Billy Jarreau is the biological father of Cherish Perrywinkle, the eight-year-old Jacksonville girl who was abducted, raped, and murdered by convicted sex offender Donald James Smith in June 2013. Jarreau lived in California and had fought for custody of Cherish for six years before her death. After the murder, he became a public voice in the case, delivering a victim impact statement at Smith’s 2018 sentencing and questioning whether the family court and Florida’s child welfare system had failed his daughter.
The Custody Battle He Lost
Jarreau said he did not know Cherish existed until she was about three years old.1News4Jax. Court Documents Show Custody Battle Over Cherish From 2007 on, he tried through the courts to bring her to live with him in California.
In 2009 the court ordered a formal custody evaluation. The evaluator recommended shared parental responsibility with the majority of time-sharing awarded to Jarreau in California, with Jarreau paying for Cherish to visit her mother, Rayne Perrywinkle, in Florida during summers and at Christmas. The evaluator wrote: “Here, neither parent was perfect. However, as between the two, I believe Mr. Jarreau can offer the child some semblance of normalcy and an environment where at least there is the potential for her to thrive. I fear for the child’s future living with Ms. (Perrywinkle).”1News4Jax. Court Documents Show Custody Battle Over Cherish
The court did not follow that recommendation. Local attorney Jared Snider later called the decision to reject the evaluator’s findings “rare” and “quite surprising.”1News4Jax. Court Documents Show Custody Battle Over Cherish Cherish stayed with her mother in Jacksonville. On the night she was taken from a Walmart by Donald Smith, she was scheduled to fly to California to visit her father.
Jarreau was not the only party the record shows had touched Cherish’s file. Florida’s Department of Children and Families investigated the household five times between 2005 and 2012, each time concluding the children were not in serious danger and leaving them in place; one 2009 investigation involved Jarreau himself after he spanked Cherish hard enough to leave a mark on her back, and investigators found “no evidence to support a physical injury” and closed the case.2News4Jax. DCF Releases Perrywinkle Investigations
What He Said at Smith’s Sentencing
Smith was convicted in February 2018 of kidnapping, sexual battery on a child under twelve, and first-degree murder. The jury unanimously recommended death, and the court imposed a death sentence in March 2018.3Action News Jax. Cherish Perrywinkle Trial: Donald Smith Could Face the Death Penalty
Jarreau did not attend the sentencing hearing. He told reporters he was afraid of how he would react in the same room as Smith, and his attorney, Gerald Wilkerson, read his victim impact statement in his place.4Law & Crime. Cherish Perrywinkle’s Father Remembers Daughter: She Had a Good Life Ahead of Her
In the statement, Jarreau said, “Cherish was a light in my life and in the lives of so many people, and Donald Smith took that light out of this world.” He described being unable to stop imagining her final minutes: “How horrible those last minutes must have been for her. How she must have called out for help, and this feeling that I wasn’t able to help her. Forever the images of my child’s last minutes on this earth will play out in my mind like a private internal hell that never ends.” He closed by saying he had never believed in monsters, but that he did now.5News4Jax. Donald Smith Made Cherish Perrywinkle’s Dad Believe in Monsters
Speaking with the Law & Crime Network that same month, Jarreau remembered his daughter as a “cheerful girl” with the “biggest smile on her face, every time you seen her.” He said she “had a good life ahead of her, and would probably have been very successful at something, but we’ll never know now.” He rejected the idea that a death sentence delivered justice. “No, it’s not justice,” he said, pointing out that Smith had already lived five years past the murder and would likely die of old age before any execution. “I don’t think there is a way to have justice in something like this.”4Law & Crime. Cherish Perrywinkle’s Father Remembers Daughter: She Had a Good Life Ahead of Her
His Accusations Against Rayne Perrywinkle
In the days after the murder, Jarreau was described as too upset to speak for himself, and Wilkerson served as his public voice.6Click Orlando. Attorney of Cherish Perrywinkle’s Father Speaks7News4Jax. Attorney of Cherish Perrywinkle’s Father Speaks1News4Jax. Court Documents Show Custody Battle Over Cherish
Jarreau tried to attend Cherish’s funeral viewing but was reportedly told by the mother’s side that he was an “unwelcome guest” and might be removed. Wilkerson said they arranged a private viewing to avoid a confrontation.7News4Jax. Attorney of Cherish Perrywinkle’s Father Speaks
By 2018, Jarreau and Wilkerson had decided not to pursue legal action against Rayne Perrywinkle. Wilkerson said they had “explored options” but that the state had already made its determination. “I do believe personally that the mother is criminally liable, but that’s something that state has already made a determination on,” he said, adding that Jarreau “is ready to move on with life.”4Law & Crime. Cherish Perrywinkle’s Father Remembers Daughter: She Had a Good Life Ahead of Her No public reports indicate Rayne Perrywinkle was ever charged with neglect or any other crime in connection with Cherish’s death. After the murder, DCF removed her two younger daughters from her care, but the agency did not disclose details of that investigation or say who took custody of the girls.8Jacksonville.com. Past DCF Reports Show Several Instances, Cherish’s Mother Low Risk
Where the Case Stands
Smith’s conviction and death sentence were unanimously affirmed by the Florida Supreme Court on April 22, 2021, with the court noting that “the evidence of guilt is overwhelming.”9Jacksonville.com. Supreme Court Upholds Donald Smith’s Jacksonville Death Sentence Smith later filed a postconviction motion claiming ineffective assistance of counsel during the penalty phase; lower courts denied relief, and the Florida Supreme Court heard oral arguments on that claim on December 10, 2025. As of early 2026, no decision has been issued, and Smith remains on death row.10News4Jax. Florida Supreme Court Hears Arguments as Man Convicted of Killing 8-Year-Old Asks for New Trial Jarreau’s own words from 2018 anticipated exactly that stretch of appeals, and the outcome he predicted, that a death sentence would not translate into justice on any timeline he could live to see.