveston County officials put out an alert to participants in a fishing tournament held there last weekend in an effort to find out whether any participants had seen anything unusual, Tuttoilmondo said. The tournament was a benefit to aid children, he said.

kevin.moran@chron.com
anne.kilday@chron.com

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• baby
• grace
• missing
• children
• abuse
• exploited
• help
• police
• riley
• sawyers

[xSONxOFxCALIFAS]

i think the sketch artist messed up

[imsuchagenius12]

Oh ya, poopyscoopy5, your username suits you perfectly because you are one!!!! This was a beautiful girl died a horrible death and you're insulting her? This is a tragic story and you can't even understan that!!!! You just go around insulting her!!!!! You are a monster!!!!!! I'm only 12 and I have more respect!!!!!!!

[TheEmoCartoonz]

Who do that to such a beautiful little girl?

[mwitty100]

I just don't get it. What sort of monster kills their own child?

[taylorchavis1]

it was sad what they did to baby grace her step dad and her mom are monsters i saw this on forisic files on trutv

[TheAwesomeVidzz]

@poopyscoopy5 Black's care A LOT about their kids, not the "ghetto" kind, MAYBE. But MOST of them do!

[TheAwesomeVidzz]

@PicklesAreTheBest You have absolutely no intelligence at all. I'm surprised you know how to move your fingers! I was going to say breath, but you probably have something to help you do that!

[MszMarieMonroe]

so sad :'( God bless her spirit

[yourGODLYhero]

@Brennna yes......lmao!

[lail111]

RIP baby Grace whatever your real name was I'm sure you are in a better place.

[xXXxsohappyxXXx]

hey little angel hope you are at a better place now. hope that you never have to suffer again like you had in live. god will have an eye on you and on all the others whos live has been taken away!!! ill light a candle for you little sweetie

r. i. p. baby girl riley

[lilly1pad1]

@randomgirlb3 things like this make me sad to live in the world