Credit: Montgomery County Jail
Credit: Montgomery County Jail
He will also be designated as a violent offender and a Tier II sexual offender, meaning if he gets out of prison he will have to register his address every 180 days for 25 years. He was also ordered to pay $2,284 in restitution.
Schmidt was accused of murdering 16-month-old Ryder Thomas Williams.
On Dec. 12, 2022, medics were called to the 30 block of North Hedges Street on a report of a child not breathing. They took Ryder to Dayton Children’s Hospital where he died five days later.
“The cause of death was determined to be blunt force trauma,” said Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office spokesman Greg Flannagan.
Schmidt was babysitting the toddler at the time, as well as his two sisters, ages 5 and 3, and his 2-year-old brother.
On that day, Schmidt called the father of the children to say the boy wasn’t breathing, and the father called 911.
The children’s mother, Chelcie Beerey, said they were staying with their father in Dayton, who shared an apartment with Schmidt and had been good friends with him since high school.
While investigating Ryder’s death, detectives said they found sexually explicit photos of a 3-year-old girl known to Schmidt on his phone. Beerey later said the girl was her daughter.
At the time of writing, Schmidt was in the Montgomery County Jail, where he has been since his arrest on Feb. 2, 2023.
