Wynter Smith

We Begin tonight with breaking news it's devastating news the search for the little girl kidnapped from Lansing appears to have reached a tragic end during their search police officers found a body on Detroit's East Side believed to be two-year-old winter Smith she's the little girl who has been the subject of the Amber Alert Fox 2's Dave Kenshin is there now and Dave this is not the news anyone wanted to hear yeah absolutely absolutely devastating we were hoping and praying that this was not the result but tragically that's what we're looking at right now and we're here in the corner of nodal and Irwin streets and the scene is actually a few blocks down on Irwin there and there's a whole so we got a major scene here but we know that there's a press conference happening in Lansing while investigators including the FBI are working here let's send it back to you so we can get to officials in Lansing talking about the investigation there obviously a lot of moving pieces right now let's take a look at what's happening in Lansing right now is they are about to brief the media on this case yeah we'll take you there now and all neighboring law enforcement jurisdictions investigation and for helping find them the community support and civilian volunteers who put their lives on hold to find Winners should also be recognized and known for their efforts they help us in their search to bring winter home finally I want to acknowledge the media you all who helped us keep the public informed with accurate information and share messages on how our communities across the state of Michigan can help moving forward please continue to forward any new information any digital evidence any Witnesses with the statements or any other important information to the Lansing Police Department or the other guys thank you thank you all right there you have it Lansing Police basically thanking all the agencies that helped in this case but the sad news that we're bringing to you right now is the fact that it appears that that search for little wintersmith has ended in a field in Detroit over there in Irwin and nodel sadly this happening about a couple of hours ago we first got word of course from Detroit police that they had fined to found a body later confirmed from sources including we believe the FBI that said indeed a body was found and this wasn't far from where the suspect Rashad Trice was arrested earlier this week but right now we're going to head back now to Dave Kenshin for a full report from the scene and what he's learned from police yeah this is a very active fast-moving investigation seen here the scene actually a few blocks down on Irwin here police Detroit police keeping us far back where we understand it was Detroit police that found the body of this little girl uh called an Angel by her family uh the bright smile uh how smart she was how lovely she was she lit up the lives of so many of her family members they were hoping and praying and tragically this is what we're dealing with right now uh her body found this is confirmed by multiple sources found in an Alleyway on Irwin Street a few blocks down from where we are here investigators are working this scene we saw FBI evidence response teams going door to door trying to find out as much information as they can we got the call I would say around maybe 7 30 or so we actually just wrapped up an interview with the group black and missing a group that works nationally to heighten the exposure of uh Missing Persons um and uh just as soon as we got off the phone with them a zoom interview we get this horrible news and uh we've got several uh Detroit police units here where we understand there's going to be some sort of an update by uh assistant chief Fitzgerald so we're waiting on that and of course they're likely waiting on the remarks from uh officials in Lansing the FBI has been taking the lead on this case the entire time they were pinging cell phones uh and uh doing other uh high-tech uh digital investigative techniques and certainly when it comes to Rashad Trice the suspect in this case uh who had after an altercation a violent altercation according to investigators with Winter's mother he had allegedly stolen a car and then driven from Lansing all the way down eventually ending up in Sinclair Shores but you saw how the FBI out of Detroit the Detroit field office put out that map detailing that travel around and they can use some several different techniques to do that including pinging a cell phone looking at Towers to see at various points where he was going and so what we understand as investigators were actually retracing those steps the family actually was doing the same thing they had their own separate search effort going on in Lathrop Village but we understand that was taking place and that's what led sources investigators to this area Irwin on the east side where the remains of this two-year-old girl winter Cole Smith were found so again we're waiting for an update from the scene here from the assistant chief Fitzgerald at the Detroit police department and you can just see how heavy this is on investigators on the scene everybody had hope that this would not be the result but this is a tragically what we're dealing with right now you outline the charges that Trice is facing investigators we talked to early on say that while he's been held under security at a hospital recovering from injuries that he has sustained after crashing into a Sinclair Shores police car during efforts to escape according to sources there he's been at a Detroit area hospital but Lansing Police have been guarding him and we were told by sources that he wasn't talking at least early on about any of this at all very frustrating for investigators for seasoned investigators who work on these types of horrible cases and you can only imagine the anguish and the frustration of the family they've been they haven't had any sleep since all of this happened but again where we are now on Irwin Street Detroit's East Side multiple units here from Detroit police the FBI evidence unit they've been going door to door they're trying to piece together as much of this as they can they're looking for video they're trying to talk to Witnesses they want to see if anybody saw anything that looked out of the ordinary as all of this took place here but we understand there remains uh winter Cole Smith her body found in an Alleyway here there was one woman on social media who actually we reached out to to try to find more information she said she can't believe this happened right behind her house so we're hoping to hear from her and find out more about what she saw but for now we'll send it back to you reporting live on the east side leave kitchen Fox 2 News yeah lots of piece together here you mentioned that map that investigators were looking at taking a look at the rod from Lansing to Saint Claire's Shores you look at Detroit you look at that area you wonder about those doorbell cams if somebody does have one up over there because that's going to be very telling about that white car that he was in and tracking that car on what day this may have happened um leading to this sad ending it's going to be critical to check that out yeah no doubt ring doorbell cameras also surveillance cameras from off of uh Van Dyke from the side streets any kind of cameras that they can find businesses any government buildings that sort of thing any warehouses they're going to it's a full court press for investigators they they leave no Stern stone unturned they do everything they can to try to find out every piece of video every piece of evidence they can find even if a car might have any surveillance cameras on it they look and they want to piece all of that together no doubt about that key key part of this and Dave the desperation that this suspect had shown after allegedly stabbing that little girl's mom moving on and then as we talked about crashing with that Sinclair Shores cop also trying to grab a gun clearly this man is not well at all and was exhibiting all kinds of signs of desperation and other things as well when he was first gone yeah absolutely you know hang on we got something coming up here stay with me uh guys we might have an update excuse me yeah go ahead Dave kitchen for us live e-l-s-k-i Devin I in he's the acting special agent in charge do you want me to hold that okay um for uh the FBI Detroit field office um we'll be giving some remarks with him will be chief White from the Detroit police department and I will get the names of the two Lansing folks that are here with us tonight so we're kind of waiting for Lansing PD to be done uh it'll be a short statement just given um the situation we're not going to take any questions Jordan and I may hang out just to answer things that we can so right now you're listening to the FBI spokesperson who is getting ready for a news conference briefing the media talking about who will be present at that news conference Dave kinchen will be standing by for that news conference the FBI not expected to take questions chief White also not expected to take questions there is the head of the FBI right there about to address the media I'm the acting special agent in charge of our field office here in Michigan d-e-v-i-n -k-o-w-a-l-s-k-i I want to thank chief White for being here standing shoulder to shoulder with us along with members of the Lansing Police Department and uh my team at approximately 6 50 p.m this evening uh the body of winter Cole Smith was recovered by FBI agents this is not the outcome we were hoping for and our hearts go out to Winter's family based on information developed throughout this investigation our teams were searching multiple areas across the state over and over again and specifically in the area adjacent to where I'm where we're standing our evidence response team is currently processing the scene our best people are back there to do what is necessary to be as respectful as possible to Winter and her family this will be a thorough and deliberate crime scene investigation it will take time to carefully collect evidence that we need to help bring the person responsible to Justice we want to thank the community for all their assistance in this investigation I know that you in the media and the community are anxious for information and we are sensitive to that but we'd ask you to understand that we cannot provide further information about the investigation because we want to because we want to put our best foot forward and preserve the Integrity of the prosecution law enforcement agencies across this region and members of our community have been working on this for several days relentlessly and I want to thank members of the Lansing Police Department the Gross Point excuse me the St Louis Shores Police Department East Point Police Department County Sheriff's Office Detroit Police Department and members of the FBI Detroit field office and thank you to the community who have continued to help look for winter and prayed for the family during this difficult time please continue to keep the family in your thoughts and prayers thank you [Applause] yeah chief White along with the head of the FBI they're not taking questions talking about a very sad day here in the city of Detroit and across the state around 6 50 p.m the body of winter Smith the little two-year-old who've been missing since Sunday night found in an alley at Irwin and nodel tight lifts Taryn because the FBI says they want to preserve the prosecutor's case in this particular instance they don't want to tip their hat to any more evidence we know that police agencies several of them including the FBI Lansing Police Detroit police have been working very hard taking the tips and trying to track down where this little girl may be turns out where the the body of the two-year-old was 11 miles from where that suspect was arrested on Monday they're right now trying to connect the dots as you know they continue to investigate and bring us latest details but we want to share how this really came together because this came just hours after the man accused of kidnapping her once formally charged with stabbing and sexually assaulting Winter's mother 26 year old Rashad Trice that man was a in from his hospital bed this afternoon charged as a violent habitual fourth offender he's also facing home invasion and unlawful imprisonment charges Trice was arrested in Saint Clair Shores after leading police on a chase that reached up to speeds to 100 miles an hour he was held without bond and earlier this afternoon was refusing to give information about where Winter was and of course now sadly this has ended in Detroit on the city's east side right there at nodal and Irwin streets where neighbors residents in that area sadly saw Detroit police discover that that's where the body of little uh winter Cole Smith was found sad day here in Detroit stay with Fox 2 as we bring you the latest developments in this case you can read our full coverage right now with updates on fox2detroit.com we'll be right back all right so our friends at Fox 2 Detroit with some incredible coverage and Reporting there Dave kinchen in the field as well as FBI and Detroit police confirming that that body of that two-year-old little girl a wintersmith was in fact winter Smith and so if you're familiar with the state of Michigan Southeast Michigan in particular this is a large swath of land for the investigation both from Lansing there in the state capitol all the way to Detroit as well where this unfortunately ended in such a very very tragic culmination there so our folks at Fox 2 in Detroit doing some incredible reporting on this story and we're going to stay with it if we find out any more details uh but like I said uh there winter Smith and it will be interesting to see whether or not Smith's mother's boyfriend there Rashad Trice will cooperate with investigators remember he was arraigned like Fox 2 said from his hotel or excuse me hospital bed rather for a number of different charges related to The Disappearance of Smith so just a very very sad story to report