Murder of Carlie Jane

Carlie Jane Brucia

Birth: Mar. 16, 1992

Sarasota

Sarasota County

Florida, USA 

Death: Feb. 2, 2004

Sarasota

Sarasota County

Florida, USA 

Carlie Jane Brucia (March 16, 1992 – February 1, 2004) was sexually battered and killed by Joseph P. Smith after being abducted from a car wash near her home in Sarasota,

Florida on February 1, 2004, while returning from a sleepover at a friend's home. She was reported missing by her mother, Susan Schorpen, and her stepfather, Steven Kansler, within a half-hour of her kidnapping.

The abduction case became popular after a surveillance video showing the girl surfaced. The video, taken from a security camera fixed behind a car wash, reveals Carlie being confronted by a man, later recognized as Joe Smith, who then pulled her arm and led her away toward a Buick that was sighted on another camera. The video was shown nationwide and sparked an enormous manhunt for the abductor.

On February 6, police declared that Smith, a 37-year-old father of three and car mechanic with a long list of arrests for drug-related penalties and one for abduction and erroneous imprisonment, was in custody as the main suspect. In the same announcement, the police substantiated that Smith's car, a beige 1992 Buick Century, was involved in the crime.

The story earned national media scrutiny in large part because Brucia's kidnapping was recorded by a surveillance camera. The tape shows her being reached by a man who appeared to be in his late 20s or early 30s. They had a short chat, after which he pulled her by the arm and took her away. The FBI and NASA joined in the actions to find Brucia and the man seen with her on the videotape. NASA researchers used advanced image processing technology to improve the recording by reducing image jitter.

At least two informers called police, having identified Smith from the television broadcasts of the security camera tape. Smith was already in detention at the time, having been arrested on February 3 on an irrelevant parole violation. Smith declined to speak with investigators about Brucia's kidnapping until February 5, when he disclosed where he had hidden her corpse, behind a nearby church.

On February 20, Smith was prosecuted for first-degree murder and charges of abduction and the capital sexual battery was also filed by Sarasota County prosecutors. The prosecution started on November 7, 2005, in Sarasota. On November 17, 2005, at 3:24 PM, the jury announced their ruling, that Smith was guilty as charged. On December 1, 2005, the jury, by a vote of 10 to 2, returned a suggestion for the death penalty. On March 15, 2006, the day before what would have been Carlie's fourteenth birthday, he was punished to two terms of life imprisonment on the charges of capital sexual battery and abduction and was sentenced to death by lethal injection for killing.

The judge in the case was Circuit Court Judge Andrew D. Owens. In October 2011, at the start of the Court's term, the U.S. Supreme Court (which had earlier dismissed an appeal from Smith in June 2011), responded to a federal assertion filed by Smith saying his right to meet witnesses at trial was disobeyed when prosecutors introduced DNA evidence against him. It asked the state of Florida to give an official answer. A panel of legal experts talking about forensic work did not comprise the lab technician who conducted the test. State courts have been at odds on whether such non-testimonial evidence is reasonable, especially in capital cases. The Justices last week approved a review of a case from Illinois raising related issues, though the state of Illinois itself no longer uses the death penalty.