A registered sex offender, released
from jail less than a month ago, has been arrested and charged with
murder in the death of an 8-year-old Florida girl abducted while
shopping with her mother on Friday night.
The body of Charish Perriwinkle was found in front of Highlands Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida on Saturday morning after a frantic search.
Donald James Smith of Jacksonville was taken into custody after police cornered his white van on Interstate 95. He had only been released from jail on May 31
after serving 438 days on felony charges of child abuse and unlawful
impersonation of a public employee.
The body of Charish Perriwinkle was found in
front of Highlands Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida on Saturday
morning after a frantic search
Donald Smith has been arrested and charged with the abduction and murder of 8-year-old Florida girl Charish Perriwinkle
Authorities had put out
an Amber Alert with details of Smith's van early Saturday, hours after
receiving a 911 call from Charish Perriwinkle's mother about the missing
girl.
Prior to the
alleged abduction Friday night, Smith, 56, befriended Charish and her
mother at a dollar store, and ‘offered to take them to Wal-Mart and buy
her family some clothes,’ said Mike Williams, director of investigations
at the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.
‘They appeared to be down on their luck and he could help them out.’
After spending a couple hours inside
the Wal-Mart together, Smith offered to buy hamburgers and walked with
Charish to the front of the store, Williams said.
Charish's mom agreed to let her go with the man she had only just met whilst she
took care of her other two children and continued browsing the shelves.
Instead of stopping to buy the snack, Smith walked Charish outside and the two of them got into his van, Williams said.
Kidnapped then murdered: 8-year-old Charish
Perriwinkle was taken from a WalMart store on Friday night by a sex
offender and her dead body was found the next morning
Shopping trip: Charish was with her mother and
two siblings at this WalMart store in Jacksonville when Donald Smith
befriended her and asked if she wanted to walk with him to McDonalds
Looking for a victim: Donald Smith, 56, had only
been released from jail three weeks ago. He befriended the child's
mother in a dollar store and was captured on CCTV leaving Walmart with
the girl
The girl's mother called 911 when she realized Charish and Smith were missing.
Less than an hour later, Charish was dead.
'We located the body of Charish
Perriwinkle,' Officer Shannon Hartley said holding back tears. 'It's a
very difficult time, obviously, for everyone involved.'
'Hug your children closely right now and know where they're at,' Officer Hartley said. 'Keep them close.'
Detectives say that within 30 minutes of Charish's mom realizing she had left the store with the man, police were called.
An Amber Alert was issued and police
searched the area with helicopters and ground units but did not find the
suspect or the girl.
A tip about a suspicious van spotted in the woods near a church led investigators to Charish's body Saturday morning.
Meanwhile,
an officer working at the scene of a traffic crash on Interstate 95 on
Saturday morning recognized Smith's van as it drove past her and called
it in.
An officer working at the scene of a traffic
crash on Interstate 95 on Saturday morning recognized Smith's van as it
drove past her and called it in
Found: Charish Perriwinkle's body was found early on Saturday morning at Highlands Church in Jacksonville, Florida
The highway was shut down while
other officers pulled Smith over and arrested him. He has not
cooperated with investigators, Williams said, and it was not immediately
known whether he had an attorney.
Williams
declined to answer reporters' questions about how Charish died or what
Smith did in the hours between his disappearance with the girl and his
arrest, saying that the investigation remains open.
Smith
has been a registered sex offender since a 1993 conviction in Duval
County for attempted kidnapping and selling obscene materials.
Previous
arrests that date as far back as 1977 when Department of Corrections
records show he was convicted of indecent assault on a child under the
age of 16.
Prison
records also show that Smith went to prison again in 1992 for attempted
kidnapping. Court documents show he was convicted of that charge in
addition to two counts of showing obscene material to a minor.
Police gather at the Highlands Baptist Church in
Jacksonville, Fla. on Saturday, June 22, 2013 where the body of
8-year-old Charish Perriwinkle was found
Getaway vehicle: Smith was reportedly driving a 1998 white Dodge van
In 2003 prisons records show Smith served time for trafficking in stolen property and giving false information to a pawnbroker.
She
was also arrested in 2009 on a charge of child abuse after making
obscene phone calls to a 10-year-old girl, making verbal threats, and
impersonating a social worker with the Florida Department of Children
and Families who claimed to be investigating the girl's family.
Smith pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges in that case in 2012 and was released from jail on May 31 this year.
Williams
said Smith had just met with police Friday morning to comply with a
state law that requires sex offenders to verify their address once a
year.
Smith is set to appear in court at 9 a.m. Sunday morning.
Smith has been a registered sex offender since a 1993 conviction for attempted kidnapping and selling obscene materials
Living with mom: Donald Smith lived with his mother on Segovia Avenue in Jacksonville since his release from jail on May 31
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