The Abduction and Murder of Cherish Perrywinkle
Cherish Lily Perrywinkle was an 8-year-old girl from Jacksonville, Florida, who was abducted from Walmart on 21st June 2013. Donald Smith was later convicted of her murder.
Cherish Perrywinkle was in the Dollar Store with her struggling single mother and two younger sisters, her mum wanted to buy the children clothes including a dress for Cherish but could not afford all of them. Another shopper, Donald Smith, offered to buy them clothes at Walmart with a gift card his wife had given him, he offered to give them a lift to the store. The three children and their mum got into Smith's van and went to Walmart where they shopped for 2 hours. At 10.30 pm, Smith offered to take Cherish to get a cheeseburger at the store's McDonald's store, the CCTV showed Smith leading little Cherish out of the store instead, she was never seen alive again. Cherish's mum reported the abduction and an amber alert was issued. The next morning Cherish's half-naked body was found in a creek behind a church, her body showed she had been strangled, raped and beaten.
It was found that Smith, a convicted and registered sex offender who had been released for prison just 20 days earlier, had taken Cherish into the back of his van, although Cherish was a cautious child it is thought that due to being in his van earlier that day she may have thought it was safe. Cherish had been gagged with such force that her gums and nostril bled before being manually strangled with a piece of clothing, causing blood vessels burst in her neck, there were hickeys on her body, multiple abrasions and her Smith’s DNA was found inside and outside of her body. She had been raped and suffered severe injuries due to the violence of the act. The horror and brutal trauma the young girl had endured had likely lasted hours. The closing argument for the prosecution stated that Smith ‘tore her apart.’
Audio recordings of Smith speaking to other inmates was used at his trial. This included him saying ‘I’d like to run into her at Walmart,’ when seeing an underage girl in the prison and ‘She had a lot of butt for a white girl,’ when speaking about Cherish.
Smith was found guilty of murder and sexual battery and sentenced to death. Crime scene photos of the murder had to be limited and reduced the jury to tears.
