On June 21, 2013, Rayne Perrywinkle was shopping at a Dollar General store in Jacksonville, Florida with her three young daughters. She could not afford to buy clothes for her children when a man came up to her with what looked like a kind offer. The stranger, who was later named as Donald James Smith, told her he had a $150 Walmart gift card and said he would help buy clothes for the family.
Rayne said yes to the offer and got into Smith’s white van with her daughters, including 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle. They got to a Walmart on Lem Turner Road around 8:00 p.m. and spent the next two hours shopping. According to what she said in court, Rayne felt safe with Smith at first. “He looked into my face and told me I was safe,” she told the court during the trial.
