DETROIT – Investigators were working Wednesday night to meticulously process the Detroit scene where the body of a missing 2-year-old girl was found days after she was kidnapped.
At around 6:50 p.m. on July 5, authorities located the body of 2-year-old Wynter Cole Smith in an overgrown alley on Detroit’s east side. Police had been searching for the child since Sunday night, when she was abducted by her mother’s ex-boyfriend from a home in Lansing.
In the nearly 70 hours Wynter was missing, law enforcement repeatedly searched “multiple areas across the state,” according to the FBI’s Devin Kowalski, acting special agent in charge for the Michigan field office. After taking the child, the kidnapper -- identified as 26-year-old Rashad Trice -- stole the mother’s car and traveled from Lansing to Detroit, where he’s from.
Police located and arrested Trice in St. Clair Shores early Monday morning, but the child was not with him in the car. Local 4′s Mara MacDonald reports that Trice has been “incredibly unhelpful” since his arrest and “didn’t offer up anything to police.”
Investigators were able to use his cellphone, however, to identify the route he took and stops he made between the kidnapping and his arrest. Several areas of interest were identified, including the Detroit area in which the 2-year-old girl’s body was found.
Detroit police conducted a grid search Wednesday between I-94 and Van Dyke Avenue. After about 4-5 hours of searching, Wynter’s body was found in an alley near Olympia Street and Erwin Avenue.
Since the body was found, authorities have provided few details. A large police presence was at the scene Wednesday night as authorities work to understand exactly what happened.
“This will be a thorough and deliberate crime scene investigation,” Kowalski said. “It will take time to carefully collect evidence that we need to help bring the person responsible to justice.”
It is unclear exactly how the child died, and no charges have been issued in her death as of Thursday morning.
Trice was charged Wednesday morning, however, in connection with the Lansing attack during which Wynter was taken. He is accused of arriving at the Lansing home of Wynter’s 22-year-old mother on July 2, and stabbing the mother several times.
The mother was able to get away and call for help from a neighbor. According to police, Trice had taken Wynter and the mother’s Chevrolet Impala and fled the scene before Lansing officers arrived.
Wynter’s 1-year-old brother was left at the home unharmed, police said. According to family, Trice is the father of the 1-year-old boy, and is not Wynter’s father.
Wynter was officially reported missing at about 11:30 p.m. on Sunday, and an Amber Alert was issued around 2 a.m. Monday.
Trice was taken into custody at about 5 a.m. on Monday in St. Clair Shores. He reportedly resisted arrest and was taken to the hospital for treatment, where he was arraigned Wednesday morning.
So far, Trice has been 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.
- Two counts of first-degree criminal sexual assault.
Addition charges against Trice as possible, pending further investigation. He has been charged as a violent habitual fourth offender, and is being held without bond.