Forensic Transmissions Episode 137: Rayne Perrywinkle Testimony
This episode contains the testimony of Rayne Perrywinkle during the trial of Donald James Smith. On June 21, 2013, Rayne, 45, was out shopping with her 3 daughters at a Dollar General in Jacksonville. Walmart on June 21, when she got into conversation with man named Donald James Smith, who offered to take the family to buy clothes at a nearby Walmart. She said she and her daughters got into his van and rode with him to the store. When the girls started getting hungry, Smith offered to get them food at the McDonald’s inside the Walmart. He took Rayne’s youngest daughter, Cherish, 8, with her. Video surveillance showed Smith and Cherish Perrywinkle walking out of the Walmart. No-one saw Cherish again.
Smith, a 56-year-old sex offender, raped and strangled Cherish Perrywinkle, who was found dead in a creek behind the Highland Baptist Church in Jacksonville. Smith was sentenced to death in 2018. Rayne Perrywinkle’s two surviving daughters have been adopted by a family who have since moved to Australia.