FREDERICK, Md. — A man will spend the next 35 years behind bars for attempting to murder a woman inside the bathroom of a Frederick distillery.
Trey Rice, 24 of Middletown, confessed to a violent chain of events that occurred the night of January 13, 2025.
That's when Rice and the victim attended a holiday work party at McClintock Distillery.
Rice admitted to luring his co-worker to the bathroom by telling her there was something she needed to see.
“I attacked a woman,” Rice confessed before providing more gruesome details.
"He continued to state that he sexually assaulted the same woman and told police he had homicidal thoughts during the work holiday party," the Frederick County State's Attorney's Office said following Rice's sentencing. "He further explained that he began to seek out a victim to kill toward the conclusion of the party and that he identified the victim as who it was going to be."
After the party ended, other co-workers couldn't find the victim or reach her by cell phone.
It wasn't until a bartender began knocking on the bathroom door that she was finally discovered unconscious on the floor with her chest exposed.
"The bartender explained to police that after the guests left, he heard ringing coming from the bathroom and knocked on the door of the bathroom and heard a man’s voice reply," the State's Attorney's Office said. "The man said he would be one minute, but after some time, the bartender knocked on the door again and then observed [Rice] exit the bathroom and run out of the establishment."
Upon being located the woman was rushed to the hospital where she underwent a Sexual Assault Forensic Examination (SAFE).
It was then police were notified.
In court before sentencing, the woman stated “I was left for dead. . . [Rice] is a danger to all women in our society. My life is changed forever. He robbed me of the peace I once had.”
Frederick County State's Attorney Charlie Smith echoed those remarks saying "[Rice] is what nightmares are made of."
Rice will now be listed on the Lifetime Sex Offender Registration. Upon release he will serve five-years of probation which will entail GPS supervision, no internet access, and mental health screenings.
