LANSING, Mich. – The father of a 2-year-old girl is pleading for her safe return after police believe she was kidnapped by her mother’s ex-boyfriend after a stabbing and assault in Lansing.
Wynter Cole Smith was reported missing around 11:30 p.m. Sunday, July 2. Her suspected kidnapper was arrested soon after, but Wynter still has not been found.
Her father, Ajay Smith, came to Michigan from Tennessee, where he plays football at UTMartin, to join the search for his daughter.
“Every morning I wake up and instantly look at my phone. I see her, and then I look at the other bed in the room, and she’s not there,” Smith said. “Driving here, I’m looking back at the rearview mirror. I’m looking in the backseat. She’s still not there and it’s just -- it’s not right.”
Rashad Maleek Trice, 26, is accused of kidnapping Wynter. He is Wynter’s mother’s ex-boyfriend. Trice was arrested in St. Clair Shores around 5 a.m. on Monday, July 3, in the area of 10 Mile Road and Little Mack Avenue. Wynter was not with Trice when police arrested him.
Trice was arraigned on Wednesday. He was charged with assault with intent to murder, first-degree home invasion, unlawful imprisonment, aggravated domestic violence (second offense), unlawful driving away of an automobile, felonious assault, and two counts of first-degree criminal sexual assault.
“We never really talked. It was just me letting him know, don’t play with my family. Don’t play with my daughter,” Smith said. “Why my daughter? Like, why take her?”
Smith just wants to be reconnected with his daughter.
“I just want her. She got her whole life ahead of her and for it to be taken so quick, I hope it didn’t,” Smith said. “I just want her to be found. I want her to be with me. That’s it.”
Wynter is about 2 feet tall and weighs 25-30 pounds. She has brown eyes and shoulder-length hair worn in a braid. She was last seen wearing a white T-shirt with rainbows on it.
Anyone with any information is asked to call the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or click here to submit an online tip. There is a $25,000 reward.
---> Everything we know as Amber Alert for 2-year-old Lansing girl stretches into 3rd day