( CNN ) -- The body of an 8-year-old girl who was abducted Friday night from a Walmart in Jacksonville , Florida , was discovered Saturday morning , police said . `` This is a transition from an abduction investigation to a murder investigation , '' Jacksonville Sheriff 's Office spokesman Shannon Hartley told reporters . `` Obviously , we have the unfortunate answer that we did n't want to have . '' Donald James Smith , 56 , faces kidnapping and murder charges . He was listed as being held without bond Saturday night . Smith is a registered sex offender who was released from custody on May 31 , according to Michael Williams , director of the sheriff 's investigations department . Authorities from the sheriff 's office had just made contact with him to verify his address on Friday morning , Williams said . Later that same day , a woman called police to report that her daughter was missing from the Walmart . Authorities initially called on the public to help find Cherish Lilly Perrywinkle , who had been wearing an orange sundress , purple flip-flops and a pink ribbon when she went missing . After the investigation revealed that the girl had been abducted , an Amber Alert was activated , Hartley said . He identified Smith , `` a man with a very extensive criminal history '' that included a kidnapping conviction , as a suspect . Williams said the girl 's mother first met Smith on Friday night at a local Dollar General store , where he offered to take the family to Walmart to buy them some clothes . `` After being inside the store for a couple hours , the man then offered to buy some hamburgers , '' Williams told reporters . `` As he walked to the front of the store , he took our 8-year-old victim with him . They walked to the front of the Walmart toward the McDonald 's . They did not stop at the McDonald 's . They walked outside , got in his van and left the location . '' On Saturday morning , police stopped Smith , 56 , as he drove a white van southbound on I-95 in Jacksonville and detained him without incident , Hartley said . `` Obviously , having Mr. Smith in custody is a huge break for us , '' he said as the search for the girl was continuing . `` We are very confident that he was the one that took her from the Walmart . '' Soon after , Hartley said in a subsequent news conference , police followed a lead that took them four miles from the Walmart to a church , near which the child 's body was discovered . According to records from the Duval County Clerk of Courts , Smith 's most recent convictions occurred last year on charges from 2009 for unlawful impersonation of a public employee and aggravated child abuse by willful torture , for which he was sentenced to a year in county jail . `` The first thing I would tell you is , as a parent , hug your children closely right now and know where they 're at , '' Hartley said . `` Just pay attention to them , keep them close . ''
Sheriff : Donald James Smith , 24 , faces charges . Deal : Smith had promised to buy the girl 's family clothes and hamburgers , a sheriff 's spokesman says . Cherish : Perrywinkle 's parents reported Friday night that she was missing from a Walmart . ` ` We are very confident '' Smith took her from the store , a sheriff spokesman says .