Page 57 - Veritas - 02.03.22

him that night. At 9 A.M, 911 got a call. A suspicious van was standing near

the bushes, and the police were searching for him. He drove past in the

van, and he was arrested. The van was empty, and Cherish wasn’t in the

van. Police came to know that he was wearing the same clothes - jeans

and a black t-shirt, and his lower body was wet.

Police went to the woods, and they looked for water with the help of a

police dog where Cherish’s body was found in the water.

Autopsy Report:

• Brutal injuries all over the body

• Raped many times

• Traumatic injuries on her genitalia

• Blunt force trauma on her head

• Ligature marks around her neck

• Strangulation marks which lead her blood vessels to burst in eyes, face,

throat, and her eyeball bled

This shows that Cherish had undergone such a terrible incident. The in-

juries revealed that she fought for her life with the kidnapper.

Evidence:

• CCTV (Closed circuit television) footage of Donald leaving Walmart with

Cherish

• He was wet when arrested

• A witness who saw his van parked near bushes

• DNA evidence - his DNA was found in Cherish’s body, and Cherish’s DNA

was found on his penis

Trial:

Donald Smith was convicted of murder and has been on death row since

2018.

Smith is guilty of kidnapping, sexual battery of a person under twelve

years old, and first-degree murder.

REFERENCES:

• (“Cherish Perrywinkle”, 2019). Chilling Crimes. Retrieved from https://

www.chillingcrimes.com/blogs/news/cherish-perrywinkle

• Frazier, F. (2018, February 4). Cherish Perrywinkle: The case that

shocked Jacksonville. WJXT. Retrieved from https://www.news4jax.com/

news/2018/02/04/cherish-perrywinkle-the-case-that-shocked-jackson-

ville/