GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Rickey Whiteside Jr. supposedly confessed to “losing it” the night his girlfriend’s two-year-old daughter was found unresponsive at the Lazy T Motel on April 29. Police said little Londyn Amir died three days later in a hospital.
Now, the 29-year-old Whiteside is heading to trial on felony murder and child-abuse charges. The Kent County 63rd District Court confirmed to FOX 17 that Whiteside was bound over late Wednesday afternoon to Kent County 17th Circuit Court.
In court documents, investigators say that Rickey Whiteside, Jr. told them he was watching Amir at the motel on Plainfield Avenue NE, while the girl’s mother, Shaniqua Strickland, was at the store. Whiteside supposedly told deputies that he “lost it” and punched Amir in the face, knocking her down, and leaving her unconscious. Kent County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the scene, and EMS Ambulance paramedics treated the toddler there, and brought her to the hospital in critical condition. She died May 2.