Credit: Montgomery County Jail
Credit: Montgomery County Jail
The child was identified as 16-month-old Ryder Thomas Williams of Dayton, according to the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office.
Dayton police and medics were called around 4:40 p.m. Dec. 12, 2022, to the 30 block of North Hedges Street.
Schmidt was babysitting Ryder and his siblings when he called the children’s father to say Ryder was not breathing. The father called 911 on the way home and medics rushed the toddler to Dayton Children’s Hospital. He died a few days later on Dec. 17, according to Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office spokesman Greg Flanagan.
“The cause of death was determined to be blunt force trauma,” Flanagan said.
Schmidt lived at the apartment with the children’s father at the time, but was not related to anyone there, Dayton Police Department spokesman James Rider said. Court documents filed Friday listed Schmidt’s address on Bevonne Court in West Milton.
During the Dayton police investigation into Ryder’s death, detectives reportedly found sexually explicit images of a young girl on Schmidt’s cellphone. He was indicted Feb. 10 by a Montgomery County grand jury for gross sexual imposition of a victim younger than 13 and pandering sexually oriented material involving a minor. That case involves a 3-year-old girl known to him, Flanagan said last month.
Attorney Lucas Wilder, who is representing Schmidt in the first case, said it is likely he would be appointed to represent him on the new indictment.
At this time there is a pending motion to suppress evidence on the other charges, court records show.
“Until I have received and reviewed the discovery on the new case it is unknown what effect, if any, there will be on the other pending charges,” Wilder wrote in an email.
Schmidt remains held on $75,000 bail in the Montgomery County Jail.
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