12:04 p.m.: Police are focusing a lot of attention at a creek near Highlands Baptist Church. Officers were putting down what appeared to be a sheet of plastic near the creek.
Linda Karshirsky, who lives near the church, said that at about 8:45 a.m. or 9 a.m., her husband saw a light blue truck parked on a bridge over the creek. No one was in the truck and he reported what he saw to police, his wife said. It's not clear if the truck is related to the police investigation.
A fire department ladder truck is parked in the street at the bridge, over the creek.
11:18 a.m.: Linda Kashirsky and her husband returned Saturday morning to their house near Highlands Baptist Church on Broward Road to see investigators searching for evidence.
“I’m just devastated for the parents of that child," Kashirsky said. "It’s so, so sad. I got goosebumps when I heard. I just want to cry.”
The couple had just moved a half a block from the church two weeks ago, so they said they're not very familiar with the neighborhood.
Deborah Howell, a longtime resident of the area, also lives near the church.
“We’re a very, very close-knit neighborhood," Howell said. "As soon as I saw the police, we all started calling each other. I cannot believe this has happened.”
Another neighbor, Charlotte Dupree, said she was shocked and upset to hear what might have happened in her community.
"We were all in our houses watching the Amber Alert, and she was dying up there,” Dupree said.
Neighbors describe the area near the church as including a two-story vacant house and a creek where people go crabbing. It's not clear yet exactly where police are focusing their attention since the area is blocked off.
10:56 a.m.: Police were on Broward Road near Highlands Baptist Church Saturday morning. Two women who said they are friends of the victim's family are weeping at the scene now. They declined to comment to the media or provide their names. A news conference is scheduled for 3 p.m.
10:46 a.m.: The abduction and killing are reminiscent of the 2009 abduction and slaying of 7-year-old Somer Thompson while walking home from school in her Orange Park neighborhood. Police found Somer’s body in a Georgia landfill and later arrested Jarred Mitchell, who pleaded guilty in the case in 2012 and was sentenced to life in prison.
Diena Thompson, Somer’s mother, became a national champion for children’s and victim’s rights after her daughter’s death. Thompson said she first learned about Saturday’s tragedy about 6 a.m. after turning on the news.
“I’m sickened,” Thompson told The Times-Union in a telephone interview. “Her [the mother’s] nightmare has just begun.”
10:23 a.m.: The body of an 8-year-old girl who went missing Friday night has been found at a church off Broward Road.
Charish Lilly Perriwinkle's body was found a little before 10 a.m. Saturday. Police wouldn't idenify the name of the church.
The sexual offender suspected of abducting her was taken into custody by the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office a little after 9 a.m.
Perriwinkle was reported missing about 11 p.m. Friday by her mother at the Walmart Supercenter at 12100 Lem Turner Road.
Police spokesman Shannon Hartley said during a 9:30 a.m. news conference that Donald James Smith, 56, was in custody after officers surrounded a white van on southbound Interstate 95 near the Interstate 10 split. Hartley didn't know if Smith was armed when taken into custody. He has several previous arrests involving lewd behavior with children.
The Sheriff's Office released two grainy photos of a second vehicle being sought. Hartley said police want to find the vehicle and the person driving it. The quality of the photos (one of which is attached to the story) are so poor police haven't been able to give details such as the make and model.
"Obviously having Mr. Smith in custody is a huge break for us," Hartley said.
Sgt. Lonnie Mills of the Sheriff’s Office said earlier that Charish was taken by a man who had befriended the girl's mother at the store and said he was taking the girl to the store’s McDonald’s located at the front for a snack.
Police searched the area with helicopters and ground units but found no immediate trace of the man or the girl.
Smith was reportedly driving a 1998 white Dodge van, Florida plates BCBK32, Mills said. The vehicle has a 2-inch dark pinstripe down its sides, two large windows on the driver’s side, one large window and double doors on the passenger side and double doors on the back.
Smith, whose registered address is 2495 Segovia Ave., was last arrested in 2009 where he was accused of impersonating a Department of Children and Services officer and making obscene and threatening calls to a 9-year-old girl.
The arrest report said he had called a 12-year-old boy on his cellphone asking to speak to his sister, whom he knew by name. The boy gave him his mother's cellphone. The man called her saying he was with DCF conducting an investigation regarding her daughter.
The girl was visiting grandparents, so he called them and spoke with the daughter for about 20 minutes. He had asked questions about whether she wore a bra and what her privates looked like. Then he told the grandmother the child's father and grandfather were suspected of molesting her and that if she told anyone of their conversation she could go to jail.
He demanded she bring the girl to a McDonald's so he could examine her. She did so, but went inside instead of waiting in the parking lot as instructed. The man did not appear. The mother later gave police the man's phone number and traced it to Smith.
Smith also served prison time for attempted kidnapping and lewd and lascivious assault on children. The first time he attempted to lure a 13-year-old girl into his van and chased her as she ran away. The second time involved Smith trying to lure two girls into his van with pornographic magazines, according to Times-Union archives.
Anyone who has any information is asked to contact police at (904) 630-0500 or call 911.
Times-Union writer Scott Butler contributed to this report.
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