Police found the body of 11-year-old Carlie Brucia on Friday in a church parking lot, days after a surveillance tape that captured her abduction shocked a worldwide audience.
The out-of-work mechanic suspected of abducting Carlie on Sunday was charged with kidnapping and murder hours after her body was found behind the Central Church of Christ–2 1/2 miles from the carwash where she was last seen.
Police say it was suspect Joseph Smith’s own words that broke the case; he allegedly told someone in the Sarasota County Jail that he killed Carlie and dumped her body.
Instead of the happy homecoming this Gulf Coast town had hoped for, friends and family gathered Friday night for a candlelight service.
“She’s in a better place,” said Carlie’s father, Joe Brucia, of New York City. “She got there in a horrific manner but now she’s watching me all the time.”
Police released scant information Friday and refused to answer questions about the investigation. Sarasota County Sheriff Bill Balkwill said, however, that the 37-year-old Smith did not willingly help investigators find Carlie’s body.
“I assure you and tell you, there have been no deals made in this case,” Balkwill said, choking back tears. “None whatsoever.”
Prosecutors said they expect to seek the death penalty in the case.
Few other details about what happened to Carlie since she was last seen Sunday walking home from a slumber party were made public, other than to say she “died as a result of homicidal violence.”
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But the arrest affidavit revealed that Smith was a suspect early on, as associates recognized him as the man grabbing Carlie in an image captured for a few fleeting seconds on a carwash videotape.
In an arrest affidavit released Friday, investigators revealed a detail kept out of the news: The surveillance camera at the carwash also captured the image of a yellow Buick station wagon in the parking lot three minutes before Carlie was abducted. It was the same make, model and color of car driven by Smith.
Smith was arrested Tuesday on probation violations. On Thursday, according to the affidavit, Smith told the person in the jail that “he abducted and murdered Carlie Brucia.”
That information led police to the body about 1 a.m. Friday near a stand of trees and a chain-link fence behind the church.
Smith has been arrested at least 13 times in Florida since 1993.
In 1998, he was acquitted of kidnapping a 20-year-old woman.
He served 17 months in prison in 2001 and 2002 for heroin possession and prescription drug fraud. Eight days after he got out, he was arrested for cocaine possession and placed on probation for 3 years.