JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Quiet. Blank. Emotionless.
Chilling footage revealed more than five years after the murder of 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle shows her convicted killer, Donald Smith, sitting vacantly during an interrogation about 12 hours after the child's abduction.
In the video, police leave Smith in a room. He sits back and closes his eyes. More than an hour later, detectives come back and read Smith his rights.
Smith made it clear he had no intentions of talking to authorities.
"This is an investigation into the abduction and murder of a Cherish Perrywinkle, 8-year-old female. We'd like to ask you questions about it," a detective said to Smith. "Do you want to talk to us?"
"No," Smith responded.
Charlie Wilkie, a retired K-9 officer of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, will never forget the night he came face-to-face with Smith.
"The worst of the worst," Wilkie said of Smith. "He never showed any emotion."
Wilkie arrested Smith on Interstate 95. He and his police dog found Cherish's body about an hour later.
When asked about the convicted murderer's demeanor on the night of his arrest, Wilkie responded,
"Arrogance. It was almost like, you caught me but you did not stop me. There was not a hint of remorse."
Smith was convicted and sentenced to death in May.
Wilkie said he looks forward to the day Smith is executed.
"If he got a chance to be out on the street today, he'd be driving by this highway (I-95), looking for his next victim," Wilkie said. "He was not going to stop."