GUILTY FL - Carlie Brucia, 11, Sarasota, 1 February 2004

[Texana]

LOL. I have always heard that. When my oldest daughter was about 3 we were in victoria's secret and there was a fashion video playing in the store. My daughter saw it, scrunched up her face, pulled on my shirt to get my attention and said (sniff) "those are chee mommas, Momma! they don't have enough clothes on". out of the mouths of babes.

I am in no way blaming Carlie, though. She was an innocent victim. I just think that in general clothing is much more provocative, younger.

I love your story of a three year old knowing what to call those Victoria's Secret's girls--My own two girls used to giggle when they saw the lingerie store and say very loudly, "YOU don't own a bra like THAT, Mommy! Why don't you? Why don't YOURS zip up? etc, etc." Until I finally beat it into their heads not to discuss Mommy's underwear in public.

Couldn't agree with you more about Carlie's clothing. In fact, in the video, she's actually dressed quite reasonably, for a teen today. Our babysitter was very developed at an early age and it doesn't matter what she wears...unless it's a big sack, you can see she has a cute figure. Smith would have picked up any girl. Period. Unless it's proven he was stalking Carlie, I think he was just a killer looking for a victim.

I definitely like using the phrase Hoochee Mama because it beats "trailer park trash" or worse still--"" or anything like that. I don't want my DD hearing those words and labeling other girls, but I think Hoochee Mama says it pretty well! (You should hear my friend describe her Hoochee Mama clothes and how much she loved them...and how she never realized her mother was HIDING them. She's beautiful but not the most suspicious minded woman!)

 

[Texana]

It was my understanding that he has been charged with 1st degree murder. Does this mean that it was premeditated and planned? If so then he wasn't there by luck.

maybe having a gun or other weapon would be enough to show premeditation.

It can only be minutes, it's more a matter of "I'm going to shoot that " instead of "I'm beating up my wife because she pissed me off again." for the first degree charges.

 

[Aperture]

Here is a map I found online at the tbo.com website which shows the locations of Carlie's home, the car wash and where she was found.

http://media.tbo.com/tbo/images/maps/20040206mapbrucialocator.gif

As SoloFlyer previously mentioned it is really a small town comparatively speaking.

I have spent a good deal of time in the Sarasota area over the years due to family living in Venice, south of Sarasota. I was there just last weekend enjoying a getaway reunion with a sister and brother. Saturday evening we had a long conversation at dinner reminiscing about childhood and how wonderful it was when we were kids to feel safe and never fear any harm. We also talked about all that kids today have to deal with and all the dangers out there. That wonderful carefree naivete that allowed us to just be kids and not have to deal with fear or violence is gone forever. So sad. Then with the news on Monday about Carlie, it was totally devastating. A beautiful innocent child used and disposed of by a monster.

As many have said here, I, too, could not be a member of LE as I would not be able to deal with all the protections available to scum like Mr. Smith without losing both my temper and my mind.

 

[Texana]

THIS IS TRAGIC.. I'M SO ANGRY..!!

HIND SIGHT IS 20/20, AWARENESS IS EVERYTHING..!!

We must educate our children better, won't stop the preditors, but may save a few children..!!

My niece was grabbed by a man who pull up to bunch of her freinds, and her walking home from a slumber party several years ago.. !@! SHE BROKE LOOSE FROM HIS GRIP, AND RAN OUT OF HER SHOES HOME, AS DID ALL THE OTHER GIRLS..!!

11 is to young for a child to be walking alone ever..!! If she left the slumber party early, where was the parent in charge of the girls.

Why didn't the parents offer her a ride home, or have her call her parents.????? No child walks to a gathering that I'm associated with. I will drive all day, and night getting them there, and taking them home.. IF THAT'S WHAT IT TAKES..!! EVEN IF YOU LIVE ACROSS THE STREET, OR NEXT DOOR.. I WILL WALK THE CHILD TO THE DOOR, AND LEAVE THEM IN THE CARE OF AN ADULT.. NOT ADULT HOME, BACK THEY GO WITH ME, I WON'T LET A CHILD WALK.. I DON'T CARE WHAT THE PARENTS SAY, YOU GET ESCORTED HOME, IN THE CAR OR ON FOOT...BUT NOT BY YOURSELF, AND ALL THE PARENTS WOULD KNOW THIS BEFORE, SO THERE IS NOT DOUBT HOW THINGS WILL BE DONE!!

WE AS PARENTS HAVE TO PROTECT OUR CHILDREN BETTER, WE MUST WORK TOGETHER. THEY NEED TO KNOW HOW TO REACT..!!

I teach all the children I come in contact with, that no ADULT needs help from a child for anything EVER... THEY CAN GO ASK AN ADULT PERIOD...!! THAT'S A RED FLAG RIGHT THERE..!!


I'M SO ANGRY..!! SORRY.. THIS JUST MAKES ME ILL..!!

I so agree. A few weeks ago, my DD had a few friends over, and around dinner time I told all of them I'd drive them home--even the one who was just going to walk home--he lived a few blocks away, we have a very safe neighborhood--but I just didn't feel right letting the child walk off. His mother came by to get him before I did, but just the same--I still would rather make the rounds in my mini-van!

I tell my DDs the same. No adult needs help from a child. Period. Ever.
Angry like you--

 

[indigomood]

Indigomood..................go to GOOGLE and type in Carlie's name. The whole name. You'll find lots of place's that have the Video. CNN has a really good one. Maybe.......you can type in CNN Video Carli.

xxxxxxxxxxo
mama

thanks Lovemama,
it is heartbreaking to watch.. I actually see her take a step back and caught off guard. No child should ever have to go through that terror... So sad

 

[KOOL LOOK]

For all who cares to know and may want to send a personal message to Carlies family, here is a new website dedicated to Carlie. Glory be to God.
www.findcarlie.com

You can send prayers and messages, she's been found now an in the loving arms of the Father, she's home. I'm sure the family is hurting terribly now and i thought we all should go over there and send our love and comfort to them. Having lost a loved one unexpectedly and tragically, I understand the emotional dynamics going on at this time. My 28 year old husband was killed in an automobile accident in 1992.

Well, gonna go post over there now, be strong all and take care.

 

[Babcat]

This is my niece last May when she was eleven years old:

She did not turn twelve until September.

My middle daughter was less than a month from turning eleven during the same photo session (I took the photos):

Notice the difference?

Nine months later my middle daughter has still not started any kind of puberty and she will be twelve in five months.

My thirteen-year-old at the same time, last May:

My niece had a bigger chest last May than my daughter who was two years older than she was. And my niece was bigger. My oldest will be 14 in May and she is 5 foot even and 84lbs. Children vary significantly in size.

I think the police were reluctant to release an Amber Alert... and believed Carlie might be a runaway once they saw a picture of her, and that is not right. If she had looked like my eleven-year-old (pictured above) they would have thought "child" and released every alert they had. But they saw her picture and thought she looked like a teen and it colored their beliefs about the likelyhood of her running away on her own. Even a "well into puberty" 11-year-old is still only eleven in maturity. They are still children, and they are not sixteen, even if they have more sexual knowledge than most others their age, (and as far as I know this wasn't the case with Carlie).

I think the half shirt styles and low waist jeans are cute, as long as the kids adhere to the dress code at school while they attend. But even if I severely objected... it would make ZERO difference because it is irrelevent. These men don't take victims based on their clothing or what the men believe the kids will willingly do. They have no intention of ever asking the girls to willingly participate in anything. It would have made no difference if Carlie had been dressed like a cheap prostitute. She should have been able to walk anywhere she wanted on a Sunday morning in broad daylight without the worry of a predator stalking. Samantha Runnion was dressed like a five-year-old... and Elizabeth Smart was in pajamas... and their apparel didn't spare either one of them.

 

[indigomood]

Cut the damn thing off ! There is no longer any reason for him to have a penis.....Lock his sorry up and throw away the key ! The Prisons dont want him, Society does not want him, Only the Lord above can help a creature such as that !! :furious:

Well if they don't cut his penis off, then plaster his cell wall with pornographic images, give him daily doses of viagra, but tie his hands or cut his hands off so he can't whack that thing...

 

[CW]

When are some of thes damn judges going to wake up and smell the coffee here this low life bastards are never going to change and the next crime is going to be worse then the one before. My heart truly goes out to Carlie and her family Carlie is in heaven with God her parents will suffer forever. I believe anyone that harms a child in away shape or form should be taken down town at the court house and tied to a stake his first layer of skin from head to toes should be peeled off then then one on a latter should slowly pour battery acid over his whole body until he dies and to be sure to pour it very slow so that he can feel the horrible pain that he made his victim feel. I'm so tired of these sick bastards getting off and beating the system. If this sick S.O.B don't get the death penality none of our children will ever be safe. Then they want to blame parents for our children being over weight well children can't be out like in our days of growing up kids today are not safe outside to play and ride their bikes and build forts and they don't get the activity like in our times like other posters have said we would be outside playing bike riding and all that from sun up to sun down and yes our parents would check on us throughout the day but now days children can't do that anymore. What a sick world that we live in and our justice systems in this case helped aid and abed him when the judge should of put his in jail the first time he voilated his probation.

 

[TLynn]

From the timeline:

12:30 p.m. -- The car wash owner checks a surveillance camera behind the car wash and discovers the abduction was captured on video. He gives the tape to a detective.

3 p.m. -- Detectives interrogate a male friend of the mother of Carlie's friend, and later release him.

5 p.m. -- An Amber Alert is issued, and Carlie's status is changed from "runaway" to "abducted" in state and national law enforcement databases. The videotape is released to the media.

MY QUESTION:

Once the video tape determined this was an abduction - why did it take 4.5 hours before an amber alert?

 

[wicket]

I will certainly send a 'thank you' card to the owner of the car wash...he is an unsung hero. This Smith character should never have been out on the streets at all...maybe we could send them all to Mars and really utilize the cost of exploration there. It would save the cost of housing them in prisons for the rest of their lives.
As much as I love my 2 children, looking at baby pictures, remember their attempts to learn to ride bikes, taking off on a Sat. morning to visit a friend around the corner - I'm glad they're grown. Things were different then and they are only 26 and 30. Now I have to worry about the grandchildren. My kids and others, some years ago, were able to enjoy being outside on a hot summer night playing in the neighborhood, chasing fireflys, playing flashlight tag. When watching my grandchildren, they never go outside without me - ever! If I can't see them....they can't go Their parents practice the same rule! But why is it like it is? The same people are walking the streets but was there justice if someone did something sick? Sure was! But many of these sickos get good lawyers, good therapists; and they are deemed cured - miracleously! At least Florida has the death penalty and Massachusetts does not! Too bad for Mr. Smith. :razz:

 

[Ghostwheel]

Things were different then and they are only 26 and 30.

I don't things were all that different then. I just don't think we had as much of the internet, fax machines, connections from city to city and state to state. 20+ years ago a friend of mine was murdered in her home. (perp never caught) No one in Florida heard about it. Heck, no one in LA heard about it. For good or ill, we have better connectivity, and things that used to pass unnoticed by other cities and states are now an evenings (or many weeks worth) of disturbance.

I'd like to know where the house she started at was in relation to the car wash and her house.

 

[Cypros]

I'm betting that this B@$tard, Joseph Smith, had seen Carlie in the neighborhood before. He sometimes visited a nearby bar that her mother also went to. Perhaps he was on the way to that bar Sunday afternoon and saw Carlie walking along the street. He anticipated that she would cut through the carwash (he'd seen her do it before) and he drove ahead and waited for her. I agree with others that he appears very casual in the way he carried out the abduction and I will not be surprised if they are able to associate him with other sexual assualts, rapes, and/or murders in the area.

This whole thing makes me sick. Thank goodness for that tape to id and catch this guy. Make sure that all the children you know see it and understand that it is real. They need to know to run, scream, kick, bite, anything to get away.

 

[LadyLuck]

I read in an article ( do not remember where,) but they thought the boyfriend of the mother where the party was looked like the man on the tape and they had carried h im in to question. After they decided it was not him, they put the alert out.

 

[KOOL LOOK]

Amend the miranda rights to conclude you have the right to waive a trial and jury and request the state to sign your death warrant within 30 days of your arrest. I feel some crimes and criminals like Joseph, Alphonzo Rodriquez, should be allowed the right to an early exit.

I say give Scott Peterson his trial, speedily though, because their aren't eye witnesses, so be it. But crimes like this one, caught on video, eyewitnesses, forgo the trial and take care of the business of justice for the victims and society. Why do tax payers have to pay thousands and millions on blatant acts against humanity and God. When your caught, your caught, and Joseph is caught.

There's more to this man than what we've learned so far. A good father, baaaahaaaaa, I don't believe those reports for a moment. A good father wouldn't leave his family with this type of legacy. He needs to be investigated for other crimes. A close investigation needs to be done on his family. There's got to be some abuse somewhere.

After doing some reading and thinking, playing the video tape, I'm beginning to feel Carlie may have been set up by John, the boyfriend. He was seen canvassing minutes prior, then had the car parked and ready for Carlie to approach her. My hinky meters are flashing here.

 

[JDB]

From the timeline:

12:30 p.m. -- The car wash owner checks a surveillance camera behind the car wash and discovers the abduction was captured on video. He gives the tape to a detective.

3 p.m. -- Detectives interrogate a male friend of the mother of Carlie's friend, and later release him.

5 p.m. -- An Amber Alert is issued, and Carlie's status is changed from "runaway" to "abducted" in state and national law enforcement databases. The videotape is released to the media.

MY QUESTION:

Once the video tape determined this was an abduction - why did it take 4.5 hours before an amber alert?

Just from reading the timeline and Thank you for it BTW.I think the Key here is the interrogation of the male friend. They proably thought he was the guy.

 

[gretchen]

I don't care if Carlie was buck naked. She was a VICTIM of a sick, sadistic person.

When ninety year old women are raped, is it because they are dressed too sexy?

Carlie was dressed far more conservatively than most girls her age.

 

[Imon128]

Just from reading the timeline and Thank you for it BTW.I think the Key here is the interrogation of the male friend. They proably thought he was the guy.

Yes, they PROBABLY did, and I still wonder about the guy, how goofy.

 

[Maxi]

No normal man is enticed into attacking a child because she is dressed like a woman or well developed for her age.

Perverts and predators are going to go after children and women even if they are wearing burkhas.

"Hoochy mama" clothes on young women may send the wrong message to young men, but a clear "No!" from the young woman in question should make it clear that her intention is not to advertise her availability. If he doesn't get the real message then, he's the one to blame.

Clothing is just a matter of culture and taste. No matter how conservatively you dress your kids, they are still in danger from those who would hurt them. And they are far more likely to be molested by your neighbor than by a stranger who sees their names written on barrettes.

 

[River]

More outrage- Smith's probation officer tried to have him removed off of the streets in December. The petition said he was behind on State Maintenance, but that can not possibly be why the Officer asked for revocation. There is more to that story.

The probation officer even asked for court involvement and the Judge said that he was not a threat to the community.

Watch for this to explode in a few days. :furious: