GUILTY FL - Cherish Perrywinkle, 8, Jacksonville, 21 June 2013 #1

[KMouse]

Will round up the dogs and go search. Have several friends in G'ville who do SAR.

God bless you for wanting to contribute to the search. People like you and the other WSers here are true angels.

 

[Tricia]

When I first heard about this story I thought I misunderstood.

Cherish's mother met Smith in a Walmart, formed a friendship over the past few weeks, and then let him take Charish to McDonalds. That's what I thought the story had to be. Had to be.

I kept re-reading the story because I couldn't imagine that a mother would let her young daughter go with a man she met an hour or so before. I had to be reading wrong.

It is easy to come down on Charish's mother. We can judge her and call her names but she is now living in a hell that we can only begin to imagine.

Hate for Charish's mother does us no good. She made a horrible, tragic, and dumb mistake. Her heart is in shreds because she knows what she did.

IMO she should be investigated to make sure she has the mental capacity to handle being a mother since she does have other children.

My anger and hatred is for the beast who murdered Charish. The death penalty was made for him. The sooner the better.

 

[KMouse]

News4jax saying JSO responded to call around 11pm last night amber alert didn't go out till 5am thus morning. Why the delay on the amber alert. This may have been avoided.

Because there is way too much criteria required by police in order for an Amber Alert to be issued. Not sure about this area but where I am from the regular officer on the street can't just go and issue the alert. It has to be done by a higher up and they have to make sure it meets the criteria. In the mean time....tick tock.

 

[katydid23]

She looks like a runaway, more than once.

I am not surprised that she was a repeat runaway. I wonder if LE ever asked her why she kept running away?

 

[keyleigh]

Ever seen a grown man in tears? No? I am currently weeping for this child. I really do not want to make this political but we must rid ourselves of the liberal touchy feely everybody deserves a second chance wave that is so prevalent in our society today. Liberal judges and politicians that you and I elect are making these decisions that ultimately cost our children their lives. Wake up people! We must...MUST be tough on crime, especially against the weakest of our society.

I'm the equivalent of left wing and I agree with everything you've said, this needs to stop. Why do we continue to let them loose on society knowing the recidivism rates? They don't deserve a second chance. We put down dogs that attack, the same should be done to these monsters. IMO.

Erica Rakow ‏@ericarakow 1h
Spoke to two of Charish's neighbors. They're heartbroken. They say her mother is blaming herself. @wjxt4

Poor woman. I really feel for her. Sex predators are very manipulative and devious, and this one was especially so. I hope some day soon she will realize that she was a victim too, and stop blaming herself for what this evil man did to her child, and to her.

Absolutely.

As adults, we are aware of how predators groom children. We teach them not to talk to strangers, never to go anywhere with anyone and if someone does happen to take them that we will NEVER stop loving them or looking for them, no matter what that awful person says. What we don't do is prepare ourselves for being groomed. We are not used to being part of the cycle. A normal human cannot even think of all the disgusting things someone will say or do to attack at the right moment. As a struggling single mom, I understand how she could appreciate the moment of kindness someone offered. And after several hours of that facade, she obviously isn't quite as guarded as she was 3 hours before. He said he had a wife, so she instantly felt more comfortable that he wasn't picking up on her. He got them to their destination (Wal-Mart) safely, so she let her guard down a little more. He probably helped out with little things while they were there (calming a crying child, etc) and she let it down a little more. Then came the unthinkable. I feel absolutely awful for this mother and her poor sweet daughter. I can only imagine the sinking feeling she had when the police told her he was a registered sex offender. She will be lucky to function after this. Hopefully, for the sake of her other little ones, she can. She can be confident she will never make a similar mistake and have made many other parents more aware of being used in the cycle of harm. Please, don't give this mother any more grief. She is handling all she can.

Thank you, beautiful post.

 

[mikeysmommom]

Im not up on this case I just started reading it.

If mom works and this is the only time she can go to Walmart she takes her kids because maybe there is no one to leave them with. Its summertime there is no school.
Not all kids go to bed early.

Many parents let their kids roam freely thru Walmart. I see kids in the toy aisle or the pet food aisle they are looking at the fish! I see kids alone all over walmart!

Mcdonalds is not outside of the store it inside!

No!!!!!! Mom should not have trusted this man and she is paying the ultimate price for he decision.

I dis agree, Charish paid the ultimate price.She was the one raped and murdered.Her mother is alive and will have to live with herself and the decision she made that night.

 

[Crimson clover]

It is very hard to read this...and watch an 8-year-old gdaughter doodle with sidewalk chalk.

Unspeakable emotions...for the evil that walks among us. I could take out a child rapist/killer like Smith with my bare hands bout now.
And I'm just an old lady sittin in a chair.

Rest in sweet Jesus' arms, lil Charish.
God bless your poor mother, and family.

 

[Strangeworld]

Such a terrible outcome. This man should never have been walking in your community, Charish.

I do like the idea another poster mentioned about a facial tattoo for offenders - bring it on!

 

[FriedChicken]

Several things I do not understand. So I guess I am questioning the mother even though I believe she will suffer for her mistakes.
A total stranger at DG wants to know if you want a dress, but wife has the gift card. Wife never shows up and you have to go to another store to use the $100 dollar gift card. You get in a vehicle with a TOTAL stranger and your three young children to get this $100 dollar gift card.
People do not go around giving out gift cards to people without wanting something in return. Maybe I am cynical but come on.
In the comments Charish's step sister does not speak very highly of the mom.
Very sad.

 

[Eileen730]

Such a terrible outcome. This man should never have been walking in your community, Charish.

I do like the idea another poster mentioned about a facial tattoo for offenders - bring it on!

Yes that was my post!
At least we would have some kind of warning!
Im sick of criminals like these having their rights protected!

 

[paperdog]

Gosh, I can't imagine making this one bad decision, and your baby girl is gone forever. It's almost physically painful to even think about that.

 

[ksprincess]

This makes me sick! Parents have to be more careful about who they let around their kids! It is not normal for adult males who are not related to your kids to show a lot of interest in them!A few summers ago I met a friend and her then 7 year old daughter at the pool. They were in the kiddie pool when I arrived and my friend was talking to another Mom and her daughter was in the pool playing with a man in his early 20's. This man was holding my friends daughter and tickling her. I asked my friend who he was, she didn't know and thought he was a Dad, I said I thought it was creepy, she laughed and said I was overreacting. I went over to them and asked my friends daughter to come to another part of the pool with me, she went and within seconds he had followed us over there and began trying to play with her again. I asked him where his kids were and he said he doesn't have kids. I asked him what he was doing in the kiddie pool if he doesn't have kids. He said he just likes kids. I flat out very rudely told him that was weird and he needs to go back to the adult pool and keep his hands off of children. He rolled his eyes and left but before leaving told my friends daughter how much he liked playing with her and hoped he would see her again. I called the police and reported him to the pool manager! My friend still thinks I was overreacting but better safe than sorry IMO!

 

[daisy7]

Because there is way too much criteria required by police in order for an Amber Alert to be issued. Not sure about this area but where I am from the regular officer on the street can't just go and issue the alert. It has to be done by a higher up and they have to make sure it meets the criteria. In the mean time....tick tock.

I have seen AAs issued in FL within an hour of a child going missing. This case definitely met all of the AA criteria and I don't know why it took them almost 6 hours to issue an AA. Also, there is something messed up with the AA phone alert system as there are many in FL who didn't get the alert on their phones as they should have (myself included).

It's possible if the AA was issued earlier, that Charish would have been found alive

 

[blue22]

Gosh, I can't imagine making this one bad decision, and your baby girl is gone forever. It's almost physically painful to even think about that.

This probably makes me too much of a cynic, but we don't know she only made this one bad decision. This could have been the last one of many. I sincerely hope I'm wrong, of course. Poor sweet girl

 

[eileenhawkeye]

I just don't get it. It's 2013. Did the mother not think there are bad people in the world? I don't think this case is much different than the ones where the mother gets a boyfriend who abuses the child. In all of these cases, the mother puts the word of a man above her child's life.

 

[LarkBunting]

I am mind-boggled. Jaw dropped. Eyes popping out of my head. This child's death was so easily preventable.
I really shouldn't comment more, lest I get a time out.
I do think an earlier poster's idea about the mom getting evaluated (for fitness as a parent) is a good one. Perhaps, she is mentally delayed? Perhaps, she was drunk or on drugs? Perhaps, she was slipped something by this ? As a parent myself, I can't fathom her decision, but I am trying to brainstorm why she made the choices she did. I want to give her the benefit of the doubt, though it is quite difficult.
It's too late for Charish, but the other children are still here. It would be prudent for LE/the state to make sure they are being properly cared for.
RIP, sweet Charish. I have a child your age & I can't even begin to imagine...

 

[KMouse]

I have seen AAs issued in FL within an hour of a child going missing. This case definitely met all of the AA criteria and I don't know why it took them almost 6 hours to issue an AA. Also, there is something messed up with the AA phone alert system as there are many in FL who didn't get the alert on their phones as they should have (myself included).

It's possible if the AA was issued earlier, that Charish would have been found alive

This case definitely met the criteria. Problem is by the time somebody decides that it does the suspect has had time to do what ever it is they intend on doing.

 

[JaxFlaGal]

Watching the local news tonight. Sad. Channel 30, WAWS on their 10:30 show (delayed from 10 due to baseball, I think; I've got it recorded) has a reporter who says she spoke to the mother earlier this evening. Paraphrasing from the reporter:

She [the mother] thought meeting him was a blessing at first. In Wal-Mart, she didn’t realize the daughter had gone with Smith at first. Smith yelled across the store that he was going to get some food and asked if she wanted anything. She said she heard Cherish say “cheeseburger” and did not realize her daughter went with him to the restaurant. That was the last word she heard her daughter say.

More highlights from that news program:
Smith will be arraigned tomorrow at 9 AM.
Neighbor John Allen – “It could happen anywhere… Please keep your eyes on the child. Don’t ever leave them out of your sight.”
Cherish’s father Billy Jarreau through his Jacksonville attorney displayed photos of he and his daughter on their trip to the Grand Canyon last year.He was very thankful for JSO’s quick resolution. She was supposed to be on a plane to father in CA this morning. Mother and Jarreau had been fighting for custody, she won custody and he had visitation rights; mom didn’t have a way to pay for transportation to see her child if she had moved to CA with her father. He will make the trip to Jacksonville for her funeral.
The girl who was preyed on in 2009 was on the news, too, with her mom. They live in Baker County FL now (just west of Jacksonville). Stephanie Thorton and her daughter Christina were hit hard. He preyed on her in 2009, pretending to be a DCF official. “He’s sick. They need to electrocute him” she said. Christina and her mom were interviewed outside their home, and the daughter just hung her head in her hands during the interview, crying. She’s afraid that Donald Smith will be released again.

 

[necco]

From the pictures, this man appears avuncular. He had been with them for hours and nothing had happened. He groomed the mother. She fell for it. If these men weren't charming, they wouldn't be able to do what they do. Monday morning quarterbacking the mother will not bring Charish back.

I hate that we live in a world where someone cannot do a random act of kindness without being suspect. And I hate just as much that people can no longer accept the kindness of strangers.

 

[eileenhawkeye]

From the pictures, this man appears avuncular. He had been with them for hours and nothing had happened. He groomed the mother. She fell for it. If these men weren't charming, they wouldn't be able to do what they do. Monday morning quarterbacking the mother will not bring Charish back.

I hate that we live in a world where someone cannot do a random act of kindness without being suspect. And I hate just as much that people can no longer accept the kindness of strangers.

But it must stop this from happening again. Unless she's the only mother in the world who let a complete stranger go off with her daughter.