There is no surprise that a man like Donald lies and he told his mother that Cherish followed him out and hopped in the van and he knew then he would already be in trouble due to his previous convictions. @ActionNewsJax, Rao says Cherish weighed 67 pounds. Medical Examiner and forensic pathologist Valerie Rao took the witness stand in Cherish's murder trial on Tuesday and talked clinically about the extensive list of injuries she sustained. Dr. Wu said that Smith was just 9 when he suffered a traumatic brain injury (or TBI). He also had an unhealthy obsession with Cherish. When she found out her daughter was dead, she collapsed. Even after all the horror he inflicted on Cherish the callousness of that statement is strikingandfurther confirms a man like Donald will never change and if giventhe chance will do it again. 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. "Looking at her genital area and her anal area, she had so much trauma, the anatomy was totally. ", by Chilling Crimes 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. @ActionNewsJax, "Semen positive" in vaginal swabs. Dr. Valerie Rao was. Cherish was also raped prior to her death, and Rao says injuries resulting from that were severe. 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. to Cherish's injuries, there was no need to introduce photographs of those injuries. First published on February 13, 2018 / 12:38 PM. @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. Things never get back to the way they were.". January 25, 2022, "The effects of abuse are devastating and far reaching. 2018. Dr. Valerie Rao was. The court documents stated that the single mother agreed to both. "Cherish did not die quickly, and she did not die easily," State Attorney Melissa Nelson told the jury a day earlier. "Why in the world would he take my little girl?" #DonaldSmith has not turned around to look Cherish's autopsy photos, he is not looking at photos of himself either. "She had so much trauma the anatomy was totally distorted by the injury she suffered," forensic pathologist and Jacksonville chief medical examiner Dr Valerie Rao said as jurors covered and closed their eyes. Sentencing will occur during thetrials penalty phase, should Smith be found guilty. Don wasarrested. Jury will then deliberate. To follow live onTwitter, please follow Bridgette Matter at @BridgetteANjax, LATEST: Graphic testimony details moments before Cherish Perrywinkle's death. This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. Cherish was also raped prior to her death, and Rao says injuries resulting from that were severe. @ActionNewsJax, June 23, 2015 is when the recording equipment was placed in the Duval County jail. January 17, 2022 He strangled her with such force her eyeballs bled, Nelson said. @ActionNewsJax, Dr. Rao is being tendered as an expert witness. 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. Don wasn't interested in shopping for himself and in fact only added a bundle of rope to the shopping cart. Expert says this was an exact match. 2023 Chilling Crimes. Smith had his back turned to the screen and did not view the photos, Matter reported. A full profile could not be performed from the vaginal swab, however Smith was not excluded by the results, and Lee testified that- in all- there was still an almost non-existent chance it was anyone other than Smith. Please enter valid email address to continue. 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. Her intuition was warning her about Donald. What she sustained was tremendous force on her neck, such that she basically, she could not breathe. DNA other than Cherishs could not be detected in the oral swab. Any hope of finding Cherish alive was over. 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. After waiting for his wife for a few minutes he told Rayne they could meet her at Walmart instead. 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. Cox Media Group. 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. 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. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. 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. @ActionNewsJax, #DonaldSmith has not turned around to look Cherish's autopsy photos, he is not looking at photos of himself either. It took a jury just 14 minutes to find Smith guilty, after enduring countless graphic images of the 8-year-old victim's battered body, often leaving them in tears. Smith, the man accused. On Monday, State Attorney Melissa Nelson described the horrible manner in which 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle was killed in 2013. Jury is hearing moments when she reported her 8-year-old daughter had disappeared with #DonaldSmith. At his trial, the court was shown video of the moment Smith led the child away from her family while out shopping. Prior Arrest . Her body was found in the water , weighted down by bricks and debris and under a tree. All Rights Reserved. Enable our Skill today to listen live at home on your Alexa Devices! Smiths defense lawyers have yet to give an explanation or defense for Smiths actions. He then offered to buy the mother a $100 gift card andsomehow convinced her to ride with him to pick up the card at a nearby Walmart. There was nosign of Don or Cherish. It takes a person anywhere from three to five minutes to die from being asphyxiated to death. Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Clicca su Gestisci impostazioni per maggiori informazioni e per gestire le tue scelte. 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. But it wasn't until closing time that his true and sinister intentions were revealed. 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. I dont want him to kill her. Opening statements were held in the trial Monday. ", The inmate asked Smithif "Cherish had a butt on her. The last of the footage shows the little girl being led across the store's carpark. She is heard telling a dispatcher, "I feel like a fool," and saying she couldn't remember what Smith was wearing or what his license plate was, Bourne tweeted. taking the girl from her family at a Northside Walmart, environmental factors like the presence of water where the remains were found, SPOTLIGHT: Gate River Run kicks off first weekend in March, Jury visits crime scene before closings at Murdaugh trial, Push to require clergy to report abuse stalls in Mormon Utah, DTE Energy, Consumers Energy face power-outage challenges, You Decide 2023 - The Race For Jacksonville Mayor - Omega Allen Spotlight, You Decide 2023 - The Race For Jacksonville Mayor - Donna Deegan Spotlight, You Decide 2023 - The Race For Jacksonville Mayor - Frank Keasler Spotlight. . Smith had an extensive criminal record, which included a lewd assault on a child, an attempted abduction on a 13-year-old girl, harassing phone calls to a 9-year-old girl, and an attempted abduction on two teen girls by trying to lure themto his vehicle with pornographic magazines. The CCTV footage documents the last time the child was seen alive. I dont understand why he would leave right now. @ActionNewsJax, Dollar Store purchases were also found in a trash can, Carter collected as evidence. When 20 minutes had passed Rayne began to worry. The suspects criminal record dated back to 1977. In it, she said she felt like a fool. Police received a tip off that Don's van had been seen parked in woods. Here we have two people who are in a struggle. @ActionNewsJax, Next witness is an undercover officer. #CherishPerrywinkle pic.twitter.com/OtiXxh3qm7. Last year, video was released by the State's Attorney Office in Florida, US, showing horrifying CCTV footage where Cherish is approached, along with her mother and sisters, by Smith at a Walmart in Jacksonville, northeastern Florida. The cashier at the Dollar GeneralStore confirmed a man asked if Rayne had put the clothes back. Viewing autopsy photographs of her battered body in court on Tuesday, she became teary and asked to take a break. Smith manipulated the girl's mother into making her think he only wanted to buy clothing for Cherish Perrywinkle and her siblings. There was a hickey on herright breast. #DonaldSmith @FCN2go pic.twitter.com/IqHaXOp8UO. A full profile could not be performed from the vaginal swab, however Smith was not excluded by the results, and Lee testified that- in all- there was still an almost non-existent chance it was anyone other than Smith. Rao is visibly shaken as she describes the bruising, scratching and other physical injuries to the body, taking large gulps and appearing watery-eyed as she details the shocking sexual abuse carried out by Cherish's attacker. Jury asked to be back tomorrow at 9:15. In court, Raynes 911 call to the dispatcher was played. Donald put forward no defense and called no witnesses so it was hardly a surprise that it took the Jury less than 15 minutes to find him guilty of the kidnap, sexual battery and first degree murder of Cherish. 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. Tap on any of the buttons below to download our app. Walmart wasclosing and she had ashopping cart full of clothes, no gift card and nosign of Don, his wife or Cherish. The Associated Press contributed to this report. 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