Cherish Perrywinkle was an 8-year-old girl from Jacksonville, Florida who was abducted from a Walmart on June 21, 2013. (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = 'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.12'; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); Posted by In Loving Memory of Angels onTuesday, January 31, 2017. Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Smith, the man accused of the 2013 kidnapping, rape, and murder of 8-year-old Cherish. Verdict possible tomorrow in Donald Smith trial A verdict could come as early as tomorrow in the case against the man charged with kidnapping, raping, and killing a local 8-year-old girl. Donald Smith was charged with the kidnap,sexual battery and the first degree murder of Cherish Perrywinkle. It was a child that was abducted, it was something that the entire City of Jacksonville was concerned about, she says. In court, Raynes 911 call to the dispatcher was played. Security video played in court showed her skipping out the door behind him. On Monday, State Attorney Melissa Nelson described the horrible manner in which 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle was killed in 2013. @ActionNewsJax, The DNA was a 1 in 35 quintillion match. JACKSONVILLE, Fla. LIST: Six things we learned after two days of the Cherish Perrywinkle trial. Cherish did not die quickly, and she did not die easily. Dr Valerie Rao earlier broke down while giving evidence at the trial of Cherish's killer. However, they never returned. It was the 21st of June 2013. Seeing a skipping and smiling Cherish with an older man would have looked like aregular grandfather andgranddaughter. Cherish's half-naked body, still wearing the same orange dress she is seen wearing at Walmart, was found in front of a church the next day. Don wasn't interested in shopping for himself and in fact only added a bundle of rope to the shopping cart. I dont want to be one of those parents who go through this.Perrywinkle told a 911 operator. Cherish was also raped prior to her death, and Rao says injuries resulting from that were severe. On June 21, 2013, Cherish Perrywinkle, 8, was abducted from a Jacksonville Walmart, raped and murdered by Donald James Smith, a sexual offender. There were extensive swabs taken in an effort to match DNA to a suspect, and Nicole Lee, with the Florida Department of Law Enforcements Regional Crime Lab in Jacksonville, says many of those samples did- in fact- point to Smith. At 11.20pm, Rayne called 911. @ActionNewsJax, Dr. Rao looking through autopsy photographs. It took a Jacksonville jury less than 15 minutes to find Donald James Smith, 61, guilty of kidnapping, raping and murdering 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle in Florida in 2013. @ActionNewsJax. Dr. Valerie Rao was. Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! Cherish Perrywinkle was abducted, raped and strangled to death Donald Smith, 61, has appeared in court charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping and rape of the eight-year-old girl in June. Large petechiae formed in her eyes from the force of strangling her to death. It was something the entire city of Jacksonville was concerned about given that it was a child., Jurors are understandably becoming agitated and silently upset while looking at the injuries sustained to Cherish's body. It would have seemed like a natural thingto do as she had already travelled in that van to Walmart. Smith manipulated the girl's mother into making her think he only wanted to buy clothing for Cherish Perrywinkle and her siblings. The swift guilty. @ActionNewsJax, Donald Smith is wearing a yellow shirt and tie today. Cherish was wearing purple flip flops when she disappeared. The mother said Smith noticed her struggling to pay for their items and that he lured them to a nearby Walmart under the false guise of being generous. The June 2013 murder of Cherish Perrywinkle drew huge amounts of news coverage and public attention in Jacksonville, with a jury in 2018 finding Donald James Smith guilty and a judge sending him . Don later joined them inside the store. February 04, 2022, "The criminal justice system will take a hard look at what happened to Matthew Eappen. Then he did. Smith had been released from prison just 21 days before he abducted and murdered the little girl and had been on the sex offenders register since 1993. #DonaldSmith @FCN2go pic.twitter.com/IqHaXOp8UO. Surveillance footage from Walmart shows Perrywinkle, wearing the same dress found near her body, walking out of the store with Smith, a registered sex offender. What she sustained was tremendous force on her next, such that she basically, she could not breathe. Cherish was also raped prior to her death, and Rao says injuries resulting from that were severe. Judge says jury will be sent home for the day, while all parties finalize jury instructions. Cherish went with him. Later on Day 2, the state played a jailhouse recording of Smith talking to another inmate at the Duval County Jail. Clickheretouploadyours. @ActionNewsJax #DonaldSmith, Undercover officer says he was contacted by SAO for the #DonaldSmith case. @ActionNewsJax, Dollar Store purchases were also found in a trash can, Carter collected as evidence. Here we have two people who are in a struggle. They later identified Smith as a convicted sex offender who had only been out of jail for around three weeks before he reportedly preyed upon the Perrywinkle family. He looked into my face and told me I was safe.. He gagged her, raped her, he sodomized her, then he strangled her. There were many areas of injury uncovered during the testimony, from scrapes and bruises that Rao believes were the result of Cherish being transported to where her body was found, to ant bites that happened after her death. This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. At around 11 p.m., Smiths supposed wife was nowhere to be found. @ActionNewsJax https://t.co/MwTPX7bR9X, Undercover officer placed microphones in vents at Duval County jail to capture communications between #DonaldSmith and another inmate. She suffered swelling of her brain as a result of lack of oxygen to her brain, and as a result of which, she died, Rao testified. #DonaldSmith @ActionNewsJax, We cannot identify undercover officer, I am live tweeting testimony. It's hard for everyone in the courtroom to hear about the crimes done against Cherish Perrywinkle. On June 21, 2013, eight-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle of Jacksonville, Florida, was abducted from her neighborhood Walmart while shopping with her mother and a stranger who offered to buy them clothes. The man, later identified as Smith, first offered to buy the mom a dress. @ActionNewsJax, Dr. Rao had to also photograph Donald Smith @ActionNewsJax, While photos of Cherish's private parts were shown, Dr. Rao explained there was only a thin layer of tissue between the two areas. The Prosecutor in the case said Donald had tore her apart, that's how brutal the injuries were. During that time the man introduced himself as Don to Rayne. @ActionNewsJax, Dr. Rao is being tendered as an expert witness. Rao could not determine what exactly was used, but she determined the bruise pattern was wide, and generally consistent with an article of clothing, like a t-shirt. ", by Chilling Crimes There was nosign of Cherish and the items Rayne had left in the van such as the stroller and items shebought at the Dollar General Store weremissing. The last of the footage shows the little girl being led across the store's carpark. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! Rao described autopsy photos shown to the jury which pictured hemorrhaging and busted blood vessels around her neck, as a result of her strangulation. Rao could not determine what exactly was used, but she determined the bruise pattern was wide, and generally consistent with an article of clothing, like a t-shirt. It's all part of the second day of the trial of Donald Smith, the man who's accused of taking the girl from her family at a Northside Walmart, raping her, and leaving her dead in brackish water near a church. The medical examiner said that Cherish Perrywinkle died from being strangled, probably with a piece of clothing. Action News Jax facebook feed(Opens a new window), Action News Jax twitter feed(Opens a new window), Action News Jax youtube feed(Opens a new window), Six things we learned after two days of the Cherish Perrywinkle trial, Cherish's mothersays she never would have knowingly let girl leave with suspect, JSO officers responding to Cherish'smurder: 'Protect her, preserve the evidence'. A medical examiner who conducted the autopsy 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle became emotional in court Tuesday as she discussed the last moments of the young girl's life. 2023 Cox Media Group. Photos of injuries police say Smith suffered the night of the kidnapping and surveillance video that shows Smith walking out of a Walmart on Lem Turner Road with Cherish will also be allowed to be shown as evidence, Judge Mallory Cooper ruled. Lee says semen was found in Cherishs mouth, vagina, and rectum, and other DNA was recovered from around her neck. As jurors . Share currently playing on Facebook (Opens a new window), Share currently playing on Twitter (Opens a new window), Jacksonvilles Morning News with Rich Jones. Clicca su Gestisci impostazioni per maggiori informazioni e per gestire le tue scelte. It was the last time 8-year-old Cherish was seen alive. With the exception of the insect activity, Rao says they determined all of the injuries she suffered happened before her death. Rayne Perrywinkle, the victim's mother, also testified in court today. There was no kicking or screaming. #DonaldSmith. Prior Arrest . As officers approached his vehicle and surrounded him, they noticed Smith, dirty and soaked in water, was wearing the same clothes he had on in the Walmart surveillance footage. Donald had gagged her so severely that her gumshad bled, he raped and sodomised her. "Why in the world would he take my little girl?" He told her he waswaiting for his wife andthat they had a $150gift card for Walmart that he would be happy for her to use to buy clothes for thegirls. By using this website, you accept the terms of our Visitor Agreement and Privacy Policy, and understand your options regarding Ad Choices. "Doctors are people too," said the State of Dr. Rao. The swift guilty verdicts must come as a relieft to the medical examiner who performed an autopsy on the battered body the young girl. We pay forvideostoo. "I just need five minutes. Her eyes, however, told the story of the moments just before her death. She said that she did not want to appear too overprotective. Cherish Perrywinkle was abducted from a Florida Walmart before being sexually assaulted and strangled until her eyes bled by a man who convinced her he was just a Good Samaritan. Smith, the man accused. #DonaldSmith pic.twitter.com/khubusMeBl. His DNA was found on and inside Cherish's body and Cherish's DNA was found on his penis. There was blunt force trauma to her head and ligature marks around her neck. It took a Jacksonville jury less than 15 minutes to find Donald James Smith, 61, guilty of kidnapping, raping and murdering 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle in Florida in 2013. Rao says she actually went out to the scene where Cherish was recovered. February 13, 2018 / 12:38 PM They are not hiding in shadows. 679215 Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF. I am listening to testimony while @BethANJax will be live at noon with updates on #DonaldSmith testimony today. . This week kicked off the trial for the Florida man accused of kidnapping, raping and murdering Perrywinkle. HARROWING images of the battered body of an eight-year-old girl who was raped and brutally killed have leftan entire jury traumatised and in tears. @ActionNewsJax pic.twitter.com/JtVFWHPQPu, Dr. Walerie Rao is the chief medical examiner in Duval County. Jurors Cry Over Autopsy Photos On Day 2 in the trial of Donald Smith, many female jurors cried when graphic autopsy photographs of Cherish Perrywinkle were shown in court Tuesday. Rao estimates it would have taken three to five minutes for the girl to die in this manner. The man, later identified as Smith, first offered to buy the moma dress. The Associated Press contributed to this report. The defense is moving for a judgment of acquittal. She was able to develop a full profile on him. @ActionNewsJax pic.twitter.com/nfpLo3x45s. Police received a tip off that Don's van had been seen parked in woods. "I'm sorry I need to take a break" Says Rao. When Rayne and her three girls were inside the van, Don drove to Walmart which was a ten minute drive away to meet his wife. She had injuries all over her body. Police were clear about one thing, gave aninsight into some of the brutality and horror Donald had inflicted on her. Rao was discussing the heinous murder of Cherish Perrywinkle, a little girl who was lured away from her mother while out shopping before being found dead just hours later in June, 2013. @ActionNewsJax pic.twitter.com/MKEFKNzl74, Dr. Rao says Smith has injuries to his private area. It was testimony that not only caused several jurors to shed tears, but led to the Chief Medical Examiner asking for a brief recess as she appeared to fight back emotion as well. He saw Cherish as a sexual object and when he raped her, he murdered her in an attempt to evade justice. They obtained surveillance footage from Walmart and watched Smith exiting the store with Cherish following closely behind. 2018. The next day, the full autopsy was performed. I need just 5 minutes.". She says its a 1 in 35 quintillion match, meaning shes confident the only other person responsible could be an identical twin, if Smith had one. During the trial, Cherish's injuries were described and shown to the jury. He had just been released from prison some three weeks earlier. Around the same time, officers received a tip that a suspicious van was seen aroundBroward Road. There was also DNA evidence. "The Sun", "Sun", "Sun Online" are registered trademarks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited. Multiple jurors also cried, covered their mouths and turned away as the graphic photos were shown, CBS affiliate WJAX's Bridgette Matter reported via Twitter. She suffered severe injuries, abrasions and contusions all over he body after being strangled with a piece of clothing, tortured and raped. On Monday, State Attorney Melissa Nelson described the horrible manner in which 8-year-old. @ActionNewsJax, The recording is being played for the court #DonaldSmith @ActionNewsJax, Carter says he has heard Smith interact with other inmates. Todays testimony was clearly difficult for some of the jurors, with many openly shedding tears as the autopsy photos were put in front of them. The court was also shown graphic images of the state of the childs body, leading jury members to gasp in horror and break down in tears. Lee is now explaining the analysis she did of #DonaldSmith's DNA. @ActionNewsJax, Dr. Rao says Cherish died from asphyxia. Smith was arrested 10 hours after the child was abducted after his vehicle was spotted by a police officer. Walmart wasclosing and she had ashopping cart full of clothes, no gift card and nosign of Don, his wife or Cherish. The state rested after playing the recording. #CherishPerrywinkle pic.twitter.com/OtiXxh3qm7. The child is not incapacitated, and she is going to struggle during this entire process, she said. It's all part of thesecond day of the trial of Donald Smith, the man who's accused oftaking the girl from her family at a Northside Walmart,raping her, and leaving her dead in water near a church. JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- It took a jury 14 minutes Wednesday to convict a 61-year-old Florida man of abducting, raping and murdering 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle, CBS affiliate WJAX reports.He now . #DonaldSmith looking straight or down, emotionless, as the recorded conversation plays where he says "I'd like to run in to her at Walmart" when talking about 12-year-old girls that walked through the Jail #CherishPerrywinkle pic.twitter.com/Itlhe9RIud. Dr. Wu said that Smith was just 9 when he suffered a traumatic brain injury (or TBI). The child is not incapacitated, and she is going to struggle during this entire process, she said. Devastating footage was released during the trial last year showing the moment the young girl was approached while out with her mother and sisters. The evidence, some of it. Not only was there CCTV of Donald leaving Walmart with Cherish, there was evidence of his arrest while still wet and a witness who saw his van parked near to where Cherish's body had been found. [The trial will] involve the most graphic photos you could possibly imagine,Smiths attorney Julie Schlax replied. It's clear that it's difficult for #CherishPerrywinkle's mother Rayne Perrywinkle to listen to this 911 call. Opening statements were held in the trial Monday. Road closed due to restricted area on William Ostner Rd both ways from Park Rd to New Berlin Rd. At around 9 a.m. the following morning, officers spottedSmiths van off of I-95 near downtown Jacksonville. Smiths DNA also matched samples from a rectal swab of Cherish. #DonaldSmith can be heard saying this to another inmate about a girl at the jail @ActionNewsJax, #DonaldSmith can be heard saying they're about 12, 13. #DonaldSmith looking straight or down, emotionless, as the recorded conversation plays where he says "I'd like to run in to her at Walmart" when talking about 12-year-old girls that walked through the Jail #CherishPerrywinkle pic.twitter.com/Itlhe9RIud. @ActionNewsJax, Closings are scheduled for tomorrow. @ActionNewsJax. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. JACKSONVILLE, Fla. --A medical examiner who conducted the autopsy on an 8-year-old Florida girl who was abducted, raped and murderedbecame emotional and had to interrupt her testimony at the trial of the man accused of the crime. The cashier later confirmed he saw themtalking in the car park for around 15-20 minutes. Rayne had $100 but that was to cover clothes, household items and the cost of travelling to the airport the following morning. @ActionNewsJax. to Cherish's injuries, there was no need to introduce photographs of those injuries. @ActionNewsJax, Inmate asks if "Cherish had a butt on her." When Cherishs body was brought to the Medical Examiners Office, Rao says the conducted a sexual assault kit, where a lot of evidence was collected. There was nosign of Don or Cherish. Swabs were also taken of her breasts, one of which had visible signs of a hickey, according to Rao. She testified that he believed him. The surveillance video shows Smith walking alongside the little girl. Shed been badly beaten, raped, and murdered. While preparing to bring out photos taken during that autopsy, State Attorney Melissa Nelson questioned- and Rao confirmed- that they limited the amount of photos they would show, to those which would assist Raos testimony. Live feed will be back after he is done. Police were familiar with Don. The June 2013 murder of Cherish Perrywinkle drew huge amounts of news coverage and public attention in Jacksonville, with a jury in 2018 finding Donald James Smith guilty and a judge sending him to Death Row. When she found out her daughter was dead, she collapsed. Domestic violence speaks many languages, has many colors and lives in many different communities. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously upheld the conviction and death sentence of Donald James Smith, who raped and murdered 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinklle after. The comments below have not been moderated, by Chilling Crimes What she sustained was tremendous force on her neck, such that she basically, she could not breathe. The shopping trip was very focused around the girls and Rayne stayed with them in the children's section. Donald James Smith, 61, faces the death penalty if he is found guilty of first-degree murder, kidnapping and sexual battery, reported The Washington Post. The blunt reasons some potential jurors are not being selected in the trial for the man accused of raping, killing 8yr-old Cherish Perrywinkle.. @ 5p @wjxt4 https://t.co/qSdMRzwH4b pic.twitter.com/A8SlpT0X4w, Joy Purdy (@WJXTJoyPurdy) February 7, 2018. Her intuition was warning her about Donald. It was left there for a week. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! There were extensive swabs taken in an effort to match DNA to a suspect, and Nicole Lee, with the Florida Department of Law Enforcements Regional Crime Lab in Jacksonville, says many of those samples did- in fact- point to Smith. Lee says not being able to detect foreign DNA, or not being able to assemble a full profile, can happen for several reasons, includingenvironmental factors like the presence of water where the remains were found. In secret jailhouse videos, Donald Smith blames 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle for her murder, schemes with his mother to fake a mental illness and gloats about his rank among the world's most. Crime News is your destination for true crime stories from around the world, breaking crime news, and information about Oxygen's original true crime shows and documentaries. The defense moved for a mistrial based on Raos request, but that was denied by the judge. Rao said she went to the crime scene, Because the nature of the case, it was a child that was abducted. "I'm sorry, I need to take a break. Around three hundred potential jurors filed into the Jacksonville courtroom this week, where they were shown an up-close photo of a little girl with big brown eyes. As she looked at photos of Cherish's disfigured body, Rao began to cry and asked to take a break.