Breaking News

Michigan News

Federal prosecutors accuse Michigan man of strangling missing 2-year-old

A Michigan man apparently strangled his ex-girlfriend’s 2-year-old daughter with a cellphone cord and left her body in a Detroit alley, according to a federal complaint filed Friday. The U.S. attorney’s office in Grand Rapids charged 26-year-old Rashad Trice with kidnapping a minor and kidnapping resulting in death in connection with Wynter Cole Smith’s disappearance, adding to a litany of state charges that include attempted murder and fleeing police. “There is probable cause to believe (Smith) was murdered by Trice and left in the alley, where her body was discovered,” ...

AG files appeal to reverse parole of U.P. man

By Journal Staff LANSING — Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel on Wednesday filed an emergency application for leave to appeal in the Ontonagon County Circuit Court and requested a stay of enforcement against the parole of Paul Gauthier, 70, who last resided in Ontonagon. The state seeks to reverse the Michigan Parole Board decision to release Gauthier from the Saginaw Correctional Facility, where he is serving a sentence of 15 to 30 years for assault with intent to commit murder. The parole board has set his release date for July 12. Paul Gauthier tried to kill his ...

Man arrested in suburban Detroit but toddler still missing

ST. CLAIR SHORES, Mich. (AP) — A man accused of kidnaping a Lansing toddler was arrested Monday in suburban Detroit but the girl was not with him, police said. Authorities were searching for 2-year-old Wynter Smith, a Black child with braided hair who was wearing a white shirt with rainbows. The 26-year-old man was arrested in St. Clair Shores after a chase and crash, police said. Wynter’s mother told Lansing police that the man, whom she knows from a previous relationship, took her daughter and her car Sunday. The 22-year-old woman was treated at a hospital for stab ...

Downstate fireworks explosion kills one person, injures 9 others

PARK TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A fireworks explosion in western Michigan killed one woman left nine other people with injuries ranging from critical to minor, the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Department said. The explosion happened Monday, but a news release from the department did not say whether it occurred during an organized July Fourth public event. Deputies and ambulances responded to Main Street in Park Township shortly after 11 p.m. for a report that a firework exploded injuring several people, the release said. A 43-year-old woman from the city of Holland died at the scene, the ...

County sheriff who insulted women, minorities settles suit for $1.65M

JACKSON, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan county has agreed to pay $1.65 million to settle a lawsuit by a sheriff’s officer who said he suffered on the job, especially after secretly recording a sheriff making insulting remarks about women and minorities. Steve Rand, who was Jackson County sheriff, acknowledged the remarks when they became public in 2018 but declined to resign. He didn’t run for reelection in 2020. In 2017, Lt. Tommy Schuette began recording command meetings attended by Rand, who made racist remarks about Blacks, insulted LGBTQ+ and used a sexual pejorative to describe ...