DETROIT – Family members honored the life of 2-year-old Wynter Cole Smith with a vigil in Detroit.
The vigil came after the feds moved in to charge Rashad Maleek Trice, 26, of Detroit, with kidnapping while also revealing the horrifying details of how Wynter was killed.
Federal prosecutors have leveled new kidnapping charges against Trice. Because those charges are federal and not state, if convicted, the death penalty is on the table for the 26-year-old.
Wynter was strangled to death with a pink cell phone cord, which was found where the 2-year-old’s body was dumped, as well as remnants were found in the car that Trice was driving.
Read: Suspected kidnapper officially charged in death of 2-year-old Wynter Cole Smith
The vigil was held at the spot where the little girl’s body was discovered.
There was a private moment for her parents, both mother, and father, who was in attendance but did not want to speak or be identified.
Read: Father of missing 2-year-old Lansing girl pleads for her safe return
Wynter’s paternal grandmother told Local 4 that they’ve read the charges, and it’s hard to fathom.
“How can you attack a 2-year-old,” said grandmother Sharen Eddings. “How can a grown man do that? I can’t process that, and that’s going to take time.”
Read: Grandpa of Wynter Cole Smith has message for person who killed her, left her in Detroit alley
The feds said it all started Sunday (July 2) when Trice was in Lansing in a brutal violent fight with Wynter’s mother over money.
Wynter was not his child, but he had a one-year-old son with her mother.
When Wynter’s mother ran for help, the FBI says Trice grabbed the 2-year-old girl, leaving his own son behind, and took off driving to Metro Detroit, where he strangled her with the pink cell phone cord before dumping her body.
Longtime community activists like Teferi Brent vented the rage so many felt.
“He was sane enough to not kill his own baby,” said Brent. “He didn’t kill his own baby, but he took the baby of the other brothers. He took the baby of this sister to create indefinite harm to that sister.”
Wynter’s grandmother is a digital entrepreneur. She said she would offer a scholarship in the name of her 2-year-old granddaughter to teach other children how to code while also offering them a brighter future.
A vigil is being planned for Wynter in Lansing Saturday (July 8), but the family says they’re still planning her funeral arrangements.