Donations from across the nation have poured in for the Carlie Brucia Rescue Fund. The 11-year-old Sarasota girl was kidnapped and murdered last month.
Posted on 03/09/2004 11:19:11 AM PST by summer
Posted on Tue, Mar. 09, 2004
Donations from across the nation have poured in for the Carlie Brucia Rescue Fund. The 11-year-old Sarasota girl was kidnapped and murdered last month.
Inmates offer to build memorial for Carlie
AIMEE JUAREZ
Herald Staff Writer
Special report: The Carlie Brucia abduction and murder
MANATEE - Saying their hearts had been broken over the abduction and slaying of 11-year-old Carlie Brucia, about 70 inmates at the Manatee County jail offered to honor her memory by building a butterfly garden at her Sarasota school.
"It (the offer) spoke to me in a very personal fashion," said Robert Hagemann, principal of McIntosh Middle School. "I was able to visualize inmates who had done something wrong and they, as human beings, didn't want any connection to this hedonist crime.
"There are crimes against humanity that are distasteful even to people who have made mistakes in the past."
The inmates wrote a letter just days after Carlie's body was discovered in a dense brush near a Sarasota church on Feb. 6, less than a week after her Feb. 1 abduction was captured by a surveillance camera at a Sarasota car wash. In the letter to their supervising officers, the inmates asked to build and dedicate a tribute - a heartfelt gesture that stunned Manatee County Sheriff Charlie Wells.
"I've never seen anything like that before," Wells said. "They expressed sympathy for a victim. I saw that to be really promising." The butterfly memorial will be designed by students with the school's horticultural program. Hagemann expects the design will be ready sometime this week. He will then give the blueprint to Wells, and will also discuss the idea with Carlie's family for their support.
The Sarasota County School Board must then approve the project.
If approved, about six or seven inmates and their supervising officers will travel to the school on a Saturday to construct the garden, which they will line with butterfly plants grown at the Manatee County jail.
The inmates, all participants of the Leading Inmates to Future Employment, or LIFE program, were in the middle of building two new greenhouses when they came up with the idea of dedicating one to the memory of Carlie. The group wrote the letter expressing their idea and added their 70 signatures. The letter reads:
"To whom it may concern at M.C.C.J. (Manatee County Central Jail),
"We the inmates at M.C.C.J.'s hearts have been broken over the abduction and murder of Carlie Brucia. Our prayers go out to her and her family. It is our desire to try to convince the powers that be to dedicate the new green house in her name. The following inmates will do whatever it takes to make this possible by making a dedication plaque, work overtime to finish her green house or anything we can to help with this project. Thank you."
Inmate Matthew Flores, 28, of Palmetto, who was arrested in December on drug and auto theft charges, signed the petition and said he felt it was the right thing to do.
"A couple of the guys were talking about it," he said. "We have been working a lot of weekends on this new building and we thought it'd be a good idea to ask the family if we could build this new building in her name."
Sheriff's officials decided naming prison property after Carlie wasn't suitable. Joseph P. Smith, 37, who is charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping and capital sexual battery in the case, is being held in protective custody at the jail.
Hagemann expects the memorial will cost between $7,000 and $10,000 to build, which will be paid for through donations.
The garden will be maintained by students, who will also use the garden for science projects and educational activities. Donations made to the Carlie Brucia fund, which currently holds about $1,200, will help with the upkeep, Hagemann said.
"Our desire is to move quickly and hopefully have it in place by the end of the year," he said. "It seems that Manatee County is as immersed and invested in this as the people in Sarasota County."
Like Flores, inmate Mike Doyle, 25, also signed the letter. Doyle, who was arrested in September on grand theft charges, has a 5-year-old son and said it wasn't hard for the inmates to empathize with Carlie's family. Now, they just hope their efforts make a difference.
"It's kind of sad," he said. "It's hard enough being in here away from your kids so we understand a little bit about what they're going through.
"Somebody like that who can take a child," he paused, "it's upsetting to anybody in here or out there."
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Aimee Juarez, public safety reporter, can be reached at 745-7095 or at ajuarez@bradentonherald.com.
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