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PRIMETIME JUSTICE WITH ASHLEIGH BANFIELD

Bad Day for Robber`s Life; Husband Arrested for Wife`s Mysterious Death; Death Bed Awaits Donald Smith. Aired 6-6:30p ET

Aired February 26, 2018 - 18:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

[18:00:00] ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, HOST, HLN: Good evening, everyone. I`m Ashleigh Banfield, and this is Crime and Justice.

Mother-daughter duos are a force to be reckoned with, but tonight we had a pair like no other and the proof is in the video. They were manning a

liquor store in Tulsa, Oklahoma when an armed robber came in and rushed the cash register.

The daughter, Ashley, complies with his demands, she stands by, hands in the air as the robber just helped themselves to all of their money. But I

want you to watch closely. Because Ashley is only playing nice for so long. It turns out she and her mother, Tina, have a plan. And as soon as the

robber moves away from the register, they bolt the door locking the robber inside the store with them. That`s when they grabbed their own guns from

behind the register and take they cover and start firing at him.

A couple of shots and the robber actually ends up moving out of sight of the camera`s view. But you can see Ashley actually dialing the police as

the man stumbles back into view. And Tina, the mom fires again and gets him in the leg.

But this guy is not going down. He tackles Tina, the mother to the ground and fighting over the gun and he eventually get that mother`s gun and

starts firing it at the mother and the daughter, and thank God that gun was out of bullet when he got it.

But that`s when Ashley takes aim with her gun and she starts firing. Again the robber is not going down without a fight. He comes after Ashley, the

daughter again. Chasing her around the register before finally collapsing behind the counter. I guess it took six bullets for that to happen.

That`s when the women made their escape and left the store, but when the dust settled, Tina, the mom, needed about a half dozen staples to the head

from the gash the robber gave her.

However, 36-year-year-old Tyrone Lee did not fare so well. He is right now in the hospital recovering from the gunshot wounds that Tina and her

daughter gave him. He reportedly drove himself there to the hospital post robbery before being put into a medically induced coma.

But now he is out of the coma and facing robber charges for approximately 10 incidents around the area. Tina said all along she just wanted to

protect her daughter.

By all accounts it seems that Kathleen West was a great mom to her daughter as well. But she was also great to her customers, the people who paid

$15.99 a month to see pictures of her semi-naked body. Those customers called her Kitty Kat, Kitty Kat West. Right up until she was found dead on

the lawn across from her quite suburban home in Alabama.

She was killed by blunt force trauma to the head. Apparently, the murder weapon was a green liquor bottle, and guess what was found near her body. A

green liquor bottle. Until just a few days ago this was a creepy mystery unanswered mystery. Topped off with the husband who appear at a liquor

store with Kathleen. On the video that we got from Inside Edition and you can see they are buying Absinthe the night of her death.

That husband Jeff West said nothing to reporters in the days and the weeks that followed all of this. But his parents had been insisting that he is

innocent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM WEST, JEFF WEST`S FATHER: Shocked. That`s all I can say. Shocked about it. That`s my son. He didn`t do it. I think he didn`t do it. I think

she fell. Really I think she fell. They said her body was half on the road and half in the grass. I think she fell.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Well, innocent or not, Jeff is going to have to start talking because after two interviews with the police, he`s now been put in

handcuffs and he`s now been charged with his wife`s murder.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At what point did Jeff West become a suspect?

SEAN LEMLEY, POLICE CHIEF, CALERA POLICE DEPARTMENT: He was a suspect in the very beginning.

(OFF-MIC)

I don`t really know how to answer that. So it`s not that he has not been uncooperative, but you know, I would say I guess, somewhat.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And how many times have you speak with him over the course of the investigation?

LEMLEY: I believe we have talked to him twice, but I don`t have the specific number. I believe twice.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His demeanor, I`m just curious of his demeanor.

LEMLEY: You know, it didn`t seem to be the times that I have seen him. He didn`t seem very upset.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[18:04:57] BANFIELD: Tonight there are a whole lot more details spilling out of the police paperwork. And they are raising as many eyebrows as Kitty

Kat West`s pictures did.

With me now, from Birmingham syndicated radio host Dave Mack. Dave, you know, the drips and drabs of information that have come out from this story

certainly have not helped in terms of the sensationalist aspect to the story. But neither have those photographs because more and more photographs

get released all the time, too. What is the official story from the police as to how she died?

DAVE MACK, SYNDICATED RADIO HOST: According to what they filed so far and what they said they believed that after they were in the liquor store, Kat

and her husband went home and had dinner and drinks and it evolved into a domestic violent issue where he ended up hitting her over the head with

that Absinthe bottle they purchased at the liquor store just a few hours earlier.

BANFIELD: So they are saying it is the Absinthe bottle that caused her death? And are they expounding on that, meaning medical examiner has

matched that bottle to the injury, et cetera, et cetera, or are they just being sort of cagey about it?

MACK: They are being very cagey about it, Ashleigh and they`ve been since the very beginning. But they knew that they were dealing with a woman who

had this, well, second lifestyle if you go there. But the Absinthe actually appeared to be placed what we were told on top of the cell phone next to

her body. And it was sitting there like it had been positioned there. And we know that they did immediate testing of all of the forensics and that it

was after they got the forensic testing and the results back on that bottle, that`s when the charges were made and that`s when Jeff was

arrested.

BANFIELD: OK. So for the record, usually when something like this happens, the victim`s parents or family members will step up and be outraged and be

upset and cast dispersions typically on the person arrested. But Kitty Kat West`s parents are casting no aspersions on the husband, are they?

MACK: No, ma`am. Everybody it seems that is close to this couple and that includes Kitty Kat West`s mom and dad, her parents and his parents they`re

al saying there`s no way Jeff did this. They had a great relationship, maybe have a spat from time to time, but there`s no way they believe he did

this.

BANFIELD: OK. So Jeff is -- well, Jeff is not talking. Let`s just be super clear about all of this.

MACK: Right.

BANFIELD: Jeff has been quiet from the get go. Unusually so. Even the neighbors said his reaction the morning that they discovered her body lying

there almost naked wearing only a sports bra was sort of step on the cigarette, turned around, step back into the house he didn`t even call 911,

apparently it was those neighbors who discovered the body who called 911.

But Jeff`s dad is saying that he thinks this is a huge screw up on the part of the police.

MACK: Yes.

BANFIELD: Let me just play this one moment that he had to say about the investigation and the police in particular. Have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WEST: I think they screwed up the investigation. They thought he was the one who did it to start with and they never look forward, nowhere else.

They are trying to blame somebody and they told him it was circumstantial evidence and then they said they got proof. They don`t know what they`ve

got.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: OK. So, that`s intriguing. Because from the get go we were also pretty shocked that the police didn`t even have in their possession video

of the person they`ve now arrested and Kitty Kat West. She and her husband were in a liquor store buying a bottle of Absinthe that they now say is the

murder weapon, they didn`t even have that video and they can`t even get that video officially from the source.

Inside Edition got the video and then it was taped over because no one else came to get it. So there may be something to what they were saying, right,

Dave?

MACK: Well, of course, that`s where you`re going to head with it. But, you know, Ashleigh, from the very beginning the police were not talking. They

played this very close to the vest. You`ve got a husband whose wife is dead out in the road at 5 o`clock in the morning and you dump a cigarette out

and go back to bed? The police came in and woke him up. He didn`t call 911.

Regardless of the video the night before, she is dead and he goes back to bed without calling 911. Who does that? That`s what the big question mark

is for many people. The police have been very quiet. Jeff hasn`t spoken to anybody, the family hasn`t spoken until now.

And now they`re saying well, the police messed it up. Well, the police they haven`t told us what they`ve done or what they haven`t done. All we know is

they worked this closely, they played all their cards, they got their forensics and then they made their arrest and they claim they know exactly

what happened.

BANFIELD: Well, I`ll just beg to differ because I`ve been in too many courtrooms where a defense attorney will say, and about those forensics

where did you get your video show, a TV show? Not to cast versions on my, you know, my profession, but police should be getting their forensics

firsthand, they shouldn`t be calling the TV networks to get the stuff they should have had weeks prior to that.

[18:09:54] Real quickly, Jeff apparently says, or Jeff`s dad apparently says that Jeff and Kat had drinks and dinner, apparently he had to work the

next morning and went to sleep. Jeff`s dad also said while Jeff was sleeping, Kat continued to drink by herself, presumably and then passed out

and hit her head.

And somehow this accident led to that young woman being stripped almost completely naked across the street from her home and passed out half on the

lawn and half in the road with an Absinthe bottle gashed to her head that the lethal injury and her cell phone gently balancing the bottle of

Absinthe on top.

So, it sounds preposterous to me personally that someone would do that themselves in an accident. So that sounds crazy. But here`s -- here is what

the police said. That Chief Sean Lemley said that this case has had challenges from the beginning and here`s how he worded it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEMLEY: The differences involved in this case is the victim`s location. Where she was located she was outside of the home. Typically when you have

domestic, you know, it typically going to be within inside the residence. This was outside the home across the street. The fact that she was

partially nude is one of the challenges that brings in a lot of other questions involved in this case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: A couple of challenges in this case. That`s why I want to bring in CNN`s senior law enforcement analyst and former FBI assistant director

Tom Fuentes. He joins me live from Fairfax, Virginia.

Tom, one of the fascinating nuggets that we gleamed from the police paper work is that the DEA task force was thanked for its work in this case, as

was the FBI cell phone technologist. FBI cell phone technologist, I get it, but the DEA in a case like this? Can yo help make sense of what their role

might have been?

TOM FUENTES, LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST, CNN: I don`t know. That`s a good question, Ashleigh. So, you know, we have to hear more from the police

about how the investigation was conducted and what went on and what evidence that they gathered during the course. Because the husband wasn`t

immediately arrested in spite of all of the suspicious behavior of he comes out he sees his wife`s dead body and goes back in the house and goes back

to bed like nothing happened.

We don`t know. Did he drink too much the night before, was he under the influence of drugs? You know, what did the police do when they arrived at

that residence and the questions about the rest of the investigation, you know, she has this web site and probably has some admirers, many male

admirers who are following her.

Did she have a relationship with somebody else? Did somebody after the husband if he did go to bed the night before, did some other male person

come to visit her, you know, maybe she was having an affair or some other. We just don`t know all these type of answers.

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: Well, they did -- they did say that final...

FUENTES: And there`s a lot of -- a lot of that investigation that...

BANFIELD: Yes, go ahead.

FUENTES: A lot of that investigation has not been revealed. The police have been very quiet about what they have and how they got it. You know, what

they learned along the way during the time since the murder to the present time when just a couple of days ago arrested the husband.

BANFIELD: They said that the analysis of the, quote, "final piece of evidence" was returned to Calera from the Alabama Department of Forensic

Sciences two days before they made the arrest. They won`t say what that final piece of evidence was, they won`t say anything about DNA or whose DNA

might have been on that bottle.

But certainly from the photographs, thank you, Inside Edition, the video from the night before, that bottle may have opened their fingerprints on it

and who knows if there are other prints.

Tom, stand by for one second. I have a quick question for defense attorney Kirby Clements who joins me now live from Atlanta. Kirby, $500,000 bond on

a guy who is in a state with the death penalty for murder and he is being held on murder, $500,000. First, I don`t get that. And second, he wants

that reduced. Does he have a shot?

KIRBY CLEMENTS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I don`t think he`s going to have a realistic shot of getting that reduced. Generally in murder cases, I rarely

see people get bond. So the fact that he`s got a half million that was bond is probably the benevolence of the judge. And if somehow they reduced it,

what, 450. I just don`t see it getting reduced.

BANFIELD: I`m always astounded when I heard about bond. It`s not that I`ve never heard of it, inspector, I`m talking to you, but I am always astounded

when there is a possible death penalty on the table that there is any bond at all because what do you got to lose at that point?

Kirby, thank you for that. Tom Fuentes, thank you as well. And my thanks to Dave Mack.

Tonight I`ve got an update for you on the case of the house of horrors. You know that story out of California? With that in mind, take a look at David

and Louise Turpin in court. Look at them smiling lovingly at each other on opposite side of the court house. It is bizarre. Because they are smiling

despite the fact that this is no picnic what they are going to in this courtroom.

They are now facing additional changes related to the torture of their 13 children and the allegations that they held them captive in their home.

[18:14:59] After further investigation the Riverside district attorney there has decided to tack on an extra three counts of child abuse for this

loving couple.

Louise was also charged with felony assault which means they each face now more than 40 charges. It`s just remarkable. Turpin`s lawyer says that they

are pleading not guilty to the new charges, same as they did with the other 37.

In the meantime, an attorney for the adult children says that those children are doing very well in their recovery. All 13 had been at various

California hospitals since their rescue last month. Yes, I said rescue. Adults and children alike. Rescued.

On June 21st, 2013, 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle came face-to-face with a monster. And that monster, Donald Smith kidnapped, raped and murdered her.

Now Donald Smith kidnapped her, raped her, and murdered her. Now Donald Smith is facing a death sentence for what he did.

But Cherish`s mother, Rayne is facing a life sentence of her own. A sentence without her beautiful baby girl. And up next, her first reaction

on this program to that verdict.

[18:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: The nightmare most parents can only imagine has been one woman`s reality for years. Shopping with her family for clothes. A stranger

approached them and then took her child. Luring her 8-year-old out of Wal- Mart with the promise of something yummy. And then in the blink of an eye, that child was gone.

(BEGIN VOICE CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m at Wal-Mart on Lem Turner. She`s been taken.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do you mean?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Taken by a stranger. I can`t find her. He said he was going to McDonald`s. She went with him. I should have told her to stay with

me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was to the McDonald`s inside the store?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, there`s a McDonald`s inside the store. And I don`t understand why he would leave right now her unless he was going to

rape her and kill her. That`s the only reason.

(END VOICE CLIP)

BANFIELD: That Florida mother`s worst fear was exactly what happened to her daughter. Because the seemingly kind man who had approached her family

offering to buy them clothing and burgers was actually a sex offender who had just been released from jail.

Tonight, Donald Smith is back behind bars for kidnapping, rape, and murder. And the mother of Cherish Perrywinkle has finally been given some justice.

Because a jury decided that jail isn`t bad enough for Donald Smith, instead they decided he needs to die for what he did to Cherish, that 8-year-old

girl.

With me now, Cherish Perrywinkle`s mom, Rayne Perrywinkle alongside retired Jacksonville officer Charlie Wilkie. Charlie found Cherish`s body and

Charlie also arrested Donald Smith. Welcome to both of you and thank you very much for being with us tonight.

CHARLIE WILKIE, RETIRED POLICE OFFICER, JACKSONVILLE: Good evening. Thank you.

BANFIELD: Rayne, I want to get your first reaction to the verdict, two verdicts. One that Donald Smith is indeed guilty and two, that he should

die for the crime. Rayne, can give me your reaction upon hearing that verdict from the jury?

RAYNE PERRYWINKLE, CHERISH PERRYWINKLE`S MOTHER: I was crying. I was really hoping that he would get guilty, but I wasn`t quite sure until I saw a

couple jurors handing around the tissues so then I knew that he would get it. It was definite.

BANFIELD: And Rayne, it`s that one reaction that you immediately have upon hearing what the jury`s decision is. And then it`s the hours and the days

afterwards. Processing it and making sense of it. And so often people want to know if there is something called closure. And more often than not,

there isn`t. How do you feel about everything that happened since this case just wrapped up?

PERRYWINKLE: I don`t know how to answer that question. I`m sorry. I have been crying earlier. Could you repeat it, please?

BANFIELD: I guess the easiest way to pose the question would be, does it feel like you got justice for your baby girl? For 8-year-old Cherish

Perrywinkle, this beautiful child I`m looking at on screen, did you get justice?

PERRYWINKLE: I can`t see her, I wish I could see her right now. Actually I believe justice was served for the death penalty, but sadly, he may sit on

death row for a number of years having his appeals. Death row needs to be death, not a life sentence.

BANFIELD: well, you know, it`s interesting that you say that because if you were watching, if anybody was watching closely during this trial, when that

verdict was read and I`m going to play it -- I`m going to play it right now, but when that verdict was read, Donald Smith was nodding, almost

agreeing with that verdict.

[18:25:00] And it didn`t seem satisfying to see that he was in agreement with it. I want you to just take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We, the jury, unanimously find that the defendant Donald James Smith should be sentenced to death. Yes. And so say we all

this 22nd day of February, 2018.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: So, Rayne, Donald was nodding his head to the decision was read by the judge that he should die for the crime. How did you feel like that?

PERRYWINKLE: He`s disgusting. He thinks he is going to get a needle in his arm. What he did to Cherish pales in comparison. And I`m not a violent

person. But I believe in an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. He deserves exactly what he got. Exactly what he gave Cherish and more. He

deserves that.

BANFIELD: And so is that interesting that you say that, Rayne. Because Charlie, I`m going to bring you in to this conversation because he, Donald

Smith was overheard talking to his mother.

WILKIE: Yes.

BANFIELD: While he was in jail awaiting this trial and he effectively said to his mother that he wanted the death penalty because he was afraid of

being raped and murdered by other prisoners. So it`s hard to sort of know how to feel about him getting what he said he wanted.

And Charlie, since you were the person who discovered Cherish`s body and who arrested Donald Smith, perhaps you can help me make sense of it.

WILKIE: Well, I think that, you know, we all feel the same way. We all feel that he deserves a violent death, unfortunately. The way that poor

Cherish`s life ended but we live in a society where that can`t happen. And most or a lot of people were hoping he would get life in prison so he would

be prey for the other prisoners, if you will. And some of them even in our jail had tried to get to him even though he`s been in solitaire this whole

time.

But you know, when we take a step back from it and we talk about this the last few days, if there were a death penalty case, how in the world could

this not be it? How could you create, and how could you commit a heinous of a crime premeditated step by step from the stalking of the prey all the way

to the end and then it not be the death penalty. I mean, how could it not be?

And so, everybody in their heart of hearts is hoping that the process is expedited and even a lot of us hoping that maybe, you know, this may sound

callus, but a lot of people are hoping that may be on the wrong day at the wrong time and he is at the wrong place at the prison and something bad

befalls him. I don`t think anybody is going to shed a tear for that but I know we won`t, I know we won`t.

BANFIELD: You know, it`s the kind of reaction I think a lot of people have. There have been serial killers in the past who have been killed in prison

and it was almost like a collective cheer broke out.

WILKIE: Absolutely.

BANFIELD: Whether it was because of retribution or whether it was because it saved the state any more time or grief, and it save victims and their

family members any more grief. You know, that remains to the individual person and each individual person`s reaction.

But I want to ask you about something that you have said. That you want to be there.

WILKIE: Yes.

BANFIELD: You want to be present when he is put to death.

WILKIE: Yes.

BANFIELD: Talk me through that.

WILKIE: Yes. I think as I stated the other day when we were on the program that, you know, in law enforcement, we go through a lot of things. I`ve

been through shootings and shots and unfortunately taken lives, and I`ve seen other children die in just accidents.

And all those take their toll on you, but nothing has affected me like this has. It`s almost in essence that I want that closure. I want to know that

he can`t hurt anybody else. That there will never be some change in the law down the road or some anything that could ever give him any freedom, that

they`ll never be hopefully another tour of the prison that he see some young girls walking by and the recording that we heard about that. You

know, how callus he was and talking about how they were his target range and that`s what he loved to find them at Wal-Mart.

I spoke the other night in depth on the phone for about an hour to Cherish`s dad, Billy. And he asked me personally if I would be there. If I

would go to wherever, if it`s a rape or wherever and watch the execution. I said absolutely. I had already planned on it. Melissa Nelson and I, the

state attorney had already planned that we would go together, that all of us, all of us want this closure. All of us want this to end with Donald

Smith no longer breathing the same air as the rest of us because he`s forfeited that right. He`s forfeited that right by what he`s done.

[18:29:56] BANFIELD: So, I mean, that sounds logical. It sounds like what I think a lot of people are feeling and thinking. It`s so different. Rayne, I

would think very different for you. You had to live through that trial. You had to be in the same room with him. You had to look at him as he nodded,

at times was even laughing in this courtroom. I wonder if you feel the same way that Charlie does. Do you want to be there the day that Donald meets

his fate?

RAYNE PERRYWINKLE, MOTHER OF CHERISH PERRYWINKLE: Absolutely.

BANFIELD: Tell me a little bit about what you think that will feel like. What it will feel like.

PERRYWINKLE: It would be very hard, but I would have to do it for Cherish. Just for her.

BANFIELD: And Rayne, what if -- what if it never comes? There -- there are so many challenges. There are so many legal issues. There are appeals.

There are even issues with carrying out the death penalty. What if it never comes? Will you be okay just knowing that he is suffering in a cell?

PERRYWINKLE: No. I don`t believe he is suffering at all because of how I saw him in the courtroom. I chose to look at him. And I would see his -- he

would shrug his shoulders too much. He can`t sit still. He is swinging his chair and he is looking for sympathy.

And I saw him praying and tears rolling down his face on the day that the verdict was read for death penalty. And he is just so disgusting. I really

don`t have words for him. He is a demon from the pits of hell.

BANFIELD: Yes, and I think there will be a lot of people watching right now who wholeheartedly agree with you, Rayne, and feel that there are no words

to describe a man like this. Who would do this to your beautiful daughter, Cherish.

I wanted also to let our viewers know something. The two of you are at Jacksonville together right now and you are seated beside one another. You

know, you hold a very special bond. Charlie, you made that terrifyingly traumatic discovery of Cherish`s body that day.

And then you were able to continue in this case until you arrested that man. And here you are speaking after he has been adjudicated and found

guilty and been sentenced to die. That could change. We know there is still another level of this case where the judge has to accept the jury`s

recommendation.

CHARLIE WILKIE, RETIRED JACKSONVILLE SHERIFF`S OFFICER: Right.

BANFIELD: But Rayne hasn`t had a chance to really talk to you about this yet, and she hasn`t had a chance to sort of -- I guess work through a lot

of this with you. So, when we come back after the break, if it is OK, I want to give you guys the opportunity to at least sort of share (INAUDIBLE)

and tell us how you feel about --

WILKIE: Sure.

BANFIELD: -- what you have been through and what you are going to go through as we go forward. We will be back right after this.

[18:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Twelve minutes. That`s all it took a jury to find Donald Smith guilty of murder. And it didn`t take them a whole lot longer to decide that

he deserves to die. The sex offender at the center of a case so graphic, seasoned officers and experts are brought to tears over this, like a

medical examiner whose daily job it is to deal with grizzly tortured bodies. But when it came to the case of 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle --

(START VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice over): You mentioned earlier that during an autopsy you take dissections?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice over): Will you first tell the jury what you saw when you dissected her throat?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. So what we do is -- I`m sorry, I have to take a break. Can I just have like five minutes?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice over): You want a five-minute break? I think we will all take a break for 10 minutes. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Donald Smith is 61, but now he is a step closer to death because he took an 8-year-old girl away from her family after getting her mother to

trust him. Before he raped her and strangled her to death and then hid her body in a creek. And tonight the people who had to live with this story for

years are now talking about this story.

Joining me again is Cherish Perrywinkle`s mother, Rayne Perrywinkle, and retired Jacksonville sheriff`s officer, Charlie Wilkie. A reminder, Charlie

found Cherish`s body and Charlie arrested Donald Smith. Rayne and Charlie, thank you so much for staying with me through the break.

WILKIE: You`re welcome.

BANFIELD: For those who are just joining us, I said before the break that really -- you two have not had a chance to talk through the bond that you

never asked for, but now forever will have.

[18:40:00] And Rayne, I would like to ask you if there is -- if there is anything you want to say to Charlie?

PERRYWINKLE: Thank you very much for finding my little girl. I just wish I would have been there.

WILKIE: You`re welcome.

BANFIELD: The fact that, Rayne, that Charlie made that arrest. He carried this case through. He found Donald Smith. He arrested Donald Smith. He put

Donald Smith in handcuffs and handed him over to the case we now have seen where he has received the death penalty. Rayne, what does that mean for

you? That Charlie did this?

PERRYWINKLE: I don`t know if this is the right thing to say. I wish you would have shot him.

WILKIE: Yes. I know. Believe me, all of us feel the same way. A lot of us feel the same way.

BANFIELD: I know that Charlie, in your line of work, you know, this has got to be the hardest -- this has got to be the hardest kind of case to deal

with. I don`t even know how you get -- how you get through it. And then knowing that you were a significant mechanism in delivering justice to

Cherish`s mom. That has to feel in a very different kind of way, it has to feel very satisfying.

WILKIE: Absolutely. Absolutely. You know, it`s without a doubt the most traumatic case I have ever been a part of. I described earlier some of the

other cases I have been in and none of them affected me like this one did. Being a dad, you know, and having a daughter and those things. And the fact

that she had the same dress on as my little girl used to wear.

And so there was so much that we have this common bond as parents, you know, trying to protect our children. And when something this heinous

happens to any child, I think it affects all of us. It shifted the whole city Jacksonville.

It wasn`t just the Jacksonville Sheriff`s Office that was taken back by it or Rayne or her family, but all of us. All of us felt this very deep

inside. You cannot believe that there are monsters like this amongst us that just set out to to prey on these children.

BANFIELD: And ultimately on their families as well.

WILKIE: Absolutely.

BANFIELD: And I will join the chorus, you know. Charlie, I will join the chorus. I hear you when you say it`s not just you, it`s not just Cherish`s

extended family, her mom sitting beside you and the city of Jacksonville. It`s the rest of us.

WILKIE: Right.

BANFIELD: I mean, we all stood by in disbelief as we have heard this detail and we had seen this case play out and we continue to see it in disbelief

when we see a man who is asking for death because it`s the easy way out.

WILKIE: Right.

BANFIELD: Because he is too scared to suffer the same thing that he did to an 8-year-old little girl. Is there anything, Charlie, that you would like

to say to Rayne, knowing that you have this personal connection now and you have seen it through.

WILKIE: Yes. We spoke briefly when we first came in the studio. And she thanked me, you know, for finding Cherish. I said, you know, I wish I could

have found her alive. I wish that it would have had a different outcome. Unfortunately, you know, it went the way it went and Donald Smith

premeditated this whole step by step plan.

And so the end result ends up being that we have this common bond forever and it`s a horrific event and especially in Rayne`s life and the

Perrywinkle family`s life. And we and my family and the Jacksonville Sheriff`s Office, the city of Jacksonville, and I am sure, like you said,

people across the country, all share in that.

You know, all of us that are parents share in the fact that, you know, you don`t want anything to ever happen to your child. You are trying your best

to make sure nothing happens. When it goes to this level, you just -- I think it shakes everybody to the core, that you can`t believe that there

are people out there, you know, that will do such a thing and then relish in it, you know.

BANFIELD: Exactly. Especially when you see the video of him in court like that.

WILKIE: Absolutely.

BANFIELD: Rayne, to have Charlie there beside you, and I think to know as well, you may not feel it, you may not see it, but to know so many people

back you, they support you, they love you, they wish they could do something for you. I mean, there are so many people who are in your corner,

Rayne. Is it too early to feel that? Do you know it`s there? Are you at least helped by that?

PERRYWINKLE: Nothing helps. I do appreciate the people who have compassion for Cherish and my family, but I have a lot of haters. My family included.

And the sad thing is they were not there that night. And they can`t point the finger at me because everyone makes mistakes, my mother included. But -

-

BANFIELD: And Rayne --

PERRYWINKLE: You can`t stop hate.

BANFIELD: -- even his -- even his defense attorney, his whole case started blaming you.

[18:45:00] I mean, this was his only defense, was that somehow it was your fault. This had to be -- you know, if it were a crushing blow to have to go

into a courtroom with your child`s murderer, he said that. He said that about you.

PERRYWINKLE: Who did? Say that again, please?

BANFIELD: His whole case was blaming you. I mean, that`s all he had. You know, he is much as win into that courtroom and couldn`t defend himself and

instead just that it was your fault. And I just can`t imagine how you were able to get through this case. How did you get through this case?

PERRYWINKLE: I don`t know. I just pushed myself to do it. I never wanted to hear that 911 call. Now I heard I have heard it three times. And what

people don`t understand is when someone is calling 911, they don`t have it in their mind that it is going to be recorded, to be played to them later

on.

And that is what -- I never had that in my mind, that it would be recorded and it would be played back and I would get so much backlash. I forget what

Cherish was wearing that night because I was panicking. And even the Walmart gift card. I originally said 100, but it was 150. And everything

adds up.

BANFIELD: Yes. I think for anybody who has anything negative to say about you, it`s inexcusable. It`s reprehensible. You have suffered the worst

penalty that human kind can levy. From us to you, Rayne, I appreciate you coming to our program to help us work through this as well.

We wish you the best as you go on your journey to recovery. And Charlie, thank you as well for doing the work that you --

PERRYWINKLE: Thank you so much.

BANFIELD: -- and for being as strong as you are. And thank you for being so supportive of Rayne as well in this extraordinary time.

WILKIE: You`re welcome.

BANFIELD: I appreciate both you.

WILKIE: Thank you. You`re welcome, Ashleigh. Thank you.

BANFIELD: We are going to continue to watch that case as well. As I said before, the judge still has the final word. That will come later. And then

of course there is the process. The process. It`s never easy.

An Iowa mother goes on the trip of a lifetime to Germany, leaving her four children alone. Just the two of them, the young ones are only six and

seven, the older one is just 12. And now she is going on a whole other trip. That would be to the county prison.

[18:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: A vacation without the kids is a luxury for many parents, but probably parents who deserve the alone time. That`s debatable for Erin

Macke. She is the bodybuilder Iowa mom who left her kids all alone at home so that she could go on a little trip to Germany.

And we are not talking about teenagers here who can fend for themselves, we are talking about a 6-year-old and a 7-year-old and then there are two 12-

year-old siblings. Police were called to the home a day after she left the country and they put the kids in the care of their dads.

The mom took her sweet time getting back from Europe too, initially telling the police that she would come home on her scheduled return date, a week

and a half later. She ended up cutting the trip slightly short and came home in about a week.

Even now, she may not be able to make good on the motherly duties, because today she pleaded guilty to four counts of child endangerment which means

that she could eight years in prison.

The judge will not be holding her responsible for that unloaded gun that she left sitting on the shelf in the master bedroom alongside two loaded

magazines. Did I say those kids`s ages? Twelve, 12, seven and six.

Defense attorney Kirby Clements joins me from Atlanta. Two years for each count. Four counts. Do you think she will serve eight years for this?

KIRBY CLEMENTS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: No, I don`t think she will serve eight years in custody. I think the court should probably give her the eight

years, part of that being probation. For example, eight years to serve to eight years to serve some term with the balance of eight. She will have to

be supervised.

BANFIELD: I just still can`t believe she got the call from the police and said, yes, I will be back on my scheduled return. Kirby, who are these

people? Don`t answer that.

CLEMENTS: I don`t know who they are and where you find them. That`s crazy.

BANFIELD: I know. They are all over the place. Kirby, thank you, don`t go anywhere. I am going to have you back in a moment.

Heather Locklear is a rock star on the red carpet, but she has also made the mugshot hall of shame. Details of her latest run-in with the law,

straight ahead.

[18:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: One more thing for you tonight. You probably remember Heather Locklear who are playing that Uber super bitch Amanda Woodward on "Melrose

Place" where she don`t want to hear any comment (ph) from anybody.

And apparently she did not want to hear what police officers had to say when they just responded to a domestic violence call at her house last

night. She was booked this morning, and nice photo taken of her, one count of domestic battery and then three counts of battery on a police officer.

Police say that she was extremely uncooperative and physically combative with the deputies

[19:00:00] when they arrested her. They also say that they found some evidence of injury to her boyfriend, the alleged victim of her assault. So

that happened.

Next hour of CRIME AND JUSTICE starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BANFIELD (voice-over): A stay at home mom with a sexy side job is found face down and dead-on the street.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think she fell. Really I think she fell.

BANFIELD: After weeks of mystery, her husband has not been charged.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you kill your wife?

BANFIELD: So how did their date night turns so deadly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They say her body was half on the road and half in the grass.

BANFIELD: And is the bottle of Absent the key to this crime?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He didn`t do it. I know he didn`t do it.

BANFIELD: Tonight, we have the dark details.

Justice for an 8-year-old girl.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This was as bad as it gets.

BANFIELD: The monster who took her life will likely take his life, too.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That the defendant Daniel Smith should be sentenced to death.

BANFIELD: Tonight, what her grieving mom wants to say.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You thought they were going to get cheeseburgers?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

BANFIELD: As she finally meets the man who found her daughter and arrested the killer.

They are accused of starving, abusing and chaining their children.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not eat or not able to have a bath.

BANFIELD: But they say they are not guilty. Tonight, there is more to the story. New charges for the parent who reportedly kept their kids in a house

of horrors.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Further investigation that we have been doing in this case has just led us to a complaint.

BANFIELD: So what on earth has them smiling as they face a lifetime in prison?

(END VIODEOTAPE)

BANFIELD: Good evening, everyone. I`m Ashleigh Banfield. And welcome to the second hour of CRIME AND JUSTICE.

Mysteries are gripping. Right up until the moment they are solved. They Bur if the details are spicy, mystery can stay with you. Take for instance

Kitty Kat West, a beautiful mom hosting wholesome scenes on Facebook of her suburban Alabama life while at the same time selling less than wholesome

pictures on the internet for anyone willing to shell out $15.99 a month.

All that was came to a violent end when police say someone took a bottle of Absinthe liquor and bashed in her head and dumped her nearly naked body

across the street from her little house. For days and weeks her husband seems to stay strangely silent. But tonight we know he has been talking to

the cops at least twice before they arrested him and charged him with his wife`s murder.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At what point did Jeff West became a suspect in this?

CHIEF SEAN LEMLEY, CALERA POLICE DEPARTMENT: He was a suspect from the very beginning.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Has he been cooperative with police?

LEMLEY: I don`t really know to ho answer that so it is not that he has not been uncooperative, but you know, I guess somewhat.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And how many times did you speak to him over the course of the investigation?

LEMLEY: I believe we talked to him twice, but I don`t have the specific number. I believe it was twice.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: his demeanor, I`m just curious, his demeanor?

LEMLEY: You know, it didn`t seem to be the time that I have seen him. He didn`t seem very upset.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Jeff has not spoken with any reporters. But his parents are insisting that he is innocent even though their son was spotted on camera

in videos for "Inside Edition," carrying a bottle of Absinthe in the liquor store, taking it to the counter the night that Kitty Kat died.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM WEST, FATHER OF JEFF WEST: Shocked. That`s all I can say is I was shock about it. It is my son. He didn`t do it. I know he didn`t do it. I

think she fell. Really I think she fell. They say her body was half on the road and half in the grass. I think she fell.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: With me is "Inside Edition," Steven Fabian. Steven also procured that video from the liquor store and turns out he is the only one who did

get it. The police did not. By the time the police got there, that was recorded over. So congratulations to you and you, Steven, for getting that

video. But this is a curious development. Hearing Jeff`s father say I think she fell. Can you walk me through how that could be possible given what we

know forensically to be the case?

STEVEN FABIAN, CORRESPONDENT, INSIDE EDITION: Well, it seems unlikely at this point. As we know, she was found outside the home. She was wearing

only a sports bra on the curb facedown. I don`t know how you fall and hit your head and die and your cell phone is found next to you with a bottle of

liquor neatly stacked on top of the phone. I`m not sure how you do that.

So at this point, the falling thing, it would be quite a feat for her to fall outside her own home and manage to stack that liquor bottle which we

now know is believed to be the murder weapon on top of her cellphone right next to her.

[19:05:30] BANFIELD: I mean, it`s all kind of preposterous, right. If the police are now saying that the bottle of lucid Absinthe was the murder

weapon and somehow it made its way to her skull and then somehow she made her way to the lawn across the street wearing only a sports bra, crumpled

herself on to the street and the grass. And as he said, then put her cell phone down and placed the bottle of Absinthe on top of it and neatly died.

It is preposterous.

Now maybe, just maybe, her father didn`t know all of the details when he said that. I`m not sure. But what are her parents saying?

FABIAN: Her parents I believe are defending the husband or defending Jeff. They don`t believe that Jeff did this either which is also shocking. It

sounds like everybody from their respective families are all defending Jeff at this point. And they don`t believe he was capable of committing such a

crime.

BANFIELD: It is bizarre. We don`t typically see that. It is not that we don`t know - you know, ever see it. But we don`t typically see a murder

victim`s parents backing the person who is arrested and that would be her husband in this case.

So, the story as I know it, given reports that have come out is that Jeff West`s father William is saying that Jeff says they went out. They had

their date night. They were drinking. They had dinner. And that Jeff had to work the next day and went to bed leaving Kitty Kat to continue drinking

alone in that house. And then that`s all she wrote. I mean, that is literally all that they can give us in terms of what Jeff was account is

via his father.

It just seems extraordinary that she would continue on her own and then have that whole scenario playout. What about all the pictures? What about

the Internet connection? What about all the paying customers who pay $15.99 to see her sexy pictures. Would that part of this investigations, Steven?

Are they looking at someone who had a fascination with Kitty Kat? Might have taken it too far?

FABIAN: Well, right now, it doesn`t appear to be really any link between her online personality, hey online work. really. She was running a

subscription-based, you know, ring of photos I guess you can say online. And the people who are even part of that community, part of what she did

for fun she was in, as you know, a group called the cougar club. People from the cougar club have even come forward and say -- have said this. What

she was doing, this was just fun. There was nothing dark here. There was nothing scary about what she was doing online. I mean you be the judge

there. These are people paying money to see these photos of her.

As you know it`s pretty easy to find where somebody lives. Of course that`s just speculation, but I don`t know how you can rule out completely, I

guess, some of the her customers or people paying to see these photos. But as of right now, it doesn`t appear anybody online is part of the

investigation.

BANFIELD: So about the online thing, I think when this first broke, you know, it doesn`t take a rocket scientist to say, well, maybe, just maybe,

this was a secret. All of these sexy pictures and the business that being run was a secret from this fabulous, you know, life out in suburbia and

maybe someone in the family got angry. And that doesn`t seem to be the case at all. In fact, William West had this to say about his son`s wife and

Kitty Kat`s business. Have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WEST: He wasn`t fooling around with anybody else. This was just a photo thing. And there is a lot of freaks out there that get into that stuff.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: So now I`m trying to make sense of this, Steven. Is he saying that it is freaks might have done it or is he saying it was an accident

that did this? I`m confused.

FABIAN: No. It sounds like he is trying to pass the buck there when he says there is a lot of freaky people out there.

But you are right. Everybody did, including Jeff, her husband knew about what she was doing online. I imagine this was a business that they sort of

ran together. She was doing it out of the home they shared. So he clearly have known what she was up to. But the father there definitely sounds like

he is trying to pass the buck to somebody from her online community. It doesn`t sound like an accident.

[19:10:03] BANFIELD: Boy, oh, boy.

Let me bring in CNN`s senior law enforcement analyst and former FBI assistant director Tom Fuentes. He is live with me from Fairfax, Virginia.

So Tom, one of the thing that the police chief said that struck accord with me and I think it might have struck accord with you with you as well. The

press was asking if Jeff West was being cooperative and there was a long silence. And then the detective or at least the police chief said he is not

uncooperative. So what kind - what is - who he speak for? When you are not uncooperative but you don`t say he is being cooperative. What does that

mean?

TOM FUENTES, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, in the first place, unless he is charged or even if he is charged, he does not have to talk to

the police. So if the police call him and say we want to talk to you again or want to interview you, he can say I`m never talking to you again. I

don`t have to and I`m not going to.

So in this case, they may mean he is cooperative because he does come in and he does submit to an interview whenever they have asked him to or if

they have questions about the business or her clients or the computers or any of that. He may have cooperated with them and turned over whatever

material they want and talk to him whenever they want. So that could be what he is referring to. But we don`t than for sure.

BANFIELD: So, you know, it`s interesting. A couple of things about this case are interesting. He did do two interviews. He did speak with the

police twice. But this investigation, Tom, took over a month. I was almost I think by my count five or six weeks and the police didn`t even get this

video that "Inside Edition" got, you know. This is something that Steven Fabian and his team went to the liquor store and got themselves. Many days

before the police finally showed up to get it, we were told sorry that the video was take over by now. It is too late. So to me, that sounds that

(INAUDIBLE) if you are looking at a guy who they said from day one they were looking at.

And I`m going just read this from Jeff West`s attorney, OK. It is a statement from John C. Robbins about his client, Jeff.

Jeff has maintained his innocence from day one. We are going to do everything that we can to established that he is not guilty of this crime.

He was fully aware of his wife online activities, and he was not jealous or angry over Kitty Kat West`s personality. When all is said and done, we

anticipate a successful outcome of this case.

And Tom, I just have to say that if the police didn`t have in their possession video of their chief suspect now whom they arrested with the

bottle of that lucid Absinthe in his hands, would it be fair to say that this was an investigation perhaps not done exactly the way it should have

been? And that could be right ground for defense attorney?

FUENTES: It could be. And having been involved in and managed overseen thousands of criminal investigations, one of the things you guard against

yourself and with your subordinates is do not jump to a conclusion too soon because you may overlook facts that contradict your own opinion.

And so, the police chief mentioned that Jeffrey, the husband, was a suspect from the beginning. And maybe that was they are trying to prove him guilt

and may have overlooked other things. And especially, you know, as I previously mentioned, she was in a business where there are a lot of people

out that are not exactly, you know, wonderful mentally sound customers. And somebody out there might have, you know, falling love with her or exchanged

messages with here and took to mean that she wants me and she cares about me. And maybe she rebuffed him, we don`t know.

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: Well, maybe that something that a defense attorney will seize upon. Let me bring in a defense attorney on this one real quick, Kirby

Clements from Atlanta. I have 40 seconds left. Do you think this is something his defense attorney is going to be able to use?

KIRBY CLEMENTS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I think absolutely the defense is going to be able to use this. I mean, the police seemed to have jumped to a

conclusion. And the other thing is she is found outside the home where nobody reports hearing a scream. We have heard no evidence that it looked

like her body was dragged.

So there is so many other factors that seem to be overlooked and unexplained that to say that this conclusion they have reached make sense

actually doesn`t make sense.

BANFIELD: Yes. Sometimes when the mystery is spicy, it stays with you.

Many things we are going to hear a lot more.

Thanks so much Steven Fabian, Tom Fuentes, and Kirby Clements, to you as well. Thank you.

And then an update tonight on the house of horrors case. About kids out of California, you might remember, David and Louis Turpin, the parents accused

of torturing their 13 kids and holding them captive in their home. They sure don`t look very worried about it, do they? This is them in court

smiling, supportively, lovingly at each other.

Even though they are now facing additional charges. After further investigation, the Riverside district attorney decided to tap on three more

counts. Child abuse and Louise herself charged with felony assault which means that they each facing now more than 40 charges in total. Turpins`

lawyers that says that they are pleading not guilty to the new charges, same as they did with the other 37.

And in the meanwhile, an attorney for the adult children said that they are doing very well in their recovery. All 13 had been in various California

hospitals since they were rescued from the home last month.

On June 21st, 2013, 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle came face-to-face with a monster. And that monster, Donald Smith, kidnapped her, raped her, and

murdered her. He is now facing a death sentence. But her mom, Rayne is serving a life sentence, a sentence without her beautiful little girl.

Up next, we are going to get her reaction to the verdict against that man.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:20:37] BANFIELD: The nightmare most parents can only imagine has been one woman`s reality for years. Shopping with her family for clothes, a

stranger approached them. And then took her child. Luring her 8-year-old out of Wal-Mart with the promise of something yummy. And in the blink of an

eye, that child was gone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. I`m at Wal-Mart on Lem Turner. She`s been taken.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do you mean?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Taken by a stranger. I can`t find her. He said he was going to McDonald`s. She went with him. I should have told her to stay with

me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They were going to the McDonald`s inside the store?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, there`s a McDonald`s inside the store. And I don`t understand why he would leave right now unless he was going to rape

her and kill her. That`s the only reason.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: That Florida mother`s worst fear was exactly what happens to her daughter. Because the seemingly kind man who had approached her family

offering to buy them clothing and burgers was actually a sex offender who had just been released from jail.

Tonight Donald smith is back behind bars for kidnapping, rape, and murder. And the mother of Cherish Perrywinkle has finally been given some justice.

Because a jury decided that jail is not ad enough for Donald Smith. Instead, they decided he needs to die for what he did to Cherish, that 8 8-

year-old girl.

With me now Cherish Perrywinkle`s mom, Rayne Perrywinkle alongside retired Jacksonville sheriff`s officer Charlie Wilkie. Charlie found Cherish`s

body. Charlie also arrested Donald Smith.

Welcome to the both of you. And thank you very much for being with us tonight.

Rayne, I want to get your first reactions to the verdict, two verdicts. One, that Donald Smith is indeed guilty and two, that he should die for the

crime. Rayne, can you give me your reaction upon hearing that verdict from the jury?

RAYNE PERRYWINKLE, MOTHER OF CHERISH PERRYWINKLE: I was crying. And I was really hoping he would get guilty. But I wasn`t sure until I saw couple of

jurors handing little tissues. So then I knew that he would get it.

BANFIELD: And Rayne, it is that one reaction that you immediately have upon what the jury`s decision and then it`s the hours and the days afterwards

processing it and making sense of it. And so often people want to know if there is something called closure and more often than not, there isn`t. How

do you feel about everything that happened since the case wrapped up?

PERRYWINKLYE: I don`t know how to answer that question, I`m sorry. I have been crying earlier. Could you repeat it, please?

BANFIELD: I guess the easiest way to pose the question would be, does it feel like you got justice for your baby girl for 8-year-old cherish, this

beautiful child I`m looking at on the screen?

PERRYWINKLYE: I can`t see her. I wish I could see her right now. Actually I believe justice was served for the death penalty, but sadly he may sit on

death row for a number of years having his appeals. Death row needs to be death, not a life sentence. When that verdict was read and I`m going to

play it right now.

But when that verdict was red, Donald Smith was nodding, almost agreeing with that verdict. It didn`t seem satisfying to see that he was in

agreement with it. I want you to take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We the jury unanimously find that the defendant Donald James Smith should be sentenced to death. Yes. And so say we all this 22nd

day of February, 2018.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: So Rayne, Donald was nodding his head that he should die for the crime. How did you feel about that?

[19:25:12] PERRYWINKLYE: It`s disgusting. He thinks he is going to get a needle in his arm and what he did to cherish pales in comparison. And I`m

not a violent person, but I believe in an eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth and he deserves exactly what he got. Exactly what he gave Cherish and

more. He deserves that.

BANFIELD: And so, it`s interesting that you say that, Rayne, because Charlie, I`m going to bring you into it conversation because he -- Donald

Smith was overheard talking to his mother while he was in jail awaiting this trial. And he effectively said to his other that he wanted the death

penalty because he was afraid of being raped and murdered by other prisoners. So it`s hard to sort of know how to feel about him getting what

he said he wanted.

And Charlie, since you were the person who discovered Cherish`s body and who arrested Donald Smith. Perhaps you can help me make sense of it.

CHARLIE WILKIE, FOUND CHRISH PERRYWINKLE: Well, I think that, you know, we all feel the same way. We all feet that he deserves a violent death and

unfortunately the way poor Cherish`s life ended. But we live in a society where that can`t happen.

A lot of people were hoping that would get in prison so he would be prey for the other prisoners, if you will. And some of them in our jail had

tried to get to him even though he has been in solitaire this whole time.

But you know, when we take a step back from it and we talk about this the last few days. If there were the word, death penalty case, how in the world

could this not be it? How could you create - how could you commit this heinous of a crime, premeditate and oust step by step from the of the prey,

all the way to the end. And then it not be the death penalty. I mean, how could it not be everybody?

And so, I think everybody in their heart of hearts is hoping that the process is expedited and even a lot of us hope that maybe, you know, this

may sound callous, but a lots of people are hoping that maybe on the wrong day at the wrong time he is in the wrong place in the prison and something

bad befalls him. I don`t think anyone is going to shed a tear for that. But I know we won`t.

BANFIELD: You know, and it`s the kind of reaction I think a lot of people have. There have been serial killers in the past who have been killed in

prison. And it was almost like a collective cheer broke out. Whether it was because of retribution or whether it was because it saved the state any

more time or grief and it saved victims and their family members any more grieve. You know, that remains to the individual person and each individual

person`s reaction.

But I want to ask you about something that you have said. That you want to be there. You want to be present when he is put to death. Talk me through

that.

WILKIE: Yes. Well, you know, I think that, you know, as I stated the other day on the program that, you know, in law enforcement, we go through a lot

of things, I have been through shootings and shot. And unfortunately taken lives. And I have seen other children die and crying in just accidents. And

all those take their toll on you. But nothing has affected me like this has.

And it`s almost an essence that I want that closure. I want to know that he can`t hurt anybody else. That there will never be some a change in the law

down the road. Some anything that could ever give him any freedom. That there will never be hopefully another tour of a prison that he will see

young girls walking by and the recording that we heard about that, you know. How callus he was in talking about they were his target range and

that`s what he loved to find them at Wal-Mart.

I spoke the other night (INAUDIBLE) for about an hour to Cherish`s death, Billy, and he ask me personally if I would be there, if I would go to

wherever, and watch the execution. And I said absolutely. I had already planned. Melissa Nelson and I, the state attorney have already claim that

we would go together. That also of us want that this closure. All of us want this to end with Donald Smith no longer breathing the same air as the

rest of us because he had that right.

ANFIELD: So that, I mean, that are sounds logical. It sounds like what a lot of people are feeling and thinking. It`s so different. I think

different for you. Huh to live through the trial. You had to be in the same room for them. You had to look at him and as he nodded. I wonder if you

feel the same as Charlie does? Doubt to be there the day he meets his fate?

RAYNE PERRYWINKLE, MOTHER OF CHERISH PERRYWINKLE: Absolutely.

BANFIELD: Tell me a little bit about what you think that will feel like, what it will be like.

PERRYWINKLE: It would be very hard that I would -- that I would have to do it, this is for Cherish. It`s just for her.

BANFIELD: And Rayne, what if -- what if it never comes? There are so many challenges. There are so many legal issues, there are appeals, there are

even issues with carrying out the death penalty. What if it never comes, will you be OK just knowing that he`s suffering in a cell?

PERRYWINKLE: I don`t believe he is suffering at all because of how I saw him in the courtroom. I chose to look at him and I would see his -- he

shrug his shoulders to where he can`t sit still, you know, the way he is swinging his chair and he`s looking for sympathy and I saw him praying and

tears rolling down his face on the day the verdict was read for the death penalty. And he is just so disgusting. I really don`t have words for him.

He is a demon from the pits of hell.

BANFIELD: Yes. And I think there will be a lot of people watching right now who wholeheartedly agree with you, Rayne, and feel that there are no words

to describe a man like this. Who would do this to your beautiful daughter Cherish. I wanted also just let our viewers know something, the two of you

are in Jacksonville together right now and you`re seated beside one another, you know, you hold a very special bond. Charlie, you made that

terrifyingly traumatic discovery of Cherish`s body that day. And then you were able to continue in this case until you arrested that man. And here

you are speaking after he`s been adjudicated and found guilty and then sentenced to die. That could change.

We know there is still another level of this case where the judge has to accept the jury`s recommendation. But Rayne hasn`t had a chance to really

talk to you about this yet. And she hasn`t had a chance to work sort of -- I guess work through a lot of this with you. So, when we come back after

the break, if it`s OK, I want to give you guys the opportunity to at least sort of share the air and tell us how you feel about what you`ve been

through and what you`re going to go through as they go forward. We`ll be back right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:37:31] BANFIELD: Twelve minutes. That`s all it took a jury to find Donald Smith guilty of murder. And it didn`t take them a whole lot longer

to decide that he deserves to die. The sex offender at the story of a case so graphic seasoned officers and experts are brought to tears over this.

Like a medical examiner whose daily job it is to deal with grizzly-tortured bodies. But when it came to the case of eight-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You mentioned earlier that during an autopsy you take dissection?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will you first tell the jury what you saw when you dissected her throat?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. So what we do is -- I`m sorry. I have to take a break. Can I just have like five minutes?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you want a five-minute break?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think we`ll all take a break for 10 minutes. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Donald Smith is 61 but now he is a step closer to death because he took an eight-year-old girl away from her family. After getting her

mother to trust him, before he raped her and strangled her to death and then hid her body in a creek. And tonight, the people who had to live with

this story for years are now talking about this story. Joining me again, Cherish Perrywinkle`s mother, Rayne Perrywinkle and retired Jacksonville

Sheriff Officer Charlie Wilkie. A reminder, Charlie found Cherish`s body and Charlie arrested Donald Smith. Rayne and Charlie, thank you so much for

staying with me throughout the break. For those who are just joining us, I said before the break that you really -- you two have not had a chance to

talk through the bond that you never asked for, but now forever will have. And Rayne, I`d like to ask you if there`s -- if there`s anything you want

to say to Charlie.

PERRYWINKLE: Thank you very much for finding my little girl. I just wish I would have been there.

CHARLIE WILKIE, RETIRED JACKSONVILLE SHERIFF OFFICER: You`re welcome.

BANFIELD: And the fact Rayne, that Charlie made that arrest, I mean, he carried this case through. He found Donald Smith. He arrested Donald Smith.

He put Donald Smith in handcuffs and handed him over to the case we now have seen where he`s received the death penalty. Rayne, what does that mean

for you that Charlie did this?

[19:40:00] PERRYWINKLE: I don`t know if this is the right thing to say. I wish you would have shot him.

WILKIE: I know. And I believe me all of us feel the same way. A lot of us feel the same way.

BANFIELD: And I know that Charlie, in your line of work, you know, this has -- this has got to be the hardest -- this has got to be the hardest kind of

case to deal with. I don`t even know how you get -- how you get through it. And then knowing that you were a significant mechanism in delivering

justice to Cherish`s mom. That has to feel in a -- in a very different kind of way, it has to feel very satisfying.

WILKIE: Oh, absolutely, absolutely. You know, it`s -- it`s without a doubt the most traumatic case I have even been a part of. I described there are

some of the other cases I have been in and none of them affected me like this one did. Being a dad, you know, and having a daughter and those things

and the fact that she had the same dress on that my little daughter, my little girl used to wear. And so, there was so much that we have this

common bond as parents, you know, trying to protect our children. And when something this heinous happens to any child, I think it affects all of us.

As whole, it shift the whole City of Jacksonville. It wasn`t just the Jacksonville Sheriff`s Office that was in -- that was taken back by it or

Rayne or her family, all of us, all of us felt this very deep inside. You could not believe that there`s monsters like this amongst us that just set

out to prey on this accordance with children.

BANFIELD: And ultimately on their families as well.

WILKIE: Absolutely.

BANFIELD: And I`ll join the chorus, you know, Charlie, I`ll join the chorus. I hear you when you say it`s not just you, it`s not just, you know,

Cherish`s extended family, her mom sitting beside you in the City of Jacksonville, it`s the rest of us. I mean, we have all stood by in

disbelief as we have heard these details and we have seen the case play out and we continue to see it in disbelief when we see a man who`s asking for

death because it`s the easy way out. Because he is too scared to suffer the same thing that he did to an eight-year-old little girl. Is there anything,

Charlie, that you`d like to say to Rayne knowing that you have this personal connection now and you`ve seen it through?

WILKIE: Yes. We, you know, we spoke briefly when we first came in the studio and she thanked me, you know, for finding Cherish and I said, you

know, I wish I could have found her alive. You know, I wish -- I wish, you know, that it would have had a different outcome. Unfortunately, you know,

it went the way it went and Donald Smith premeditated this whole step by step plan and so the end result is being that we have this common bond

forever and it`s a horrific event and especially in Rayne`s life and the Periwinkle family life and we in my family and the Jacksonville Sheriff`s

Office, the City of Jacksonville, and I`m sure like you said, people across the country all share in that.

You know, all of us that are parents share in the fact that you know, you don`t want anything to ever happen to your child. You`re trying your best

to make sure nothing happens and when it goes to this level, it just-- I think it shakes everybody to the core that you can`t believe that there`s

people out there, you know, that would do such a thing. And then relish in it, you know.

BANFIELD: Exactly. Especially when you see the video of him like that.

WILKIE: Oh, absolutely. He`s never --

BANFIELD: To have Charlie there beside you and I think to know as well, you may not feel it, you may not see it but to know so many people back you,

they support you, they love you, they wish they could do something for you. I mean, there are so many people who are in your corner, Rayne. Is it too

early to feel that? Do you know it`s there? Do you -- do you -- are you at least helped by that?

PERRYWINKLE: Nothing helps. I do appreciate the people that have compassion for Cherish and my family. But I have a lot of haters, my family included.

And the sad thing is they weren`t there that night and they can`t point the finger because everyone makes mistake, my mother included. But --

BANFIELD: And Rayne --

PERRYWINKLE: You can`t stop hate.

BANFIELD: Even his -- even his defense attorney, his whole case started blaming you. I mean, this was his only defense was that somehow it was your

fault. This had to be -- you know, if it weren`t a crushing blow to have to go into a courtroom with your child`s murderer, he said that, he said that

about you.

PERRYWINKLE: Who did? Say that again, please?

BANFIELD: His whole case was blaming you. I mean, that`s all he had, you know, he as much has went into that courtroom and couldn`t defend himself

and instead just that it was your fault. And I just can`t imagine how you were able to get through this case. How did you get through the case?

PERRYWINKLE: I don`t know. I just pushed myself to do it. I never wanted to hear that 911 call and now I`ve heard it three times.

[19:45:09] And what people don`t understand is when someone is calling 911, they don`t have it in their mind that it`s going to be recorded to be

played to them later on. And that`s what I -- I never had that in my mind that it would be record and it would be played back and I would get so much

backlash. I forget what Cherish was wearing that night because I was panicking and even the Wal-Mart gift card, I originally said 100, but it

was 150. And everything adds up.

BANFIELD: Yes. I think for anybody who -- for anybody who had anything negative to say about you is inexcusable, it`s reprehensible. You have --

you have suffered the worst penalty that human kind can levy. And, you know, from us to you, Rayne, I appreciate you coming to our program to help

us work through this as well. And I -- we wish you the best as you go on your journey to recovery and Charlie, thank you as well for doing the work

you do and for being as strong as you are and thank you for being so supportive of Rayne as well in this extraordinary time.

WILKIE: You`re welcome.

BANFIELD: I appreciate both of you.

WILKIE: You`re welcome, Ashley. Thank you.

BANFIELD: And we`re going to continue to watch that case as well. As I said before, judge still has the final word. That will come later and then of

course there`s the process. The process. It`s never easy.

An Iowa mother goes on the trip of a lifetime to Germany leaving her four children alone, just the two of them, young ones are only six and seven.

The older ones just 12. And now she is going on a whole other trip. And that would be to the county prison.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:51:41] BANFIELD: Vacation without the kids is a luxury for many parents, but probably parents who deserve the alone time. And that`s

debatable for Erin Maki. She is the bodybuilder, Iowa mom who left her kids all alone at home so that she could go on a little trip to Germany. And

we`re not talking about teenagers here that can fend for themselves. We`re talking about a six-year-old and a seven-year-old, and then their two 12-

year-old siblings. Police were called to the home the day after she left the country and they put the kids in the care of their dads. The mom took

her sweet time getting back from Europe too. Initially telling the police that she`d come home on her scheduled return date.

A week and a half later she ended up cutting the trip slightly short, came home in about a week. And even now she may not be able to make good on the

motherly duties, because today she pleaded guilty to four counts of child endangerment which means that she could spend eight years in prison. Though

the judge did cut her some slack and will not be holding her responsible for that unloaded gun that she left sitting on a shelf in the master

bedroom alongside two loaded magazines. Did I say those kids ages? 12, 12, seven and six. Defense Attorney Kirby Clements joins me from Atlanta. Two

years for eight counts, four counts, do you think she`s serve eight years for this?

KIRBY CLEMENTS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: No. I don`t think she will serve eight years in custody. I think the court should probably give her the eight

years part of that being probation. For example, eight years to serve two. Eight years to serve some term, but the balance of eight, she`s going to

have to be supervised.

BANFIELD: I still can`t believe she got the call from the police and said, yes, I`ll be back on my scheduled return. Kirby, who are these people?

Don`t answer that.

(CROSSTALK)

CLEMENTS: Yes. I don`t know -- I don`t know who they are, I don`t know where you find them. That`s crazy.

BANFIELD: I know. They`re all over the place. Kirby, thank you. Don`t go anywhere. We`re I`m going to have you back in a moment.

Heather Locklear is a rock star on the red carpet but she`s also made the mug shot hall of shame. The details of her latest run-in with the law,

straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:58:52] And one more thing for you tonight. In the 1990s, nobody played the bad girl better than Heather Locklear.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HEATHER LOCKLEAR, AMERICAN ACTRESS: Where the hell is Alison? I left specific instructions that no one was to take lunch out of the office the

rest of the week.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s not really --

LOCKLEAR: She`s not really out --

LOCKLEAR: Don`t bother making excuses for her. I want to see her in my office as soon as she gets in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Amanda --

LOCKLEAR: I don`t want to hear it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: She apparently didn`t want to hear what police officers had to say either when they responded to a domestic violence call at her house

last night. Police say that Heather Locklear was extremely uncooperative and physically combative with the deputies as they were arresting her. They

also say her boyfriend was reportedly injured during the incident. Ms. Locklear was booked this morning on one count of domestic battery, hence

the very pretty picture you`re seeing. She`s also facing three counts of battery on a police officer. Yikes. We`ll see you back here tomorrow night.

6:00 Eastern. And now you can listen to our show anytime. You can download our podcast on Apple podcast, iHeart Radio, Stitcher, TuneIn or wherever

you get your podcast for your CRIME & JUSTICE fix.

[21:00:02] Thanks for watching, everybody. "FORENSIC FILES" begins right now.

END