FOXNews.com: FOUND AT CHURCH: Man Charged After Body of Abducted Fla. Girl Located

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FOUND AT CHURCH: Man Charged After Body of Abducted Fla. Girl Located Jun 22nd 2013, 21:21 JACKSONVILLE, Fla. –  Authorities say a registered sex offender is charged with murder in the death of a Florida girl abducted while shopping with her mother. Mike Williams of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said Saturday that Donald James Smith befriended 8-year-old Charish Perriwinkle and her mother Friday night at a dollar store and offered to buy them clothes at Walmart. Williams says Smith took them to Walmart, then told the mother he would buy them a snack at the front of the store. Instead, authorities say Smith walked out with Charish. A tip led investigators to a wooded area where they found Charish's body Saturday morning. Sheriff's office spokesman Shannon Hartley said Saturday that the 56-year-old man had been taken into custody after officers surrounded his van. About an hour later, authorities said the girl's body was found at a church. Williams says Smith was released from jail May 31 and met with police Friday morning when officers visited to check his address, as required by state law. An Amber Alert was issued for Charish Perriwinkle after she went missing Friday night. St. Lonnie Mills of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office told The Florida Times-Union that the pair was befriended by a man who offered to take Charish to buy a snack at the front of the Jacksonville Walmart. "A very difficult time, obviously, for everyone involved," Hartley told WJXT-TV. Hartley did not immediately return messages left Saturday by The Associated Press. The sheriff's office directed inquiries to their Facebook page, which said Charish's body had been found and authorities were beginning a murder investigation. In 2009, a 7-year-old northeast Florida girl was abducted while she walked home from school. Police later found Somer Thompson's body in a Georgia landfill. A man who lived with his parents in Somer's Orange Park neighborhood pleaded guilty in 2012 to kidnapping, raping and murdering the girl and was sentenced to life in prison. Somer's mother told The Times-Union that she was sickened by the news of Charish's abduction.  "Her (Charish's mother) nightmare has just begun," Diena Thompson said.

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