Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / 'Walmart monster' convicted sex predator kidnaps, assaults 8-yr-old girl from popular superstore

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'Walmart monster' convicted sex predator kidnaps, assaults 8-yr-old girl from popular superstore · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:07
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace on Sirius XM Triumph Channel
0:11
Speaker 1: one two. In the last hours, a veteran medical examiner
0:20
Speaker 1: breaks down in tears, crying on the stand as graphic
0:27
Speaker 1: autopsy photos of a little girl, Cherish Perrywinkle are shown
0:34
Speaker 1: in court. And it could all have been stopped. I mean,
0:40
Speaker 1: Nancy Grace, this is Crime Stories, Thank you for being
0:43
Speaker 1: with us. An eight year old Florida girl is kidnapped,
0:48
Speaker 1: sex molested, and murdered out of a Walmart superstore, her
0:56
Speaker 1: mom burying the guilt of letting it happen, according to
1:01
Speaker 1: her detractors, But when you hear the whole story, it's
1:07
Speaker 1: not anyone's fault except the perpetrator. Sixty one year old
1:15
Speaker 1: Donald Smith joining me, Syndicated talk show host David mac
1:20
Speaker 1: Ashley Willcott, veteran child advocate, Mark Class, renowned victims advocate,
1:27
Speaker 1: and Cheryl McCullum, director of the Coal Case Institute, joining me.
1:31
Speaker 1: Also forensics expert Karen Smith. I want to go first
1:37
Speaker 1: out to Cheryl McCullum. Cheryl, this case, I remember when
1:42
Speaker 1: it happened. The mother is in like I think it
1:46
Speaker 1: was a family dollar or general dollar, and she's trying
1:50
Speaker 1: to buy her little girls some school clothes. And they're
1:54
Speaker 1: going through it saying, Okay, we can't afford this, we
1:57
Speaker 1: cannot afford that. I as a up devotee of the
2:01
Speaker 1: Dollar Tree, I know what she's talking about. So you're
2:05
Speaker 1: in there and you're looking for the best deal of
2:07
Speaker 1: what she could afford to buy her children. A guy
2:11
Speaker 1: comes up and says, Hey, I'm about to go meet
2:14
Speaker 1: my wife over at Walmart. And I hear you, guys, look,
2:20
Speaker 1: I know you don't have enough money to buy the
2:22
Speaker 1: school clothes. I'll pitch in, let me help you. And
2:26
Speaker 1: so they end up they all go to the Walmart
2:30
Speaker 1: superstore and this guy, the kindness of his heart and
2:34
Speaker 1: his wife's hard, is gonna buy some clothes for these kids.
2:38
Speaker 1: All right. Then, as they're shopping and all that, And
2:41
Speaker 1: I've watched the video a million times, Cheryl McCullum. I
2:45
Speaker 1: see him in the video. Although there are other children
2:49
Speaker 1: and the mom there, he keeps looking at Cherish, the
2:51
Speaker 1: eight year old girl. He keeps talking to her as
2:54
Speaker 1: they're looking at shoes and clothes. Then he says to
2:58
Speaker 1: the mom, Hey, there's the making Donold's right up front
3:01
Speaker 1: within the superstore. I think it was a mcdollars, Hamburgers
3:06
Speaker 1: and stuff up there. Let chairs come with me. We'll
3:08
Speaker 1: go get some food for everybody else and bring it
3:10
Speaker 1: back while you guys shop. You know, the mom has
3:13
Speaker 1: been with them for a period of time. Now, I
3:15
Speaker 1: mean it's within the store, it's within walking distance in
3:20
Speaker 1: the store. I mean, you know those superstores have barber shops,
3:23
Speaker 1: they have food, they have this, they have that salons. Everything.
3:28
Speaker 1: You can see on the video where he walks out
3:32
Speaker 1: the front door with Cherish, there wasn't a wife coming
3:35
Speaker 1: to meet them. That was a big lie. He zoned
3:38
Speaker 1: in on Cherish Periwinkle, raped her brutally in his car
3:44
Speaker 1: and then just discards her body face down, submerged in
3:50
Speaker 1: a ditch not far away. They find her body there
3:55
Speaker 1: when they find him, he's covered in scratches for a
4:00
Speaker 1: little eight year old girl fought for her life. I
4:04
Speaker 1: personally interviewed another young girl and her mother that he
4:09
Speaker 1: tried to lure at a McDonald's before this to try
4:14
Speaker 1: to get the little girl in the car, and the
4:16
Speaker 1: mom scared him away. In the same flight van, same
4:21
Speaker 1: one Cheryl Nanthy. This guy had been out of prison
4:24
Speaker 1: three weeks. He had forty years worth of crime. This
4:29
Speaker 1: guy did say this old Cherished, He made a mind
4:33
Speaker 1: up what he was going to do to her. He
4:35
Speaker 1: figured out a way to get her load away from
4:38
Speaker 1: her mother. It is absolutely horrified. I want to go
4:41
Speaker 1: now to Mark class Mark. How do you think this
4:45
Speaker 1: whole thing went down? It went down pretty easy. I
4:48
Speaker 1: mean Caryl's testimony fought on, knew exactly what it was
4:52
Speaker 1: he wanted to do. He manipulated the mother into trusting him,
4:56
Speaker 1: even if only for a moment, and he then kidnapped
4:59
Speaker 1: a little girl, heinous crimes against her. But it begs
5:02
Speaker 1: the question, Nancy, what in the world was this character,
5:06
Speaker 1: with the forty year criminal history of heinous and violent
5:09
Speaker 1: crimes doing on the street in the first place. It
5:12
Speaker 1: makes absolutely no sense. Absolutely, you know, I've listened a
5:16
Speaker 1: million times to this, but listened to Cherish his mother.
5:21
Speaker 1: When she tries to find Cherish, she realizes she's not there.
5:25
Speaker 1: She goes berserk and dials nine one one. Listen, won,
5:32
Speaker 1: Hi that willma, and let turn think my daughter has
5:35
Speaker 1: been taken? What do you mean taken by stranger? Prior? Okay, ma'am,
5:44
Speaker 1: how old is your daughter? Has can you say you
5:49
Speaker 1: have the Walmart on him? Turner, Yes, I am. Okay,
5:52
Speaker 1: Well where did your blast? Hear at? Admit him in
6:01
Speaker 1: today dollar Generally he saw that I was struggling to
6:04
Speaker 1: buy him some clothes. He grew us here to buy
6:08
Speaker 1: us some clothes. And the only reason I went with
6:10
Speaker 1: him because she said his wife was going to be here,
6:13
Speaker 1: because I told him I don't take rides with strangers. Okay, man,
6:17
Speaker 1: what's your daughter's name? Her name is Cherished Cherish, yes,
6:23
Speaker 1: and her her last name Harry Winkle. With the teeth
6:26
Speaker 1: change startup on me? Please p E R R Y
6:31
Speaker 1: w I N k Ellie. And then your white female
6:35
Speaker 1: black female? Excuse me? Is she a white or black female?
6:40
Speaker 1: She's white? Girls, go ahead, don't care. I don't remember
6:44
Speaker 1: what clothes she's wearing because I'm panicking, right and now
6:47
Speaker 1: I was trying to mepothetic, okay, and she was laughing.
6:50
Speaker 1: What this man is he? What he said he was
6:53
Speaker 1: going to McDonald's and he he hasn't been there because
6:58
Speaker 1: the store is closed to right now? Okay? Is he
7:03
Speaker 1: a white man or a black man or white man?
7:05
Speaker 1: He's cut, white, short haired, he's got dark eyebrows. Okay,
7:09
Speaker 1: dark dark short hair. No, he's got white hair as
7:14
Speaker 1: dark eyebrows. H. I had a strange feeling good back
7:21
Speaker 1: he when I first met him, and he took her
7:22
Speaker 1: to the He took her to the to the dressing room, twhite,
7:27
Speaker 1: and I was hoping that she would be okay, and
7:30
Speaker 1: I was looking at the shoes and I didn't want
7:33
Speaker 1: him to think that I was overly protected freaking out.
7:36
Speaker 1: But now they're not here. And I said it very
7:42
Speaker 1: odd because he knew that. Okay, man, what got a vehicle?
7:49
Speaker 1: Does he drive? That's a white fan that Do you
7:54
Speaker 1: remember any stickers or anything on the side of the van,
7:57
Speaker 1: anything that you can remember at all? Did you have
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Speaker 1: tenant windows or anything? And then he's got carton in
8:03
Speaker 1: the vain and then take a good look party, and
8:08
Speaker 1: he said what and take a good look at the beds? Okay,
8:13
Speaker 1: do you remember what? Did you see any tag on
8:15
Speaker 1: it or anything? Wasn't I want to tag? No? I
8:19
Speaker 1: didn't look at that. Feel like a fool. Okay, don't
8:24
Speaker 1: you remember what he had on? No? I don't remember
8:27
Speaker 1: anything because I'm paticking right now. Okay, man, what's your name?
8:31
Speaker 1: My name is Rain. A y and he said his
8:34
Speaker 1: name is Gone. He said he was supposed to meet
8:39
Speaker 1: his wife here and he's why they were showed up.
8:41
Speaker 1: But I couldn't figure out why his wife didn't even
8:45
Speaker 1: show up at Dollar General. And he told you that
8:50
Speaker 1: y'all were going to meet his wife at um the
8:52
Speaker 1: walmarty first she was supposed to show up at Dollar
8:55
Speaker 1: General and then he was gonna meet with her at
8:59
Speaker 1: at Walmart. And we've been here possibly two hours, and
9:05
Speaker 1: she didn't show up. And I had had this card
9:08
Speaker 1: full of clothes and he said he was going to
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Speaker 1: pay for with a hundred dollar gift card. And I
9:14
Speaker 1: excuse me. I had a bad feeling. I thought, well,
9:19
Speaker 1: I feel like pinching myself because this is too good
9:21
Speaker 1: to be true. So got to the checkout. He's not here.
9:24
Speaker 1: Cherish isn't here. Jeez A. He's eight years old. She's
9:34
Speaker 1: supposed to go to show a Ford in the morning
9:37
Speaker 1: to the plane and he goes. Because I told him this,
9:41
Speaker 1: he knew when the store was closing. He had a
9:45
Speaker 1: bad feeling about him. Okay, how long have you been
9:48
Speaker 1: looking for you? When was the last time you saw
9:50
Speaker 1: your daughter? How long ago? About half an hour ago,
9:55
Speaker 1: but ready for her for half an hour. Is there's
9:59
Speaker 1: nobody in this for orders? Did you do? The store
10:02
Speaker 1: was courtesy? He said he was going to McDonald She
10:05
Speaker 1: went with him. I should have told her to stay
10:07
Speaker 1: with me, She keeps saying, over and over Dave matt
10:12
Speaker 1: syndicated talk show has joining us this morning. She keeps saying,
10:15
Speaker 1: why in the world would he take my little girl?
10:17
Speaker 1: Why would he take my little girl? Rain Perry Wiggle
10:21
Speaker 1: says it over and over and over. Uh. She reportedly
10:25
Speaker 1: has her head down in court crying as she hears
10:31
Speaker 1: that is, she hears her own words on nine one one,
10:34
Speaker 1: telling a dispatcher I feel like a fool. She couldn't
10:37
Speaker 1: even remember what Smith was wearing or what his license
10:40
Speaker 1: plate was. She was so out of her mind, and
10:43
Speaker 1: the cops, David mac think this is some kind of
10:47
Speaker 1: a weird custody maneuver on her part, and they delay.
10:53
Speaker 1: David mac Nancy, there are so many sad things. When
10:56
Speaker 1: you talked about the mother, not you know that nine
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Speaker 1: one one call. One the things that really got during
11:01
Speaker 1: the testimony was she wanted to believe that Donald Smith
11:06
Speaker 1: was what he pretended to be, somebody who was there
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Speaker 1: to help. This is a single mom. She's going through
11:11
Speaker 1: a tough time and doesn't have enough money for clothes
11:13
Speaker 1: for her kids, and here comes this man promising to
11:16
Speaker 1: be the kind of person that she could trust. And
11:19
Speaker 1: she said when the prosecutor said, did you want to
11:22
Speaker 1: believe him? She said, very much. So that's why there's
11:26
Speaker 1: such pain and anguish when you hear her call that
11:30
Speaker 1: she wanted to believe, but she knew in her heart
11:33
Speaker 1: that she just couldn't. But she did. That's why there's
11:36
Speaker 1: so much pain. That's why there's so much frustration. But
11:38
Speaker 1: it has already been mentioned. Why was this man on
11:41
Speaker 1: the street and able to do this? You know? I
11:43
Speaker 1: just keep looking over and over at the video of
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Speaker 1: her being led out like a lamb to the slaughter,
11:51
Speaker 1: an eight year old little girl being dragged out by
11:56
Speaker 1: he's now being called the Walmart monster. The mom thinks
12:00
Speaker 1: it's killer. Was a good Samaritan joining me right now,
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Speaker 1: Ashley Willcott, child advocate, Ashley, I'm just I'm sick. You
12:13
Speaker 1: and I both have little girls about this age. And
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Speaker 1: let me say this, Nancy, regardless what you do or
12:19
Speaker 1: don't do as a parent, because some people have said, oh,
12:21
Speaker 1: it's the mother's fault. No, it's not. No one deserves this.
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Speaker 1: No one should have to go through this happening to
12:28
Speaker 1: their child. This man will always be a purp. Here's
12:32
Speaker 1: no treatment, there is no fixing, there is no changing.
12:36
Speaker 1: This man will always pray on children. I'm looking at
12:41
Speaker 1: the photos with me, renowned forensics expert Karen Smith. We
12:45
Speaker 1: have worked together on many occasions before. I'm looking Karen
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Speaker 1: at pictures of Cherish Perrywinkle. She's just gorgeous, and I'm
12:56
Speaker 1: looking at pictures of her mother crying in court. And
12:59
Speaker 1: I'm looking at pictures of this I mean, he's straight
13:04
Speaker 1: from hell. He's he's the devil's minion. I'm looking at him,
13:09
Speaker 1: and you should see the way he's all dressed up.
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Speaker 1: He's got on a he he's got a pale purple
13:15
Speaker 1: button down shirt with a matching tie and trousers dress likes,
13:21
Speaker 1: and he's perfectly manicured in groom. He's wearing his eye
13:25
Speaker 1: spectacles up on top of his head. He looks like
13:28
Speaker 1: somebody's grandfather. I mean, Karen Smith, you have a very
13:35
Speaker 1: unique insight into this case. What can you tell me?
13:38
Speaker 1: This case happened about a month after I retired from
13:41
Speaker 1: the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. UM, I can tell you that
13:45
Speaker 1: had I stayed, I likely would have been pulled into
13:47
Speaker 1: some part of this investigation, and by the grace of God,
13:50
Speaker 1: I wasn't because this is one that every investigator involved
13:54
Speaker 1: in this, the prosecutors, and everyone is going to carry
13:57
Speaker 1: with them for the remainder of their days. When I
14:00
Speaker 1: heard that, Dr Row, the medical examiner broke down on
14:03
Speaker 1: the stand. I've worked with Dr Row on dozens and
14:07
Speaker 1: dozens of cases. She is a strong willed woman. She
14:11
Speaker 1: is an outstanding medical examiner. Listens to you to explain
14:15
Speaker 1: to the jury what is reflected here? Okay, so when
14:20
Speaker 1: the scamp is reflected back, you have an area of
14:23
Speaker 1: hemorrhage right there. I'm sorry, where um on the left
14:33
Speaker 1: side of her scamp? Right? And what's how is that cause?
14:38
Speaker 1: Dr Row? Um? Then trauma. I'm going to show you
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Speaker 1: two more photographs of the dissection taken of cherished her
14:48
Speaker 1: Winkle's throat. When you first told the jury what you
14:52
Speaker 1: saw when you um dissected her throat? Yes, so what
14:57
Speaker 1: we do is it's us. I I'm sorry, I have
15:00
Speaker 1: to take a break. Can they just have like five minutes.
15:04
Speaker 1: When I heard that, I knew how bad this was.
15:09
Speaker 1: I know all of the investigators, and God bless them.
15:13
Speaker 1: You know. Uh, it got to be getting late, all right.
15:16
Speaker 1: They were shopping for school clothes, and it was getting
15:18
Speaker 1: towards ten o'clock at night, and Smith's so called wife
15:22
Speaker 1: had never appeared. Cherished mom Rain says her daughters needed
15:28
Speaker 1: to go home. They hadn't had dinner, and that is
15:31
Speaker 1: when Smith tells Rain he would go to McDonald's inside
15:35
Speaker 1: the store and get cheeseburgers. Cherish, eight years old, followed
15:40
Speaker 1: along and was never seen alive again. The mom says
15:45
Speaker 1: less than twenty minutes later, she realized the McDonald's in
15:49
Speaker 1: the Walmart was actually closed her. She started panicking. Her
15:54
Speaker 1: cell phone didn't work. Her daughter had dunked in the
15:57
Speaker 1: water to try to clean it, so she started to
16:00
Speaker 1: screaming for help. When she realized her daughter was Dawn.
16:06
Speaker 1: I mean, smart class, you know what it feels like
16:12
Speaker 1: to realize your daughter is gone. It's beyond that because
16:18
Speaker 1: she she uh for some period of time cried out
16:22
Speaker 1: for help. She wanted somebody to help her get her daughter.
16:25
Speaker 1: And at Walmart, um they ignored her, They ignored her
16:31
Speaker 1: until somebody finally loaned her a phone so that she
16:33
Speaker 1: could call one. This is such a monumental betrayal. He
16:38
Speaker 1: betrayed this woman, He betrayed this little girl. She's left
16:42
Speaker 1: with the guilt of unders of realizing that the one
16:46
Speaker 1: thing she always told her daughter that she would be
16:48
Speaker 1: there to protect her with something that she was unable
16:51
Speaker 1: to do, something that you couldn't do. And you're seeing
16:53
Speaker 1: the results right now in this trial. You see this
16:56
Speaker 1: poor woman on the stand breaking out time and again
17:01
Speaker 1: and again and again. It's just another example of of
17:06
Speaker 1: of the power of evil and how one bad apple
17:10
Speaker 1: can absolutely destroy lives. Um you know, David Mack, syndicated
17:18
Speaker 1: talk shows, joining us. The mom's testifying, I was yelling
17:22
Speaker 1: called nine one one, call and my one one. My
17:24
Speaker 1: daughter has been taken, and no one would help me
17:27
Speaker 1: right away. About forty minutes later, after she realizes her
17:32
Speaker 1: daughter is gone, an employee finally hands her a cell
17:36
Speaker 1: phone and she calls nine one one. Dave met why
17:39
Speaker 1: didn't Walmart use their phone to call police? You know, Nancy,
17:43
Speaker 1: I've been trying to figure that out for the longest
17:46
Speaker 1: and all I could think of and you know, panic parents.
17:50
Speaker 1: Maybe she wasn't. Maybe she people just didn't take her seriously,
17:54
Speaker 1: you know, mentioned the delone, the police response, and everything else.
17:57
Speaker 1: I'm trying to get my hands wrapped around this. But
18:00
Speaker 1: took time for her to get from where she realized
18:02
Speaker 1: that her daughter was not coming out from McDonald's to
18:05
Speaker 1: the point where she got frantic. And that's why all
18:09
Speaker 1: I can think of is that maybe she wasn't expressing
18:11
Speaker 1: herself in a way that made people realize there was
18:14
Speaker 1: a real emerenacy going on. Maybe she was. I don't know, Nancy.
18:18
Speaker 1: I think a mom running through the store screaming, call
18:23
Speaker 1: nine one one, my daughter's gone. Cheryl McCullum. I think
18:26
Speaker 1: that would be enough of a signal, right, you would
18:29
Speaker 1: take Nancy. You would think twenty people in that store
18:31
Speaker 1: would have called, But they didn't, Nancy. The worst party is,
18:35
Speaker 1: even when they finally got to nine one one, the
18:38
Speaker 1: call was put out as a missing person, not a
18:41
Speaker 1: child abduction, So that meant less officers were put on
18:45
Speaker 1: the road immediately to go into action to search for her,
18:48
Speaker 1: to put the bolow out on the van. So it
18:52
Speaker 1: was it was a perfect store was just mistake as
18:54
Speaker 1: a mistake as a mistake of people that failed this child.
18:57
Speaker 1: You know, uh, well, this is what I know about
19:00
Speaker 1: out Smith. He had been released from jail three weeks
19:05
Speaker 1: before Cherish was murdered. He did four hundred thirty eight
19:10
Speaker 1: days on felony charges of child abuse. Just that's a
19:15
Speaker 1: little over one year on child abuse. And get this
19:19
Speaker 1: unlawful impersonation of a public employee. Now, this is what
19:24
Speaker 1: he did. He posed as a child welfare worker and
19:28
Speaker 1: got a little girl on the phone and started asking
19:31
Speaker 1: her sexually explicit questions. That is screwed up, Mark Class.
19:40
Speaker 1: I don't understand, Nancy, how evil was allowed to continue
19:45
Speaker 1: to proliferate. We knew what this guy was, he had
19:48
Speaker 1: the history, he had demonstrated a time and time and
19:51
Speaker 1: time again. Yet they put him back out onto the street.
19:55
Speaker 1: It's a and we're in a situation now where we're
19:57
Speaker 1: not holding criminals accountable for a variety of reasons and
20:01
Speaker 1: based on a variety of laws. Victims have no rights,
20:04
Speaker 1: Innocent little girls have no rights. All of the rights
20:07
Speaker 1: go towards the criminals, and they're allowed to continue in
20:11
Speaker 1: the turnstile system of justice that regurgitates him on the street.
20:15
Speaker 1: Time after time after time to commit ever increasing and
20:20
Speaker 1: ever worse crimes against innocent citizens. He shouldn't have been
20:25
Speaker 1: on the streets. This guy is the embodiment of he
20:28
Speaker 1: is just killing me, is killing me? I mean, I
20:32
Speaker 1: gave you that example. But his criminal history goes back
20:36
Speaker 1: to the seventies related to lude and lascivious conduct. He's
20:40
Speaker 1: a registered sex offender since he was convicted in ninety
20:44
Speaker 1: three in Duval County for attempt to kidnapping and selling
20:48
Speaker 1: obscene materials. Doctors even determined he met the criteria of
20:54
Speaker 1: a violent sex predator. He did present time, he was
20:59
Speaker 1: ordered to get treatment, and then in this two thousand
21:03
Speaker 1: nine incident, asking the little girl sex questions on the phone.
21:08
Speaker 1: It's the perfect storm. He gets out. Three weeks later,
21:12
Speaker 1: he's there at the family dollar Cherishes. Their cherish mom
21:17
Speaker 1: has her on her own with her other children. Uh,
21:21
Speaker 1: cherish mom and dad have been in a lifetime of
21:25
Speaker 1: custody battle over the girl. They're fighting, and so when
21:29
Speaker 1: the cops get the nine one one call, they go, oh,
21:32
Speaker 1: this is just some custody bs. This has something to
21:36
Speaker 1: do with the custody battle. I mean nothing Ashley Wilcot
21:40
Speaker 1: could have been further from the truth. No, Nancy, and
21:42
Speaker 1: not only that, you know what happens when we assume
21:44
Speaker 1: any of us, what's that due to us? They should
21:47
Speaker 1: never have made that assumption. And it's it's amazing. I
21:50
Speaker 1: see this time and time again with people not reporting
21:53
Speaker 1: to de facts or law enforcement. When you see a
21:56
Speaker 1: mother like you said, running through the store, things are
22:00
Speaker 1: my child's missing, somebody's taken my child. People have got
22:04
Speaker 1: to pay attention and take basic responsibility. Report it, call
22:09
Speaker 1: it in. Police don't get to have the discretion to say, oh,
22:12
Speaker 1: it's a missing child or own abducted child. If a
22:15
Speaker 1: mother says someone has taken my child, that's an abduction.
22:20
Speaker 1: Treated accordingly. Take a Lissa to a prosecutor state in
22:23
Speaker 1: their opening statement, it was eight years old. She snus
22:33
Speaker 1: separated on a mother, her sisters, from all the last
22:41
Speaker 1: petrifying house of her life. With him, he got her great,
22:50
Speaker 1: He signized her and then sh h. He gagged her
23:02
Speaker 1: with such force her guns and her nostrils led. He
23:09
Speaker 1: strangled her with such force her eyeballs. Lad M Cherish
23:17
Speaker 1: did not die quickly, and she did not die easily,
23:22
Speaker 1: and backed her as a brutal and torture death. And
23:28
Speaker 1: after he killed her, he pulled her little lifeless body
23:32
Speaker 1: through the woods, pushed it under the water, forced it
23:37
Speaker 1: under a tree, and took asphalt ricks and debrief and
23:42
Speaker 1: waited her down because he planned for no one to
23:49
Speaker 1: find her. But as things did not go according to
23:54
Speaker 1: this planets he was caught. She was done, and that
24:00
Speaker 1: about time to see and I'm like enough time to
24:05
Speaker 1: collect and gather the primity evidence of this evidence on
24:14
Speaker 1: her body and in her body that would tell us.
24:18
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26:05
Speaker 1: people like us across the country every day and from
26:08
Speaker 1: being our partners. A lot of people are blaming the mother.
26:12
Speaker 1: They're saying, you should never have let her walk off
26:16
Speaker 1: with a guy, even if you think they're a good
26:18
Speaker 1: samaritan that you don't know, um you know out to you.
26:24
Speaker 1: Cheryl McCullum blameing the mom. Yeah, I don't think I
26:27
Speaker 1: would let my child go with somebody. I just meant,
26:29
Speaker 1: I mean, I know I wouldn't. But blaming the mom
26:33
Speaker 1: is not the answer. The mom did not murder her child.
26:37
Speaker 1: Cheryl Mom is absolutely the wrong. There's only one person
26:43
Speaker 1: it is responsible for what happens to Cherish, and that
26:46
Speaker 1: is the man on trial, Mr Smith. Nace, I'm gonna
26:49
Speaker 1: tay something else. You and I say it all the time.
26:52
Speaker 1: A lot of times. The person that ends up hurting
26:54
Speaker 1: your child is somebody already in your house. People that
26:58
Speaker 1: make their mind up if they're going to hurt a
27:01
Speaker 1: child could date you, could be related to you, could
27:04
Speaker 1: live next door to you, or like this person to
27:07
Speaker 1: be a complete stranger. It's not the family's fault. It's
27:12
Speaker 1: not Cherish your fault. It's not her mama's thought. It's
27:16
Speaker 1: Mr Smith's fault. Take a listen to Cherish his mother.
27:20
Speaker 1: This is heartbreaking on the stand man, Why did you
27:24
Speaker 1: feel okay to let the cherish walk to McDonald's would
27:29
Speaker 1: be defended. If he would have asked me if he
27:34
Speaker 1: could take her, I would have said no. But because
27:37
Speaker 1: McDonald's is inside Walmart with people around, I I knew
27:42
Speaker 1: she would never leave leave my side. Well, you've seen
27:47
Speaker 1: the photograph photographs and States exhibit here. Did you know
27:53
Speaker 1: and believe that there were surveanless cameras in the Walmart? Yes?
27:57
Speaker 1: I did you knew that McDonald's was in the Walmart? Right? Yes?
28:05
Speaker 1: Did you feel that if Cherish went to the McDonald's
28:07
Speaker 1: with him inside the Walmart that she didn't be said?
28:14
Speaker 1: Had you known that they were going to leave the store?
28:17
Speaker 1: Would you have left Cherished lead the store with the defendant?
28:22
Speaker 1: Did he ever ask you can Cherish come, we need
28:26
Speaker 1: to leave the store? Blue? Would you have ever let
28:34
Speaker 1: your child leave the store and leave the Walmart with
28:37
Speaker 1: this defendi? No? You thought they were just going to
28:43
Speaker 1: get che burgers after they walk off? What do you do?
28:54
Speaker 1: I went to the shoe section because my five year
28:57
Speaker 1: old Destiny wanted a pair of she use a bigger size.
29:04
Speaker 1: Did you continue to shop for the girls and look
29:07
Speaker 1: at clothes and things of that nature. I was just
29:09
Speaker 1: looking at the shoes and then I started to walk
29:14
Speaker 1: to the front of the store. Had you heard an
29:17
Speaker 1: announcement about the store would be closed? Yes? And what
29:21
Speaker 1: time was the Walmart actual clothing closing at eleven o'clock?
29:29
Speaker 1: So did you gather up your kids and take your
29:32
Speaker 1: purchases of the items that you were looking to purchase
29:34
Speaker 1: and go towards the front. Did you see Cherish anywhere
29:39
Speaker 1: in the store. Oh did you see the defendant, Donald Smith?
29:45
Speaker 1: Anywhere in the store? Did you look for Yes? What
29:53
Speaker 1: did you do to look for? I quickened my pace, said,
30:00
Speaker 1: I looked through every I'll let the register. There was
30:06
Speaker 1: no one there. Could you find Cherry? How did that
30:13
Speaker 1: make you feel? They started a panic? Did you look
30:21
Speaker 1: at the Walmart to see if they were at the
30:22
Speaker 1: war They weren't there. What about the McDonald's at the
30:27
Speaker 1: front of the store, the McDonald's. Were they at McDonald's?
30:37
Speaker 1: Did your panic start to become worse? Kiss? Could you
30:42
Speaker 1: find your daughter and this defendant anywhere in that store? Look?
30:53
Speaker 1: At some point did you seek help from the Walmart
30:55
Speaker 1: employees and try to call the pools? Yes? I was
30:59
Speaker 1: yell at calm my one one. My daughter has been
31:02
Speaker 1: taken to no one with it. The Lord would help me. Now,
31:06
Speaker 1: this is a real twist of justice, Thank you, Mr Smith.
31:10
Speaker 1: Earlier your attorneys had indicated that they may want to
31:13
Speaker 1: have some discussion with the court and then have some
31:15
Speaker 1: cross examination of this witness. But you're attorneys told me
31:19
Speaker 1: now that you wish for them not to do any
31:21
Speaker 1: cross examination of this witness. Is that correct? Do you
31:25
Speaker 1: understand there will not be another opportunity for them to
31:27
Speaker 1: cross examine her. Do you understand that? Um? And you
31:31
Speaker 1: understand of course, as I've told the jury, you're not
31:35
Speaker 1: you and your attorneys you're not required to do anything.
31:37
Speaker 1: You're not required to cross examine any witness. Do you
31:39
Speaker 1: understand that? And that's clearly how you wish to proceed. Okay, okay,
31:50
Speaker 1: So you don't want any cross examination. And it's clear
31:53
Speaker 1: on the record your age or your sixty one? Is
31:55
Speaker 1: that correct? Um, we've gone over this before. You've got
31:59
Speaker 1: to work history, you've got in the education history, you've
32:02
Speaker 1: understood everything that's going on in the courtroom before making
32:04
Speaker 1: this decision. Correct. Alright. I do find that Mr Smith
32:08
Speaker 1: is really involuntarily advised his counsel that he was just
32:12
Speaker 1: no cross examination of this witness. To mark class, the
32:16
Speaker 1: defense is saying, oh, we did not cross exam and cheers.
32:20
Speaker 1: She's mother because she was so upset. That is b s.
32:25
Speaker 1: They wanted her off to stand as quickly as they
32:28
Speaker 1: could get her off the stand because the jury started
32:31
Speaker 1: crying and getting upset listening to her. Now they're trying
32:35
Speaker 1: to act like they're the good guy in this scenario. No,
32:38
Speaker 1: that is b s Mark class. Well, yeah, and I
32:41
Speaker 1: think to give a little perspective in a little context
32:44
Speaker 1: of this, this woman is as bad as a mistake
32:47
Speaker 1: that she made and there's nobody that questions at it all. Um,
32:50
Speaker 1: she's now living out a life sentence. She'll never spend
32:54
Speaker 1: another day when she doesn't realize what happened and the
32:56
Speaker 1: mistakes that she made. And certainly this is not something
32:59
Speaker 1: that this poor woman who has struggled for so long deserves.
33:04
Speaker 1: This has to go back on the perpetrator. It has
33:07
Speaker 1: to go back on a system that allowed him to
33:10
Speaker 1: uh to regurgitate and commit and commit and commit to
33:15
Speaker 1: the point that a little girl is dead. You know,
33:17
Speaker 1: according to bystanders, they say nobody noticed. It looked like
33:22
Speaker 1: a grandfather and a granddaughter. And that is what the
33:25
Speaker 1: lawyer trying the case said as well. And if you
33:29
Speaker 1: look at it, it does look like that no one
33:33
Speaker 1: had any reason to suspect anything was wrong. To Ashley Wilcott,
33:38
Speaker 1: joining me, veteran trial lawyer and child advocate, what was
33:45
Speaker 1: the condition of cherishes body when it was found faces
33:51
Speaker 1: down in murky mud and water? Explain? Oh, it was
33:57
Speaker 1: horrible and so when the police did by her, um
34:01
Speaker 1: she'd been hit in the head, she'd been raped. And
34:05
Speaker 1: here's the part that gets to me. She was wearing
34:09
Speaker 1: a top with fruit on it. So you can really
34:12
Speaker 1: envision this young, vulnerable eight year old in the mud
34:17
Speaker 1: in the water. He's wet up to his waist, so
34:20
Speaker 1: you can only imagine what he did to her in
34:23
Speaker 1: the water, beaten, bruised, knocked in head awful conditions. I
34:32
Speaker 1: have reviewed hundreds of pages of documents and photos in
34:37
Speaker 1: this case, personally reviewed them. When Cherishes body was found.
34:45
Speaker 1: It's it's nauseating, it's sickening. That June day her body
34:50
Speaker 1: was found. These photos so upsetting her cherish little body
34:59
Speaker 1: was found in a tidal creek of the Trout River
35:03
Speaker 1: out behind the Highlands Baptist Church. The little girl's partially
35:07
Speaker 1: clothed body was faced down in about six inches of water,
35:12
Speaker 1: muddy water in a tidal creek and stuffed underneath a
35:16
Speaker 1: log and weighted down by asphalt chunks. That's how her
35:25
Speaker 1: body was found. His van was stopped on Interstate about
35:30
Speaker 1: the same time that morning, and as Astley just said,
35:33
Speaker 1: he was still soaking wet, had mud on his shoes,
35:38
Speaker 1: covered and scratches. He said he didn't know, CHERI should
35:43
Speaker 1: have been doing drugs all night. I mean he told
35:50
Speaker 1: his mom he was going out to my alcoholics anonymous meeting.
35:54
Speaker 1: According to the mother, his mother, Cherish, the girl was raped, strangled,
36:04
Speaker 1: blunt forced trauma to her head and face. I remember
36:09
Speaker 1: looking at the crime scene photos and there was blood.
36:13
Speaker 1: It looked like blood, and the back area of the
36:17
Speaker 1: carpeted area in the back of the van it's and
36:22
Speaker 1: when I look at it, it just it just overwhelms me.
36:28
Speaker 1: Cheryl McCullum. Probably his intention putting her body in the
36:31
Speaker 1: water was hoping it would wash away some of the
36:35
Speaker 1: evidence as to who did it. DNA was on her body,
36:40
Speaker 1: and the likelihood that it came from anybody other than
36:43
Speaker 1: him is thirty five quintillion to one. Cheryl McCollum, it's him.
36:51
Speaker 1: It's him, and his DNA was found on multiple places
36:55
Speaker 1: on her body. And Nancy remember a few days before
36:58
Speaker 1: this event happened, he took the back seat out of
37:01
Speaker 1: his van. This was planned. He was hunting for a
37:06
Speaker 1: victim period and if it had not been Cherished, it
37:09
Speaker 1: would have been somebody else. And that is what we
37:12
Speaker 1: have got to recognize and wake up to. As you know, Nacy.
37:17
Speaker 1: In the state of Georgia, we used to have the
37:20
Speaker 1: Department of Rehabilitation. We don't call it that anymore. We
37:24
Speaker 1: call it the Department of Corrections because rehabilitation doesn't work.
37:28
Speaker 1: There is no counseling you can do. There's no punishment
37:32
Speaker 1: you can give to make these people stopped. The only
37:36
Speaker 1: thing that makes them stop is prison or death. You know,
37:40
Speaker 1: to Karen Smith, forensics expert, what do you make of
37:44
Speaker 1: all the forensics? What do you know of them? I
37:46
Speaker 1: know that the crimesting investigators went and and the processed
37:52
Speaker 1: Donald Smith's van, and they found a lot of evidence
37:55
Speaker 1: in the back. There were a couple of markers that
37:57
Speaker 1: indicated some hairs were found back there are like the
38:00
Speaker 1: blood that you mentioned earlier. UM. In addition, when they
38:04
Speaker 1: went to the scene where she was dumped behind the church,
38:09
Speaker 1: I should say that location is less than two miles
38:12
Speaker 1: from the walmart where she was abducted. UM. So that's
38:15
Speaker 1: forty minutes ban where she was running around the walmart
38:18
Speaker 1: screaming call nine one one. UM. I would hate to
38:21
Speaker 1: say that it would be too late, but he had
38:23
Speaker 1: already taken her less than two miles away to the church.
38:27
Speaker 1: When they got their canine officer located the body based
38:31
Speaker 1: on a tip that they received from neighbors who saw
38:34
Speaker 1: a white band park there overnight. And when they found
38:38
Speaker 1: the body, the crimestne investigators went and they swabbed all
38:42
Speaker 1: kinds of areas of her body, regardless of whether or
38:44
Speaker 1: not she was in water. Um they took every precaution
38:47
Speaker 1: and and swabbed numerous areas the DNA anal escape testimonies,
38:52
Speaker 1: and that's when she came up with the statistical evidence
38:54
Speaker 1: of thirty five quintillion to one. The other was twelve
38:58
Speaker 1: quadrillions to one. So we're talking to the exclusion of
39:02
Speaker 1: every other person on the planet. And mentem guys, we
39:04
Speaker 1: are talking about the horrific case of a little girl
39:08
Speaker 1: being lured out of a Walmart superstore in Florida to
39:12
Speaker 1: meet her horrific assault and murder. The perpetrator somehow trying
39:19
Speaker 1: to twist the facts to blame the mother, the mother
39:22
Speaker 1: in this scenario. But when you look at this guy
39:26
Speaker 1: in court, he looks so meek and my all, like
39:29
Speaker 1: maybe an English professor or somebody's grandfather. But catch this
39:36
Speaker 1: unbeknownst to defense attorneys and jail inmates alike. There were
39:41
Speaker 1: taping devices inside that Florida jail house. Take a listen
39:48
Speaker 1: to what we have learned. We got our mits on
39:50
Speaker 1: those tapes. Here this guy talking behind bars, and let
39:56
Speaker 1: me tell you this is not for the week. Need
40:01
Speaker 1: listen here, y'all, here, y'all, mann, y'all. Twelve forty as
40:19
Speaker 1: that as the second voice that's on that recording. Is
40:26
Speaker 1: that the voice of Donald Smith? Yes, sir, the person
40:29
Speaker 1: who said they're about twelve, Yes, sir, Yeah, he should
40:42
Speaker 1: yeah right here at my card hearing right there when
40:55
Speaker 1: I do you have one car? The person who said
41:02
Speaker 1: that's my target area, that's what I go after. Whose
41:05
Speaker 1: voice is that? The defendants? He shouldn't yeah, right out
41:21
Speaker 1: right here my card area right here. What are you doing?
41:30
Speaker 1: Are you you see her? Yea clean fair Yeah, her
41:51
Speaker 1: arm officer car. The voice that just said I'd like
41:57
Speaker 1: to run into her at walmart? Is that the voice
41:59
Speaker 1: of the yes that was secretly recorded sound inside the
42:07
Speaker 1: jail behind jail house walls of this perp that murdered
42:12
Speaker 1: cherished periodical on trial right now, allegedly murdered her talking
42:17
Speaker 1: about the bodies of twelve and thirteen year old little
42:21
Speaker 1: girl talking so obsessed with little girls. He was talking
42:25
Speaker 1: through the toilet in the jail to another inmate. So
42:29
Speaker 1: if he couldn't get his hands on a little girls,
42:31
Speaker 1: he just wanted to talk about them and fantasize about them.
42:35
Speaker 1: And it turns out he was being recorded Mark Class God, Nancy,
42:42
Speaker 1: you know it takes me back. Um. One of the
42:45
Speaker 1: things that Pauli's killer told a psychiatrist during an evaluation
42:50
Speaker 1: back in is that he sits in prison and thinks
42:57
Speaker 1: about past victims and masturbates at least twice daily. Well,
43:03
Speaker 1: this is a crime that will never end. As long
43:05
Speaker 1: as this guy is alive. He's going to be fantasizing
43:08
Speaker 1: about Cherish, He's going to be acting out about Cherish
43:12
Speaker 1: and there's absolutely nothing we can do except make sure
43:15
Speaker 1: that he stays behind bars. And that's what these guys do.
43:18
Speaker 1: It's all about the fantasy. Once the crime is committed,
43:22
Speaker 1: these victims are being victimized for the rest of their waters.
43:27
Speaker 1: In the last hours, we are on trial Watch. We
43:31
Speaker 1: are bringing you live streaming of the case on crime
43:36
Speaker 1: online dot Com. We pray for justice, child and Ashley.
43:42
Speaker 1: I'm just I'm sick to my stomach, Nancy. The verdict
43:45
Speaker 1: came back and in this case, I think justice has
43:48
Speaker 1: well been served. Within fifteen minutes, the jury came back
43:52
Speaker 1: and it convicted him on all counts for first degree murder, kidnapping,
43:58
Speaker 1: and sexual battery of a child under age of twelve.
44:01
Speaker 1: So I think we can all agree justice has been served. Actually, Nancy,
44:05
Speaker 1: let's listen to the reading of the verdict. James very
44:09
Speaker 1: counting been a guilty in first agreemer as charge of
44:14
Speaker 1: the evictor. Read further find fans pre meditated brother found
44:19
Speaker 1: a killion sent during the commission to commission are they
44:22
Speaker 1: selling a cannappy sexual battery park to three quart kidnapping
44:29
Speaker 1: as charge in the indictment, we findal Na was on
44:33
Speaker 1: the thirteen years page at the time of the offense.
44:36
Speaker 1: We might the defending can sexual battery on the dati
44:38
Speaker 1: during the comission of the US verdict Count three new
44:44
Speaker 1: jury find defending guilty of sexual battery from the first
44:47
Speaker 1: lessons well day as person the investment. So same, y'all
44:51
Speaker 1: known the Jackson Waking Florida find A four versus February fourteen. Okay,
44:58
Speaker 1: thank you, madam Clark to see the part I wish
45:00
Speaker 1: to have the cherry called Madame Clark, if you would
45:03
Speaker 1: fall the cherry please, She's gonna ask each one of
45:05
Speaker 1: you is this Chary Barbeck. She will ask you in
45:07
Speaker 1: the order during number seven party journal Yeah, jurnmer yes
45:19
Speaker 1: during during eighteen is your true yes during jumber Yes
45:33
Speaker 1: during three yes, journey during number pride yes. Jur number
45:47
Speaker 1: sixty two is yes number. So let's talk about the fact. First,
45:54
Speaker 1: the defense did not present any witnesses. So keep in
45:57
Speaker 1: mind that when they cross examine the state witnesses for
46:01
Speaker 1: the prosecution, that is a type of evidence there there presenting.
46:05
Speaker 1: But typically when a defense does not present evidence and
46:10
Speaker 1: waves closing, it's because they believe that evidence has already
46:15
Speaker 1: been presented by the prosecution. What I mean by that
46:18
Speaker 1: is if they think that jurors have already made up
46:23
Speaker 1: their minds and have already found for the prosecution, they
46:28
Speaker 1: don't want to get up there and present evidence and
46:30
Speaker 1: make closing because that may solidify those jurors they think
46:35
Speaker 1: have already made the decision to convict, and so it's
46:38
Speaker 1: a safer bet to sit back and remain silent and
46:41
Speaker 1: hope that maybe at least one juror is on their side,
46:45
Speaker 1: and actually the sentencing phase starts very soon on Tuesday.
46:50
Speaker 1: For Donald Smith, let's listen to the judges instructions to
46:53
Speaker 1: the jurory gonna start on Tuesday. I need to let
46:56
Speaker 1: you know ahead of time that we may be here
46:58
Speaker 1: a little bit later on Tuesday A because some of
47:01
Speaker 1: the witnesses have to travel and based on their schedules,
47:04
Speaker 1: we need to get them um in and out on
47:08
Speaker 1: that day. So I would ask you to plan to
47:10
Speaker 1: be here a little bit later on Tuesday than you
47:12
Speaker 1: have been this week. And I would ask you if
47:15
Speaker 1: you could to be here um at a quarter of
47:18
Speaker 1: nine so that we can start at nine o'clock. You
47:22
Speaker 1: cannot discuss the case still among yourselves or with anyone else,
47:26
Speaker 1: and you cannot discuss their deliberations with them at this point.
47:31
Speaker 1: The trial is still continuing. Um. All sixteen of you
47:35
Speaker 1: will be back or need to be back, on Tuesday morning.
47:38
Speaker 1: And all sixteen of you are excused now with our
47:42
Speaker 1: thanks for your patients in your time this week, and
47:45
Speaker 1: we'll see you Tuesday morning at nine. So remember this
47:49
Speaker 1: is the state of Florida, and so death penalty is
47:51
Speaker 1: a is a possible sentence for this particular defendant. And
47:55
Speaker 1: we'll look forward to Tuesday when the sentence thing will
47:58
Speaker 1: follow and we will see what there are not he
48:01
Speaker 1: actually receives the death penalty for these heinous crimes. Three minutes.
48:09
Speaker 1: That's how long, dr round how long he said, that's
48:15
Speaker 1: how long it took, at a minimum, to while she's fought,
48:27
Speaker 1: while she lay well, every last roue left the mine.
48:42
Speaker 1: He scienced her, and he took her in. Dun't do that.
48:50
Speaker 1: That is not for mening. I don't know what it is.
49:00
Speaker 1: Back in jury selection, one of your fellow jurors comminented,
49:05
Speaker 1: cherished did not have a voice in this court. Respectfully,
49:10
Speaker 1: I'm disabler even in death, for the irrefutable physical evidence
49:21
Speaker 1: that was left behind, the injuries to her body, the
49:28
Speaker 1: biological evidence that he left on her and inside of her.
49:38
Speaker 1: Through that, and she has a voice and from the
49:45
Speaker 1: race she was crying out to you, h Donald Smith
49:58
Speaker 1: rank me M. Dond Smith Sis. Donald Smith sprang until
50:31
Speaker 1: every last one I left my life. Nancy Grace Crime Story,
50:37
Speaker 1: signing off, goodbye friend,