The more I read about this guy, the more I believe that if not this woman's child, it would have been someone else's in Jacksonville by the end of this month. I've had another neighbor from the neighborhood next to mine confirm that a man and van meeting this guy's description was trying to coerce kids into his van; he was stalking kids in their neighborhood (a solidly middle-class, working professional 10-year old subdivision) on June 17. He approached at least 2 kids playing outside and tried to lure them to that van. Thank God the kids had the sense to run screaming inside, the families called 911, and Neighborhood Watch for the community mobilized but the had left by then. These communities keep close tabs on the sex offenders who leave nearby, but this guy was from well outside our zip code and adjacent parts of town. This was re-reported to JSO after Cherish was found dead.
Who knows how many other kids and how many other parts of town he trolled in before hitting paydirt on the 21st. Did he tell his aging mom that he was out all day looking for work, while instead he was casing town for his next victim? These kind of monsters will not stop until stopped. I am not saying that the mother does not bear some responsibility for being victimized; I'm saying that if it weren't her, it would have been another child lost in our community very, very soon. And I don't think he would have stopped until he was stopped in exactly this fashion, after some little girl died. This kind doesn't stop until they're put down for good.
Read the profile and systemic breakdowns here:
http://www.news4jax.com/news/child-...-past/-/475880/20695886/-/uq20d4/-/index.html
Who knows how many other kids and how many other parts of town he trolled in before hitting paydirt on the 21st. Did he tell his aging mom that he was out all day looking for work, while instead he was casing town for his next victim? These kind of monsters will not stop until stopped. I am not saying that the mother does not bear some responsibility for being victimized; I'm saying that if it weren't her, it would have been another child lost in our community very, very soon. And I don't think he would have stopped until he was stopped in exactly this fashion, after some little girl died. This kind doesn't stop until they're put down for good.
Read the profile and systemic breakdowns here:
http://www.news4jax.com/news/child-...-past/-/475880/20695886/-/uq20d4/-/index.html
In fact, the 56-year-old was first arrested on a sex offense when he was 21 and was just released from jail 21 days before he is accused of abducting and killing the girl.
"This guy is definitely one of those. He looks like he's never stopped," former prosecutor Rick Alexander said. "Anybody in law enforcement looks at this wrap and knows he's trouble. He's someone we want to put away."
Smith was recommended for civil commitment for sex offenders, meaning he would not have returned to society until cured. But the case fell through the cracks. As he was about to leave prison in 1999, the state flagged Smith as likely to reoffend and be dangerous in the future. Psychiatrists who evaluated him agreed. Just 1 percent of all sex offenders and predators get such a recommendation.