GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN — Rashad Trice, 27, has entered a guilty plea to charges of Kidnapping Resulting in Death, as announced by U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan, Mark Totten. Trice’s indictment came in July 2023, with sentencing set for July 19, at 3 p.m. before U.S. District Court Judge Robert J. Jonker. A mandatory life sentence awaits Trice.
U.S. Attorney Mark Totten expressed the gravity of the case and the crucial step toward justice for Wynter Cole-Smith’s family and the state of Michigan. The comprehensive investigation involved cooperation from the FBI in Michigan, the Lansing Police Department, and over two dozen other local, state, and federal agencies.
In the detailed plea agreement, Trice admitted to kidnapping two-year-old Wynter Cole-Smith from her Lansing, Michigan home on July 2, 2023, following a dispute with the child’s mother. He then drove to Detroit, where he murdered Wynter and abandoned her body in an alley. Her remains were discovered by investigators three days later.
The initial complaint revealed that on July 2, 2023, a Lansing woman reported being attacked by Trice and escaping her apartment to seek safety. When police arrived at her apartment, both Trice and her daughter, Cole-Smith, were missing, along with a white Chevrolet Impala. The following day, when police attempted to stop the car in St. Clair Shores, the driver, Trice, tried to flee but was subsequently apprehended, though Cole-Smith was not found in the vehicle. The investigation led to the tragic discovery of Cole-Smith’s body in Detroit on July 5, 2023, after tracking the approximate path of Trice’s phone.