Feds: Detroiter stabbed a woman to death, did 20 years, then kidnapped child using machete

An ex-con who did 20 years in prison for stabbing a woman to death is headed back to prison, this time for kidnapping a toddler in the middle of the night using a machete — a crime he allegedly bragged about.

According to court records, after abducting the child, the suspect called the victim's aunt and told her: "Who has the last laugh now? I have (the girl)."

Grady Barrett, 43, of Detroit, pleaded guilty on Tuesday in U.S. District Court to kidnapping his girlfriend's 2-year-old daughter last summer and driving the toddler to Ohio before leading police on a high-speed chase that ended in a crash. According to court records, Garrett had previously attacked the child's mother, who was recovering from injuries in the hospital when he abducted her daughter.

The abduction happened on Aug. 1, 2017 — one year after Barrett was released from a state prison in Alabama where he had served 20 years on a second-degree murder conviction for stabbing a woman multiple times and ultimately killing her.

More: Grosse Pointe woman appeals ruling: My mom was killed in a cover-up and I'll prove it

More: Feds: UAW official blew $6,900 at steakhouse with FCA workers' money

According to court documents, the kidnapping happened between 2 and 4 a.m., while the child's great-aunt was babysitting her in a home on Karl Street.

Barrett, who was dating the toddler's mother, showed up and tricked his way into the aunt's home, telling her he was there to pay her for the babysitting, records show.

With machete in hand, records show, Barrett knocked the aunt down, grabbed the 2-year-old girl and fled. He is not the father and has no blood relationship or any legal rights to the toddler, records show.

Another witness in the house saw Barrett take off with the child in a black pickup that he used for his landscaping business, records show. The witness also saw a woman inside the truck with dark braids who appeared to be unconscious, an FBI agent wrote in a 2017 affidavit.

The toddler was buckled into the backseat.

The aunt called 911. An amber alert was issued and Detroit police started receiving cellular tower data on Barrett's cell phone. By 7:30 a.m., GPS coordinates placed Barrett south of Findlay, Ohio, on I-75.

By 8:45 a.m., the black truck was spotted back in Michigan in Monroe on I-75. Monroe police tried to pull over the truck when a chase ensued. Barrett, the affidavit states, took off at up to 100 miles per hour. The chase lasted an hour before ending in the area of 7 Mile and Myers, where Barrett crashed his truck.

Police took the child, who was buckled in the seat, and searched the truck, court records show. Inside police found a "large machete type knife," records show, along with Barrett's cell phone — the one that was tracked using cell phone tower data.

According to the affidavit, the woman in the truck said that she was Barrett's neighbor and that she got into his truck that morning "thinking she would be helping him" do the toddler's hair. The woman said that Barrett told her that he was the little girl's father and that she was "unsure why Barrett was traveling so far south but never questioned him about it."

Barrett has been locked up since his arrest. He faces up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced in July. His attorney, David Tholen, was not available for comment.