27-year-old Rashad Trice, who murdered 2-year-old Wynter Cole-Smith in 2023, pled guilty to Kidnapping Resulting in Death in March of this year. On Friday, Trice was sentenced in Grand Rapids’ Federal Court.
Previously, Trice had been given a concurrent sentence of 60-90 years’ incarceration in Ingham County Circuit Court after pleading guilty to one count each of First-Degree Murder and First-Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct this past July.
U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan Mark Totten explained the reason for charges at both the state and federal levels.
“He committed both state and federal crimes. We brought kidnapping charges. That was the most relevant federal crime here, and the state had a number of other crimes that they took including the assaults against the mother and, of course, the homicide itself, so both jurisdictions had the power to bring cases here and both secured mandatory life sentences.”
On July 2nd, 2023, Trice sexually assaulted and stabbed his former girlfriend and kidnapped her daughter, Wynter, from Lansing. Trice then killed the toddler by strangulation. He was ultimately apprehended in St. Clair Shores. Wynter’s body was discovered in a Detroit alley after a three-day search involving multiple agencies.
