Caught On Tape
How It Ends and Happened
Sunday: Carlie Brucia abducted at 6:20 p.m. outside a car wash
while walking home from a friend's house.
Monday: Authorities release images of Carlie's abduction taken
from a surveillance camera. It shows her taken by a man
wearing a mechanic's uniform. Amber alert issued for Carlie.
Tuesday: Carlie's mother, Susan Schorpen, pleads for her
daughter's safe return. Joseph P. Smith, an unemployed auto
mechanic, held in custody on an alleged probation violation.
Wednesday: Authorities announce that Smith is considered
suspect in abduction. Investigators search Smith's Buick
Century station wagon for clues. A nighttime Bible study is
held at the church where Carlie's body is later found, but no
one notices anything.
Thursday: Investigators say Smith uncooperative with
authorities, say "strong evidence" links him to the abduction.
Friday: Authorities announce the discovery of Carlie's body.
Body found outside a church a few miles from the car wash, a
church where, ironically, hours before the discovery of the
corpse, a prayer vigil was held. Crime scene technicians
dressed in white coveralls pulled the body of Carlie Brucia
from under some thick underbrush near the parking lot. The
covered body was placed on a stretcher and taken away by a
white van. Smith charged with first-degree murder and
kidnapping.
THIS Joseph Smith Is No Saint
The Story At The Time of the Abduction/Surveillance:
After watching a grainy surveillance video, officials on Monday
issued a nationwide alert for an 11-year-old girl last seen walking home from a
friend's house Sunday night near Bee Ridge Road.
In the video, captured on a security camera behind a car wash, Carlie Jane
Brucia can be seen walking toward an older man wearing what appears to be a gray
work uniform.
The dark-haired man, in his late 20s or early 30s, takes hold of Carlie's right
arm, talks to her for three seconds, then leads her behind the car wash, out of
the camera's range.
Relatives and friends said they do not know the man, and investigators said they
were treating the case as an abduction.
"She just vanished into thin air," said Steven Kansler, the girl's stepfather.
About 5 p.m. Monday, investigators issued an "Amber Alert" and called the
National Center for Exploited and Missing Children.
Carlie, a sixth-grader at McIntosh Middle School, is 5 feet tall, 120 pounds,
with blonde hair and blue eyes. She spent Saturday night at a friend's house at
Bee Ridge Road and Lalani Boulevard, about a mile from Carlie's home on McIntosh
Road.
About 6 p.m., her friend's mother, driving in the neighborhood, saw Carlie
walking home, sheriff's officials said.
The friend's mother called Kansler, who left to pick Carlie up.
"I don't like her to walk anywhere," he said.
Workin' At The Car Wash...
Carlie's mother, Susan Schorpen, called the authorities at 6:30 p.m. when
Kansler could not find Carlie.
Sheriff's deputies used dogs to search Sunday night. Kansler said he searched
the neighborhoods.
"If she goes somewhere, she always calls," he said.
Kansler said she knew a shortcut through Evie's Car Wash, at 4735 Bee Ridge
Road. A person can cut through the lot, cross a small patch of grass, and end up
on McIntosh Lane, a quiet street that leads through a neighborhood to McIntosh
Road.
The car wash is next to Evie's Ice Cream Parlor and Mini Golf, where Carlie
often hung out with friends. She also had a friend in the neighborhood.
"That's how she knew about the short cut," Kansler said.
Late Monday, sheriff's detectives met in the car wash lot, lit only by red neon
lights. The lot borders a driving range, and a mechanic's garage also opens up
to it. A wooden picnic bench is nearby.
The encounter captured on the surveillance video was recorded by a
motion-activated camera about 6:20 p.m., and shows the man taking long strides
toward Carlie, who was wearing a red shirt and jeans and carrying a pink
backpack.
He reaches out with his left hand and takes hold of her arm or hand.
He leans in close and says something. When he turns, he has hold of her arm. The
camera catches a grainy image of his face, and a patch on his shirt.
The car wash was open until 4 p.m. Sunday. The owner of Evie's, who turned the
tape over to authorities Monday afternoon, said he did not recognize the man in
the video, sheriff's Sgt. Chuck Lesaltato.
The footage led detectives to believe it was a kidnapping and not a runaway.
Deputies and detectives visited every house in the neighborhood, and every house
and business on Bee Ridge Road between Lalani and McIntosh.
Kansler spent more than two hours with detectives Monday, watching the tape over
and over.
The man "doesn't ring a bell to me," Kansler said.
Zoe Fry, a sixth grader in Carlie's homeroom class, described Carlie as an
extrovert.
"She's nice. She's friends with everyone," said Zoe, 12.
Monday morning, a teacher asked the students in Zoe's class whether they had any
pictures of Carlie or had talked to her over the weekend.
The Amber Alert, issued Monday, is named for a 9-year-old Texas girl who was
abducted and murdered in 1996. In several states, including Florida, the system
uses highway signs and emergency airwaves to broadcast notices of child
abductions.
Detectives released the video to the media Monday, hoping its broadcast will
lead to a suspect.
Kansler said he is strict on Carlie, and surprised that she decided to walk.
"I try to keep a tight leash on her," he said. "Guess it wasn't tight enough."
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