Lansing man pleads guilty to murder of 2-year-old Wynter Cole-Smith, assaulting her mother

(WWJ) A Lansing man has pled guilty to First Degree Murder and First Degree Criminal Sexual Assault for killing a 2-year-old girl and assaulting her mother.

Rashad Trice, 27, pled guilty to one count of each crime in 30th Judicial Circuit Court in Ingham County for the 2023 murder of Wynter Cole-Smith, and for stabbing and sexually assaulting the child’s mother. First degree murder carries a mandatory life sentence in prison without the possibility of parole.

“The scars left by Mr. Trice’s horrific and brutal crime spree will forever etch themselves on the lives he shattered,” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said in a statement released by her office. “While nothing can ever fully heal the grief of Wynter’s family and loved ones, I hope today’s plea can be a step toward healing.”

According to a criminal complaint obtained by WWJ Newsradio 950 ; on Sunday, July 2nd 2023, Trice got into an argument about money with Wynter’s mother at her Lansing apartment that escalated. He stabbed her and sexually assaulted her, the complaint said. She and Trice shared a one-year-old son, but Trice was not Wynter's father.

In the complaint, an FBI agent said that the woman ran away to her own mother’s apartment nextdoor. Trice kidnapped Wynter and drove away in a stolen Chevy Impala in the middle of the night. An Amber Alert was issued early Monday morning.

Authorities arrested Trice later on Monday after he led St. Clair Shores Police on a chase and crashed into a squad car.

He was alone.

Multiple law enforcement agencies from Lansing to Detroit, Michigan State Police and the FBI helped to look for Wynter.

Two days later, the search for Wynter came to a heartbreaking end.

Investigators found her body near the Coleman A. Young International Airport in downtown Detroit. Her cause of death was listed as strangulation.

In an earlier statement, Wynter’s family said they will “grieve her death forever.”

Trice was charged with 20 counts related to the crimes; but multiple lawyers including Michigan Attorney General Nessel, and the prosecutors of Wayne (Kym Worthy), Ingham (John Dewane) and Macomb counties (Peter Lucido) worked together to consolidate the charges.

“By consolidating the prosecution and securing a life sentence through plea, we have ensured the safety of the community while protecting surviving victims from the trauma of a lengthy trial,” Nessel said in the statement from her office.

Because Trice was initially charged in the federal jurisdiction with kidnapping a minor and kidnapping resulting in death; he was, at one point, eligible to be sentenced to death despite the fact that Michigan had abolished capital punishment more than a century ago. However, in October of 2023, the feds announced they would not seek the death penalty against him.

He is slated for sentencing on August 16th in Ingham County.