Report: Suspect tried to lure woman in '97 (Carlie Brucia case)

St. Petersburg Times (Pravda West) ^ | 2-15-2004 | AP

[Tunehead54]

The man charged in Carlie Brucia's death had a knife and tried to trick a woman into leaving a parking lot with him, police records show.

By Associated Press Published February 15, 2004

SARASOTA - The man accused of kidnapping and killing an 11-year-old girl tried to lure a woman outside a grocery store in 1997 while he carried a knife and pepper spray, according to a police report.

Joseph P. Smith had a knife tucked in his shorts and pepper spray in his car when he approached a 32-year-old woman outside a Kash N' Karry and lied about having car trouble, the July 1, 1997, Sarasota police report said.

In that incident report, Lt. Bill Spitler wrote that Smith "intended to do great harm," had recently bought pepper spray and a knife and had "initiated a ploy to get a young woman alone in her vehicle," the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported in Saturday editions.

Seven years later, Smith was charged with the murder of Carlie Brucia, whose abduction Feb. 1 was caught on a surveillance camera at a car wash. Carlie was found dead five days later.

M.H. Syin, a copy editor for the Herald-Tribune, said that in 1997, Smith told her he was having car trouble and asked whether she had jumper cables. Syin said she did, but she wouldn't let Smith get in her car when he asked.

"I wouldn't give him a ride," Syin said Friday. "I told him to walk over, and I'd follow in the car."

When Smith and Syin arrived at the vehicle he said he was having trouble with, police detained him based on an anonymous phone call they got about a suspicious man who bought a knife at the Kash N' Karry and tucked it into his shorts. He was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon.

"I got out of the car and said something really stupid, in hindsight," Syin said. "I said, "Officer, this is just a case of mistaken identity. I was helping him jump his car.' "

But when the officers pulled the steak knife out of Smith's shorts, and told her the van wasn't Smith's, Syin said, "I thought I was lucky."

Smith's brown Toyota was actually parked in another shopping plaza.

"I remember going over to start his car to blow a hole in his alibi," Spitler said. "It started on the first try."

Syin said she wasn't interviewed by officers that night, and nobody returned her call when she called the following day.

Police spokesman Jay Frank said there was no need to interview Syin because Smith could be charged only with carrying a concealed weapon.

The probable cause affidavit was put in Smith's file. He pleaded no contest to the charge and was given a year of probation.

But since he wasn't charged with any other crime, the report that describes how Smith approached Syin was never seen by judges, his probation officers or the prosecutors who tried to convict him for a similar crime that year.

In November 1997, Smith was accused of grabbing and threatening a Bradenton woman with a knife. A jury later acquitted him of those charges.

[Tunehead54]

Sad they couldn't at least get an attempted kidnapping conviction. Very sad. :-(

[mewzilla]

Well, it's really hard to get a conviction when you don't even try.

[MonroeDNA]

Lawyers.

[Tunehead54]

Well, it's really hard to get a conviction when you don't even try.

---

Good point. ;-)

[Tunehead54]

I do wonder how many women this animal was "successful" in abducting. Four attempts in Sarasota alone. I read elsewhere that detectives from the Tampa Bay area are looking at him as a possible suspect in the Jennifer Odem (sp?) disappearance in the north Pinellas/South Pasco area from 1993!

---

[Bonaparte]

Brucia and Smith

[Devil_Anse]

More on Carlie's alleged killer. Hadn't heard of this incident before.

[Freedom2specul8]

What in the heck is wrong with some of these prosecutors and judges!!!!!

[Freedom2specul8]

Or maybe the real question is WHY period!

"But since he wasn't charged with any other crime, the report that describes how Smith approached Syin was never seen by judges, his probation officers or the prosecutors who tried to convict him for a similar crime that year."

[Devil_Anse]

In this particular case, it's all as clear as can be to us now. But at the time, note that the intended victim was fooled right up to the time the police started Smith's car, thus blowing Smith's story of "car trouble". To me, that means he had not done anything against his intended victim YET. She is clearly a very lucky woman. So, since he hadn't begun to do anything to her yet, I don't see how they could prosecute him for an attempt to do harm to her.

There is one thing, though. I don't see why the file regarding the charge he DID get--the concealed weapon charge--couldn't have contained an account of this whole incident. That way, anyone who read it would have been able to see the light as to what Smith was working up to.

When a person is out in public, and a stranger asks for assistance, I think the person's approach should always be: "I'll call the police right now for you!" Period. I told my children that when they are old enough to be driving the highways, and they see someone broken down on the side of the road, they should just note the person's location, and call the highway patrol if they want to help the person.

[LisaMalia]

"I got out of the car and said something really stupid, in hindsight," Syin said. "I said, "Officer, this is just a case of mistaken identity. I was helping him jump his car.' "

Words I'm sure she has lived to regret.

[Velveeta]

Thanks Dev. Makes you wonder if there are "others" out there who crossed paths with this creep and didn't live to tell about it.