Posted on 02/06/2004 7:34:15 AM PST by apackof2
SARASOTA, Fla. - The body of an 11-year-old girl whose abduction was captured by a surveillance camera has been found in a church parking lot and a mechanic has been charged with her murder, officials said Friday.
Sarasota County Sheriff Bill Balkwill refused to say where Carlie Brucia's body was found, but a law enforcement source close to the investigation said it was found between 12:45 a.m. and 1 a.m. Friday outside a church not far from the car wash where she was taken.
"Our prayers on behalf of everybody here in Sarasota County go out to the family," Balkwill said.
He said Joseph P. Smith, 37, has been charged with her murder. He is believed to be the tattooed man in a mechanic's shirt who was seen in a car wash surveillance video leading Carlie away by the arm Sunday evening, authorities said.
Investigators found the body after negotiations with Smith, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Earlier, authorities had said he was not cooperating.
"We now stand ready to complete our obligation, and assure you that he will pay the ultimate price for what he did to her," Capt. Jeff Bell said.
Family and friends had kept vigil outside Carlie's ranch-style house which was decorated with banners and posters reading, "We love you, Carlie."
Carlie was described by friends as a beautiful girl who loved actress Jennifer Lopez, going to the mall and hanging out. The youngster was known for greeting friends with warm hugs. She was heading home from a slumber party when she was abducted.
Carlie's friend Natalie Thomas cried after hearing that her classmate's body was found. She remembered Carlie's smile and that she liked to go on walks.
Carlie's family had gone into seclusion Friday and was unavailable for comment.
"There's nothing you can do to make anybody feel better and it's going to hurt for a long, long time," said Chuck Chambers, a private investigator who was working with the family.
"I need my daughter home," Carlie's mother, Susan Schorpen, had said Thursday. "She's a very, very important part of this family and community."
Members of her former Girl Scout troop took a day off from school Wednesday to pass out fliers at shopping centers, canvass neighborhoods and distribute pink ribbons adorned with Carlie's name.
A reward fund of $50,000 was offered for information.
Smith has been arrested at least 13 times in Florida since 1993, according to state records and convicted of drug possession and other charges. He was arrested in 1997 in Manatee County on kidnapping and false imprisonment charges, but was acquitted a year later.
An aide to Smith's public defender, Adam Tebrugge, had declined to comment Thursday.
Carlie was walking home from a friend's house at about 6:20 p.m. Sunday when she took a short cut behind Evie's Car Wash, which was closed for the day.
Car wash owner Mike Evanoff said he checked the security system video Monday after bloodhounds led deputies to the business. The images of Carlie popped up almost immediately when he turned on the system, he said.
"It was cold chills right up my back," Evanoff said earlier this week. "My manager couldn't even look at it. It's an awful feeling."
FOR DISCUSSION ONLY
Somehow I suspect that, had the judge routinely run around locking up everybody who fell a hundred bucks behind on payments, many of the same folks who are attacking him now would be doing so again. I can picture the headline now: "Man gets a year in prison over a $100 late payment".
The system failed, there's no question about that, but it's important to keep in mind that the issue before the judge was NOT, "should this monster be let lose to kill"?
See, to me this is very simple. This single act, which did not even have to be proven in a court of law (because he pleaded no contest) is inconsistent with him living among us.
There are violent acts that can get you arrested that have poor predictive value-bar fights, for example. But clubbing a strange woman so you can drag her into the woods is not one of them.
This act, or worse, was inevitably going to be repeated (and repeated) until he was dead or incarcerated.
For that matter, if he were incarcerated in a normal American prison, such acts would inevitably be repeated on weak or non-violent inmates, or prison staff.
The best solution for someone who pleads no contest to clubbing a woman so he can drag her into the woods is that he be killed. If that were done in this case, this little girl would still be alive.
Failing that, a person like this should be isolated from society in a secure location, where he can live with others of his own kind and do whatever they would do to each other-without societal intervention.
Really. There was a Ventura County case with a guy involved in a custody dispute who grabbed his kid off the street, drove twenty miles across the county on a freeway, then hid out in a residential neighborhood. The cotton-pickin' dog let the cops right to his door a day later... amazing. The dog led them onto the freeway, then they stopped at each off ramp until the dog led them off again. All they could figure was that is had something to do with a unique odor the guy's truck emitted, maybe a half-dead catalytic or something.
Pretty much as you guessed. He hadn't paid part of a fine, and had a valid excuse for not doing so. There's no question the system is plagued with judges who aren't interested in passing judgement, but on the surface of it this doesn't look like one of those incidents.
Ridiculous!
I'd hardly characterize what she was doing as "running around unsupervised." She could have been mere blocks from her house and was walking home from a friend's. Big deal. It's not like she was out at 3 a.m. cruising the interstate. If this is typical suburbia, there's nothing unusual about an 11-yr-old walking home for a slumber party, nor should there be. Blame the right perp here, the psycho who took her. The parents are not at fault.
So that's two times he tried to abduct a female before he got ahold of Carlie? Makes me wonder if Carlie is the first one he actually murdered or not.
So that's two times he tried to abduct a female before he got ahold of Carlie? Makes me wonder if Carlie is the first one he actually murdered or not.
Nah, all the perp would have had to say was that she deserved it because her head was uncovered. He'd get off scott free, and be congratulated for serving 'allah.'
It was broad daylight, and she was walking home after having spent the night at a friend's house.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.