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Car wash surveillance camera catches kidnapping on tape
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rd



Joined: 13 Sep 2002
Posts: 9273
Location: Jacksonville, FL

PostPosted: Tue Feb 03, 2004 2:52 pm    Post subject: Car wash surveillance camera catches kidnapping on tape Reply with quote

Thank goodness, for once it's not the great unknown of could be anybody. It's a white guy wearing a mechanics shirt with a patch. That narrows it down fast, just the way electronic monitoring of people on parole would do.

Let's hope the quick action will save her.

rd

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Information courtesy www.cnn.com (fair use)

SARASOTA, Florida (AP) -- The parents of an 11-year-old girl whose apparent abduction was videotaped by a security camera pleaded on national television Tuesday for her safe return, as the FBI and state officers joined the investigation.

Carlie Brucia was walking home from a friend's house Sunday evening when a surveillance camera at a car wash showed a white man in his late 20s or early 30s approach the blond, blue-eyed girl, speak to her for a few seconds, grab her by the arm and lead her away. An Amber Alert was issued Monday.

Her father, Joe Brucia, said police told him that they have interviewed some people but have no prime suspect.

"I just want, again, to say to the man that took my daughter, I implore you, you can end this," Brucia said on CNN's "American Morning." "Let my daughter go. Please. We need her back home."

Carlie's mother, Susan Schorpen, spoke on NBC's "Today," saying, "We desperately need her. Please release Carlie. Please give me my baby."

An FBI agent was sent to assist the Sarasota County sheriff's office and others may be assigned to the case, FBI spokeswoman Sara Oates said Tuesday. "We are offering our assistance and anything they need to locate her," Oates said.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement also assigned an agent to the case, spokesman Larry Long said.

Evie's Car Wash was closed at 6:20 p.m. Sunday when its surveillance camera caught the man approaching Carlie, who was walking behind the business taking a short cut home. She did not appear to know the man, who was wearing a mechanic's shirt with a name patch on the chest. Her parents don't recognize him.

Her stepfather, Steven Kansler, had driven to the area to give her a ride home. When he didn't find her, he called the Sarasota County Sheriff's office about 6:30 p.m. and a search began.

Carlie is a sixth-grader at McIntosh Middle School, where principal Robert Hagemann said security had been increased and counselors were meeting with students, many of whom were sad, frightened and shocked.

Hagemann said school officials were being encouraged to "think optimistically and have a plan to celebrate and to also have a plan if the news is tragic."

Sarasota is about 45 miles south of Tampa on Florida's Gulf Coast.
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jane



Joined: 22 Sep 2002
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 03, 2004 3:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I saw her Amber alert yesterday. Hope she's back with her family very soon!
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benn



Joined: 19 Sep 2002
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 03, 2004 10:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Another abducted young person.

>>>Evie's Car Wash was closed at 6:20 p.m. Sunday when its surveillance camera caught the man approaching Carlie, who was walking behind the business taking a short cut home. She did not appear to know the man, who was wearing a mechanic's shirt with a name patch on the chest. Her parents don't recognize him. <<<

Once they are missing it is almost out of the public's hands, unless the police are lucky, or the person escapes on their own. I don't know how children are instructed, but it does not seem that they should be walking where they are out of sight.

Perhaps children should have designated routes, and alternate routes, that are completely out in the open where they can be seen at all times.

Or maybe we can photo identify all people, maybe all men, in the United States. We are in the age of technology, all the technology necessary should be used to stop these abductions.

It is a matter of priorities, kidnappings, abductions, and missing persons, should be on the top of the list of things needed. It is nice for a few scientists to send robots to Mars, maybe some robots right here on earth to stop abductions would be a better way of spending the public's money.

We can't just keep saying that we hope that someone will be returned safely. The time to stop that is before it happens. We can spend millions of dollars on football, but we can't protect people from being abducted.

That kidnapper is a terrorist. No matter who he is, he is a terrorist.

benn
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jane



Joined: 22 Sep 2002
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 03, 2004 11:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I was trying to remember what I heard children should do when someone tries to grab them - I think they're supposed to drop to the ground and lie on their back, kicking and screaming. It's supposed to be difficult for anyone to pick them up when they do that. I saw the tape of Carlie and it did look like she was yelling, but it seemed so easy to pull her along by the hand.
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rd



Joined: 13 Sep 2002
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 04, 2004 12:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

He probably said something to her that confused her, gave her an order, told her she was to come with him, who knows? It only takes a minute of confusion for him to get her into a vehicle.

I think the only chance she has of survival is if he knows his picture is in the news. Yes, he is truly a terrorist, and as a senator said of the ricin terrorist, hanging is too good for him.

I think Homeland Security has to include monitoring sex offenders and people on parole. They will strike like wolves at a lamb any chance they get. It's either the wolves or the lambs that need constant monitoring, we have to make a choice.

rd
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rd



Joined: 13 Sep 2002
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 04, 2004 12:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

from www.nytimes.com (fair use)

FBI Joins Search for Girl Seen on Tape
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: February 3, 2004

Filed at 11:11 p.m. ET

SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) -- The FBI joined the search Tuesday for an 11-year-old girl whose apparent abduction was videotaped by a car wash surveillance camera, and the youngster's parents pleaded for her safe return.

``Please release Carlie. Please give me my baby,'' begged Carlie Brucia's mother, Susan Schorpen.

The sixth-grader was seen on videotape being led away by a man as she took a shortcut behind a closed car wash on her way home from a friend's house Sunday night.

The sheriff's department is working with the FBI, state law enforcement authorities and the Center for Missing and Exploited Children. More than 100 calls from the public have come in, and an unidentified company offered a $25,000 reward for information.

``Carlie, if you can see and hear this, please know we will stop at nothing,'' sheriff's Maj. Kevin Gooding said at a news conference, telling the little girl to run and get help if she can. ``We won't stop until we find you. Please, Carlie, don't give up.''

The surveillance tape showed a white man in his late 20s or early 30s approach Carlie. The blond, blue-eyed girl did not appear to know him.

The man, who was wearing a mechanic's shirt with a name patch on one breast, spoke to her for a few seconds, then grabbed her by the arm and led her away. Her parents said they do not recognize the man, who investigators said had tattoos on both forearms.

The FBI was working with NASA to enhance the images from the tape in hopes of lifting more clues.

Authorities were also looking into the account of a caller nearly 100 miles away in Kissimmee who said he saw a man appearing to struggle with a girl early Tuesday in a parking lot. Based on that witness's account, authorities also were looking for a green, four-door Honda or Nissan.

The girl's father, Joe Brucia, implored anyone who might have seen anything to come forward.

The Center for Missing and Exploited Children began distributing 16,000 fliers with Carlie's picture throughout the region, and a national hot line was set up -- 1-888-382-6237 -- to gather information.

The family's modest home is on the edge of a busy, commercial section of the city, about a mile from the house where Carlie was visiting her friend.

``Carlie is not the type of child who would just go off,'' said family friend Chessie Huber, whose 6-year-old son is a playmate of Carlie's little brother. ``She's a very responsible child.''

^------

On the Net:

Center for Missing and Exploited Children: http://www.missingkids.com
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rd



Joined: 13 Sep 2002
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Location: Jacksonville, FL

PostPosted: Thu Feb 05, 2004 12:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

damn. They have the suspect, the girl is missing. 11 years old. And she ran into a monster.

rd

from www.cnn.com (fair use)

Anyone with tips on Carlie Brucia call 888-382-6237.

SARASOTA, Florida (CNN) -- A suspect is in custody in the disappearance of 11-year-old-Carlie Brucia, who went missing while walking home from a friend's house Sunday, authorities said Wednesday.

Joseph P. Smith, 37, was arrested on drug possession charges Tuesday after telephone tips identified him as a possible suspect in the case, Sarasota County Sheriff Bill Balkwill told a press conference. The girl has not been found.

"Please consider this as a focus, to find Carlie and bring her home," said Capt. Jeff Bell, the lead detective in the case.

A law enforcement source told CNN that Smith was not cooperating with investigators.

Carlie's disappearance led to an Amber Alert issued by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement on Monday. The story was broadcast nationally because the girl's abduction was recorded by a surveillance camera in the parking lot behind a car wash.

Smith is suspected of abducting Carlie Sunday night, although he has not been charged.

"We have strong evidence to suggest he is the perpetrator," Bell said.

Smith was arrested on charges of possessing cocaine and drug paraphernalia.

He has a criminal history dating to 1993 in the Sarasota area, including numerous arrests on drug charges, and charges of kidnapping/false imprisonment, felony aggravated battery and domestic violence.

According to the Florida Department of Corrections, Smith has served time for a number of drug-related crimes, including heroin possession. He was released from prison in January 2003 and is on probation as a drug offender, according to the department's Web site.

Authorities are searching Smith's car, a tan 1992 Buick Century station wagon they believe was used in the suspected abduction.

Officials pleaded for continued help from the community to locate Carlie, asking people to call in with information that might indicate where Smith traveled between Sunday and Tuesday.

In the videotape, recorded Sunday night just after 6:20, Carlie is seen being approached by a white man in some kind of a work uniform. He briefly speaks to her as she hesitates, then takes her by the forearm and leads her away.

Investigators said Tuesday they believed the suspect planned the kidnapping.

"If you look at that video and you look at her reactions, you look at his mannerisms and what he does, ... there is a possibility that he was aware that she was there and had every intent of confronting her in that location," said Maj. Kevin Gooding of the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office.

Initial enhancement of the digital images by NASA and the FBI yielded some clues, said Carl Whitehead, special agent in charge of the FBI's Tampa office.

Along with tattoos on the man's forearms, investigators saw a name patch on his uniform. "It appears to be a short name, maybe three or four letters," Whitehead said. Smith has multiple tattoos on his forearms, chest and back, officials said.

Before the announcement, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said he had spoken to Carlie's mother, Susan Schorpen, "to say that the resources of the [Florida Department of Law Enforcement] are being brought to bear to find her child."

Callers have phoned in "well over 400 leads," Balkwill said.

Balkwill made a plea Wednesday morning to anyone who might be holding Carlie hostage. "Please turn Carlie over to the nearest convenience store, bank, any location. On behalf of the family, please let her go."

Whitehead said the bureau had added $25,000 to the original award, raising it to $50,000 for anyone who provides information "for a successful resolution of this matter."

Schorpen sent out an emotional message to her daughter at an early evening news conference.

"Carlie, I love you. If you can call, I have this phone on me at all times, call home," she sobbed, clutching her mobile telephone and a large gray cat. "I'm begging and pleading, please bring my daughter home."

A family friend addressed the abductor. "If you have anything in your heart, ... please let that child go and let her come home. You're destroying this family," she said.

Authorities asked anyone with any information, no matter how trivial, to share it with investigators.

CNN's Susan Candiotti in Miami and John Zarrella in Sarasota contributed to this report.
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rd



Joined: 13 Sep 2002
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Location: Jacksonville, FL

PostPosted: Thu Feb 05, 2004 12:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I knew it. He's on probabtion. Why are we not electronically monitoring people on probation? How many women have to die because we let these animals run loose? When will we finally learn we have to put these men under constant surveillance?

rd
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propria



Joined: 20 Sep 2002
Posts: 630
Location: northern illinois

PostPosted: Thu Feb 05, 2004 12:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

[fair use]

Updated: 10:39 PM EST

Man Questioned in Girl's Taped Abduction
By MITCH STACY, AP

SARASOTA, Fla. (Feb. 4) - A suspect was being questioned Wednesday in the disappearance of an 11-year-old girl who was apparently kidnapped while walking home from a friend's house, authorities said. The girl's whereabouts were not immediately known.

Police are questioning Joseph P. Smith, left, in connection with the disappearance of Carlie Brucia.

Joseph P. Smith, 37, was in custody on unrelated charges that officials did not specify. His car, a Buick Century station wagon, was being searched by investigators in a search for clues in the disappearance of Carlie Brucia, whose apparent abduction was captured by a car wash surveillance camera.

"We have strong evidence that he is in fact the perpetrator," said Capt. Jeff Bell, the lead Sarasota County sheriff's investigator on the case.

Col. Terry Lewis called it an "ongoing, dynamic investigation." He said his investigative team will continue working through the night, but would not have further comment until a press briefing Thursday morning.

Sheriff Bill Balkwill said investigators were led to Smith after a tip was phoned in by a citizen.

Smith has been arrested at least 13 times in Florida since 1993, according to state records. He was arrested in 1997 by Manatee County officials on kidnapping and false imprisonment charges, but was acquitted a year later, records show.

Other arrests range from misdemeanor battery to felony drug possession charges, records show.

Surveillance video cameras captured images of Brucia, a sixth-grader, apparently being kidnapped while taking a shortcut behind a closed car wash on her way home. A security camera shot a sequence of digital photographs of a man walking up to her, talking to her, grasping her arm and leading her away.

The man appeared to be in his late 20s or early 30s in a mechanic's shirt with a name patch on one lapel. Investigators said he also had tattoos on both forearms.

Smith has many tattoos on his body, including on both arms, officials said.

From the photos, Carlie did not appear to know him, and the girl's parents said they did not recognize him.

The FBI worked with a NASA image lab to enhance the images. Balkwill did not say whether those enhanced images helped lead them to Smith.

"I think it's helping them out quite a bit and giving them details they need to solve this case," said Armando Oliu, who is overseeing the image lab.

Friends from the girl's former Girl Scout troop took a day off from school Wednesday to pass out fliers at malls, canvass neighborhoods and distribute pink ribbons adorned with Carlie's name.

"I don't feel too good about this, knowing my best friend is out there with a stranger," said Tiffany Meeks.

Many people pulled up to the site of the abduction, rolled down the windows of their cars and asked deputies how they could help. Officials were creating "a database of volunteer support" to try to locate the girl.

The girl's father, Joe Brucia, looked exhausted when he appeared on national television Wednesday morning.

"I'm doing OK. I have to be for Carlie's sake," he said on ABC's "Good Morning America." "I always have hope. I maintain that. I have to. I look forward to my daughter's safe return."

Meanwhile, after speaking with a psychic, Carlie's family hired a private investigator to assist in the search. Chuck Chambers, a private investigator from neighboring Bradenton, said Carlie's family hired him Tuesday after consulting with an "investigative psychic" who "provided them with addresses and clues."

Steven Kansler, Carlie's stepfather, said the family was encouraged because the psychic feels Carlie is still alive, but is "somewhere dark and tied up," according to the psychic.

Carlie's family is frustrated at times, but remains hopeful that the girl is coming home.

"I know Carlie is a strong-willed person," Kansler said. "She's full of life and she's not going to give up."


02/04/04 20:48 EST

Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
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propria



Joined: 20 Sep 2002
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 05, 2004 12:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

amen to that, rd ...

and what was he doing out on probation to begin with, anyway ... did some shrink somewhere decide that he had been rehabilitated, or was the probation call made by some rubber stamp operation run by people who are bored with their job so they don't really think about what they're doing when they flush those cells and dump their contents on the general public?????


nanci
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benn



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PostPosted: Thu Feb 05, 2004 2:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

rd wrote:
I knew it. He's on probabtion. Why are we not electronically monitoring people on probation? How many women have to die because we let these animals run loose? When will we finally learn we have to put these men under constant surveillance?

rd


Well, this is something that anyone of us can do something about. We can bring up the problem with one of our elected officials. This seems to be a subject that elected officials will listen to.

I think we should have electronic monitoring as you say rd, we also ought to have reguarly scheduled classes in all schools, at all grade levels, about how to try to avoid getting abducted. I don't have any children, or grandchildren. I think many students get some instruction, but I wonder how much.

With the electronic devices for offenders on probation, or parole, if there is not enough money to put a detector on each parolee then they might put placebo detectors on some of the parolees. Not as good, but the parolee would probably not know the difference, but then again he might, if he could get someone to check his detector for him.

My plan: Children should have locators on them. Everyone is not going to agree with this, and/or it would be expensive to equip all children with a locator, but if parents truly love their children they could do this, if they can afford to. Another way of doing that would be to provide locators for a certain percentage of the children, but potential offenders would not know what children were wearing locators and what children were not wearing locators.

Probably not the best ideas, but if we contact our elected officials we can demand some better ideas from them. This is the type of project that elected officials will work on if there is enough public interest.

I am going to try it myself, contact my elected officials to get some good ideas out of them. Once the person is kidnapped is too late to do much good to save them. Of course speedy trials and executions would help also.

Three years should be about the normal time for a trial and execution. Today the appeals can run up to about 19 years. If parents truly love their children they are going to have to protect their children more.

We can only expect so much from our elected officials. Somewhere along the line we have to organize in different ways to provide more protection for anyone who is in danger of being abducted.

benn
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rd



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PostPosted: Thu Feb 05, 2004 2:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Why should we monitor children instead of convicted felons? It's the felons that have proven they can't be trusted, not children.

nanci, my understanding, and I could be wrong, is that parole follows serving a sentence, even a sentence fully served. For example, the guy that killed Dru Sjodin served 22 years and was to be on parole for 5 years. That isn't the simplest example, he could have been kept longer and a psychologist determined he could be freed, only took months before he took her life, but in general I'm not talking about early releases. I'm talking about all people on parole after they complete their sentences.

Convicted felons should be monitored. It makes no sense to think they don't. Until we put an electronic monitoring system in place, we will continue to lose innocent women to predators, predators that have already been caught time and again on lesser offenses and are on parole. These are the people that must be watched, not the entire population or children.

It's part of Homeland Security, and it needs to be done now.

rd
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benn



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PostPosted: Thu Feb 05, 2004 9:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

>>> Convicted felons should be monitored. It makes no sense to think they don't. Until we put an electronic monitoring system in place, we will continue to lose innocent women to predators, predators that have already been caught time and again on lesser offenses and are on parole. These are the people that must be watched, not the entire population or children.

>>>It's part of Homeland Security, and it needs to be done now.<<<

I agree that it is part of Homeland Security. I am not so certain how much locators on parolees are going to stop the abductions.

If the monitor camera had not seen Carlie was being abducted, we could not have known exactly what happened to her. If the abductor had been wearing a locator the locator would not show that he had a young girl with him. In many of these cases the person that has been kidnapped is soon murdered. A locator on the murderer would not necessarily show where the body of the murdered victim was. I am not sure that a locator on the parolees would prevent murders. Locators might be able to trace some of the murderers, if a body is found.

A locator on a parolee might be an obsticle, but those people do not think too well in the first place, or else they would never do what they do. They do not seem to see ahead far enough into the future to see what the consequences will be.

A locator on a child might let the police find a missing child before a murderer has time to act.

benn
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propria



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PostPosted: Thu Feb 05, 2004 10:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

thanks for clarifying that, rd ...

and i still agree with every word you've said ... if you do something that earns you time, you also earn an anklet for the rest of your life. if you're mr. nice in jail and get out early, that's fine ... but you still wear the bracelet, which should be no problem at all if you plan to stay clean. i find it the crowning irony that we basically ditched our hands-on intelligence operations years ago because we had techology that could read a license plate from a zillion feet up in the air, and now we don't use the technology where it would make a real difference because it's not 'fair' to prisoners ... i, for one, am altogether over the politically correct mandate to protect offenders' rights and sensitivities, and i think it's high time we put a plan like yours in place coast to coast, border to border.


nanci
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jane



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PostPosted: Thu Feb 05, 2004 12:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm not against the idea - but, like Benn, I wonder just how it would work. Who would monitor them and how would those doing the monitoring know when something was amiss?
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