00:00:00
Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences.
00:00:06
Listener discretion is advised. It's not that I observed anything, it's just the picture is, I mean, amazingly close.
00:00:19
I mean, it looks just like my brother. Sword and Scale, episode 265. Let's go. Well, you simply haven't lived until you've cowered in a small closet with three cats and
00:00:46
your significant other thinking you're going to die in the next five minutes. Yeah. For a second
00:00:52
there, I thought episode 264 was going to be the last sword and scale ever. I'm lying. I wasn't
00:00:58
thinking about sword scale at all in fact i was thinking about death the imminent death that was
00:01:03
coming via tornado i'm not lying when i say this the entire sky turned black it turned to night
00:01:10
in the middle of the day and this was the entire city of houston and if you've ever been to houston
00:01:16
you know how fucking big it is when we emerged from that closet it was literally like a bomb
00:01:22
had gone off. But we're still here. So go check out the latest episode of Sword and Scale Television, episode 3,
00:01:30
Cherie Syverson. Before the next Twister hits, I hear Big Daddy government's doing some weird shit with the weather.
00:01:39
Just look at Dubai two weeks ago. Sarasota Springs sits in the western coast of Florida, about halfway between Tampa and Fort Myers.
00:02:05
Sarasota, being so close to the ocean, is beautiful. It's lush and green in some areas, specifically the safer inland neighborhoods in the suburbs.
00:02:17
Blocks upon blocks of residential neighborhoods house a community of about 15,000 residents.
00:02:25
Sarazota Springs is arguably one of the best places to live in Florida. Specifically, if you're raising a family.
00:02:33
There's lots to do. The beach is right there, and crime rates are low. February 1st, 2004 was Super Bowl Sunday.
00:02:42
Sunday. Josh Groban sang You Raise Me Up right before the kickoff of Super Bowl 38,
00:02:49
a game between New England and Carolina. That year, the game was in Houston, my hometown.
00:02:56
The song choice and location of the game were tributes to the seven astronauts who lost their
00:03:01
lives in the tragic space shuttle Columbia disaster exactly one year prior. Just to set
00:03:09
the scene with pop culture landmarks, this was also the Super Bowl that featured Janet
00:03:15
Jackson's infamous nipple slip. Remember that one? It's weird how you remember where you
00:03:21
were during moments like that. And I'm sure you'll remember that all of the supermarket
00:03:27
tabloids obsessed over this for the next several weeks. Many residents of Sarasota Springs,
00:03:35
like the rest of the country were tuning in for the game having parties eating buffalo chicken
00:03:41
wings and drinking beer but light of course as the tranquil hush of the sunday evening sunset
00:03:49
enveloped the surroundings the unexpected cries of a terrified mother desperately searching for her
00:03:56
child shattered the serene silence The End McIntosh Middle School, was staying at her friend Danielle's house off of Bee Ridge Road,
00:04:41
just a little over a mile from where Carly and her family lived. Just after dinner time around 6pm,
00:04:47
Carly and her friend got into a little tiff over something trivial. But being a kid,
00:04:52
her emotions were very real to her, and she was angry. Carly abruptly decided she wanted to go
00:05:00
back home and watch the Super Bowl with her family. So she called her stepdad, Steve Kanzler,
00:05:07
and told him she wanted to come back, which during the game isn't annoying at all.
00:05:12
My daughter called and said she wanted to come home. What was said on the phone, I don't know.
00:05:17
A couple minutes later, Connie calls and says Carly's standing across the street. Come pick her up.
00:05:23
You remember what it was like being a kid, right? I mean, it hasn't been that long.
00:05:28
Emotions feel twice as intense. At least twice, I mean probably more like five times.
00:05:35
And you have almost no patience whatsoever. Carly was mad, and she wanted to go home right that minute.
00:05:44
She didn't want to wait for her stepdad to get there. You know, like the logical thing to do.
00:05:51
So she just took off walking. Carly friend Danielle watched Carly standing on the corner of the street by her house just before she began her mile trek home It was 6 p
00:06:07
Though Sarazota Springs has a ton of residential areas, Carly's walk back to her house would be along a very busy main road.
00:06:16
There were sidewalks, but the houses lining those sidewalks quickly disappeared and were replaced by businesses like bars, mini-golf, and car washes as she continues to walk west towards her home.
00:06:30
It was basically a straight shot from Danielle's house. Carly would walk west on Bee Ridge Road for about 20 minutes before turning right onto her street, McIntosh Road.
00:06:42
Then she'd walk for another few minutes and she'd be home. To an 11-year-old, I'm sure this plan seemed easy enough.
00:06:51
I washed my hands and out the door I went. When I got down there, I didn't see her.
00:06:56
I said, well, maybe I passed her on Be Rich. So I made a U-turn, come back, drove real slow, didn't see her.
00:07:03
Went into Evie's, looked inside, see if she was in the arcade, didn't see her. So I said, well, maybe she went the back way, behind Nick's bar.
00:07:10
I can go to the industry I went back around and came back didn't see her so I went back to
00:07:17
their Connie's house and I swear's Carly and so she left walking I saw I can't find it so I went
00:07:28
back home got my wife we're driving around took her back to the house where the girls were she
00:07:35
yelled at the girls for whatever she said we got in the van we drove down I came down
00:07:40
B-Ridge I was going real slow my flash was on she was screaming out the one side I was
00:07:45
looking across eastbound traffic trying to see so going across she said I'm gonna get
00:07:52
out because it's a bunch of wooded area the Harris houses are just all rubble and just
00:07:59
trees so she'll stop I'm gonna get out she got out screaming Carly so she did I pulled
00:08:03
into evies and parked took my little boy out with me and we started walking back to where my wife was
00:08:09
carly's mom stepdad and younger brother continued looking for her for another hour they took all
00:08:16
the back roads home weaving in and out of different neighborhoods carly's mother susan screaming
00:08:22
carly's name out the window as they drove but the effort was fruitless susan's only wish was to
00:08:30
witness her daughter with her thick ash blonde hair and smile on her face emerge from the woods
00:08:38
unharmed you don't see her walking on b ridge you get all the way to lalani address i didn't go to
00:08:45
lalani i passed it because i've only been there you know once or twice okay i passed lalani go down
00:08:52
to the next intersection that was there and i made a u-turn come back then i recognized the house
00:08:58
It's down in the corner now because I've passed it. Once I saw it, it was too late.
00:09:02
So that's when I make a U-turn come back, and I didn't see her outside. So I made it just right there, a little circle there.
00:09:09
I come back out, went back down Beeridge to see her. I never saw her. All right.
00:09:15
So I went all the way down to McIntosh, come in the back way by next bar because sometimes she'll come the back way because it's shorter for her that way.
00:09:26
So I come down that way. I don't see her. So just before I get to the golf course, I come out, whatever that little road is there.
00:09:36
I turn left and then another left into Evie's. And I looked. I didn't see nobody.
00:09:42
Because I thought maybe she went inside. At this point, Evie's is actually open.
00:09:47
Yeah, there's people full of people. Okay. Evie's was a landmark for Carly, given that it was a center point between her and her friend's house.
00:09:55
It was a multi-building collection of businesses all under the same name. Evie's Express Car Wash and Mobile Detailing,
00:10:04
Evie's Tavern and Grill on Bee Ridge, and Evie's Family Golf Center. Evie seems to have quite the enterprise.
00:10:14
Inside the main building was a kids' arcade. Somewhere, Stephen thought his stepdaughter might have stopped on her walk home.
00:10:22
When he didn't find her there, he thought perhaps she cut through Evie's parking lot
00:10:27
and through another neighborhood to get back home quicker. Over an hour had passed since they began looking for Carly,
00:10:35
and Susan's heart was in the pit of her stomach. So she decided to call 911 at about 7.30 p.m.
00:10:44
911, what's the location of the emergency? My daughter is missing. Has she been missing before?
00:10:50
No, she had a fight with her girlfriend. She decided to walk home and we can drive around for about an hour and a half.
00:10:58
And now it's about an hour and a half walk. She's gone. We can't wander anywhere.
00:11:04
I've called all her friends. How old is she? Eleven. And when was the last time that she was seen?
00:11:13
It was at six o'clock, Jim. We're at six o'clock. And she was at a friend's house?
00:11:22
Yeah. Okay, what's her name, ma'am? Carly C-A-R-L-I, Inc. And last name? Alicia B-R-U-C-I-A.
00:11:35
She's a white female? Yeah. Okay, what's her date of birth? 316-82. Okay, how tall is she?
00:11:44
Oh, she's a giant white man. Okay, do you know how much she weighs? And what color hair does she have?
00:11:55
And what color eyes Do you remember what she was wearing Oh no she was she flipped over
00:12:05
Um, the last one's house. I don't know what she had on. I can try. Steven? That's okay. The deputies will get that from you when they come in, okay?
00:12:15
Does she have any medical problems? No. Okay. Where was the last place that she was seeing?
00:12:21
Did she leave her friend's house? And that was the last time that anybody saw her?
00:12:25
Yeah. Okay. Is there somebody there with you? Yeah. Okay. All right, we've got the deputies coming over to meet you, okay?
00:12:32
If you can get any information about what she was wearing when she left her friend's house,
00:12:36
and you can tell the deputy. We're going to get that right now. Pardon me? We're getting that right now.
00:12:41
Okay, you can give that to the deputy, okay? Yes. Okay? They'll be there as soon as they can.
00:12:47
Okay. Okay. Did you say you were looking around for her for the last hour and a half?
00:12:52
Yes. And was somebody with you looking around? My husband was driving. All right, ma'am, we'll get the deputies out to you, okay?
00:13:02
Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Bye-bye. Carly Bruscia never made it home that night. Police searched on and around Carly's potential path home until 3 o'clock in the morning.
00:13:16
They resumed the search the next day, and by noon, a bloodhound tracked Carly's scent to an area behind Evie's car wash.
00:13:26
That's where the scent trail stopped. But Evie's had security cameras everywhere. You know Evie.
00:13:34
She doesn't miss a thing. Surely one of them caught Carly on tape. Carly Bruscia vanished February 1st, 2004, never making it home from a sleepover at a friend's house.
00:13:46
The next day, after talking with police about a missing girl in the area, car wash owner Mike Evanoff looks at tape from his surveillance cameras.
00:13:55
Just came in and saw her walking and him walking, and it just right away, right when I saw it,
00:14:01
it just threw chills and shivers right in my body. The video, grainy and only 10 seconds long, is chilling.
00:14:09
Carly is a half mile from her home. A man in a mechanic's uniform walks up to her outside the car wash.
00:14:15
He leads her away. The manhunt begin. The video surveillance from Evie's car wash showed Carly clear as day.
00:14:24
She was facing the camera, walking towards it unknowingly. and a man in a blue mechanic shirt
00:14:31
with a white name tag appears to approach her from the opposite direction. We see his back to the camera,
00:14:38
but clearly he grabs her arm and pulls her closer to him in a kind of aggressive way.
00:14:45
Then he turns around to face the camera and pulls Carly out of frame by the wrist.
00:14:51
That footage is the last time she's ever seen again. Shown on local and national television, the video brings hundreds of leads.
00:15:01
Surely someone would recognize the man on the grainy tape. And they do. On February 3rd, just two days after Carly's abduction,
00:15:10
numerous tips came into the Sarasota Sheriff's Office, all pointing to one man. 39-year-old Joseph P. Smith.
00:15:20
One of these callers even knew where the guy worked. Joseph was apparently a mechanic at a place called Saurus Autos.
00:15:29
When detectives arrived at the auto body shop, they were greeted by a man who admitted he'd been the one to call on the tip himself.
00:15:39
He told detectives that Joseph was his friend and co-worker, but he had just seen the clip of Carly Bruch's abduction on television and he immediately recognized Joe.
00:15:52
The guy said that he called the shop's landlord and told him to turn on the news.
00:15:57
He watched the clip and agreed. The guy in the footage was Joe. It had to be. I seen Joe with the uniform from the backside, from the front side.
00:16:10
The way his hair was cut, the way that he walked his gait was just like Joe walking through the shop.
00:16:16
I mean, he's got a different type of walk to him. And then when I watched him reach out for the, you know, reach for the girl, I knew it was him.
00:16:28
The co-worker told police he didn't want to believe Joe would be capable of such a thing.
00:16:33
But he wasn't sure because he knew Joe did hard drugs. And at the time, he was separated from his current wife.
00:16:43
This co-worker decided to call in so quickly because he thought of his own 11-year-old daughter
00:16:48
and what he'd want his community to do if she were missing. Imagine if we all lived by that rule.
00:16:56
The man in the CCTV footage, apparently easily recognized by his community, was wearing a name tag on his mechanic's uniform.
00:17:06
But the grainy resolution of the video footage made it difficult to decipher. Interestingly, NASA had software all the way back in 2004 that was able to enhance grainy footage.
00:17:22
It was called Video Image Stabilization and Registration, or VISOR for short. It was a million-dollar piece of software, almost as expensive as our new app.
00:17:37
But NASA offered it to law enforcement in this case. And guess what? It fucking worked.
00:17:47
The name tag matched what all of the callers were saying. It read, Joe. Joe On February 1st 2004
00:18:25
11-year-old Carly Bruscia was staying at her friend's house just a little over a mile from where her own family lived in Sarasota Springs.
00:18:34
Carly decided that she wanted to go home following a little argument she had with her friend
00:18:38
and said she was going to walk. When Danielle's mother called Carly's parents to confirm she had permission to walk home,
00:18:47
they said no, and Carly's mother sent her stepfather to pick her up. But when Steve arrived, Carly was gone.
00:18:58
After a massive search, Carly's scent was picked up by a bloodhound at Evie's car wash,
00:19:04
a business located about halfway between Danielle and Carly's houses. CCTV camera footage showed Carly's abduction in broad daylight.
00:19:15
Law enforcement narrowed the suspect down quickly with the help of hundreds of tips from the community
00:19:20
and NASA's million-dollar visor technology. As if all that wasn't enough of a jumpstart on this case,
00:19:31
the suspect's own brother contacted law enforcement to say the exact same thing everyone else had said.
00:19:38
I recognize that guy. You called in a couple of days ago, right? No, not a couple of days ago, probably yesterday.
00:19:46
It was yesterday, okay. It's been a blur. We've lost track of time because we've been going.
00:19:52
But can you tell us about what led to your call and what you saw or what you observed?
00:19:57
It's not that I observed anything. It's just the picture is amazingly close. I mean, it looks just like my brother.
00:20:07
Okay. The voice you're hearing is John Smith. No, the other one. That's a joke because, you know, the name's John Smith.
00:20:17
Anyway, this one was his brother. And he suspected 39-year-old Joseph Smith as responsible for Carly's abduction.
00:20:28
Joe Smith and John Smith. Their parents were really creative with the names, huh?
00:20:34
Anyway, as you can probably tell by his accent, John and his brother Joseph were originally from Brooklyn, New York,
00:20:44
along with every other annoying New Floridian. John moved to Sarasota County in the 90s, and Joseph followed him in 2003.
00:20:54
Joseph, Sarasota's main suspect, was an auto mechanic. He was a two-time divorcee.
00:21:02
Is it divorcee or divorcee? I don't know. And he had three toddler-age daughters.
00:21:10
A dad with a full-time job and three little girls is not someone you'd usually suspect of kidnapping someone else's little girl.
00:21:22
But as we know, the world is a wretched place. Sunday he called me just out of the blue.
00:21:30
I haven't spoke to him in a month or so. He wanted to know how I'm doing. I said, I gotta go.
00:21:34
And I hung up on him. Then Monday, this thing happened. I saw it on the 10 o'clock news
00:21:40
and I said to my girlfriend, I said, damn, it looks like my brother, isn't it? And then at 11 o'clock,
00:21:46
my brother's knocking on my door. Monday morning? No, 11 o'clock at night. Oh, Monday night.
00:21:52
Did I say Monday morning? No, no, you said 11 o'clock. I was just wondering. 11 o'clock at night.
00:21:56
Okay, Monday night. And remember, he lives far from me, so it's kind of odd for him to go out of his way.
00:22:01
And I opened the door, you know, it was in my, just my bottom pants, because I came in and I go to bed.
00:22:06
I'm like, what do you want? He's like, oh, I thought you wanted to talk to me. I'm like, what made you think I want to talk to you?
00:22:11
He's like, no, I got to go to bed. He's like, well, I need to talk. I'm like, I don't really care.
00:22:16
I'm going to bed. I got to go. I closed the door and then left. It was just real strange.
00:22:22
And like I said, the next day came and, you know, everyone's talking about it. And people call me, hey, I seen your brother on the news.
00:22:28
And I'm like, you know, don't say it's my brother because you don't know. You know, you might look like him, but, you know, unless you're 100% sure, don't say it's him.
00:22:36
I was getting a lot of phone calls. You know, he's got a very bad habit of drugs.
00:22:42
What was his drug of choice when he was on that? When we were kids, it was cocaine.
00:22:48
And then when I came down to Florida in 90, yeah, probably 90, he got into heroin.
00:22:55
And heroin was his thing for a long time. Sniffing it and then the past few years, pushing it.
00:23:02
Joseph had apparently struggled with back pain his entire life, turning the pills to self-medicate and eventually escalating to intravenous heroin use.
00:23:14
Though he maintained a job somehow and looked and behaved relatively normally, Joseph's drug addiction got him into trouble numerous times for things like theft and possession.
00:23:29
His most frequent target was his own brother, John. A friend of his called me and said that he was going around asking people if they wanted to buy a snake.
00:23:38
So he didn't have an immediate buyer, unlike the other things that he stole from me in the past.
00:23:42
Most of it's electronics, power equipment, stuff like that? Yeah, stuff that I usually leave out in the background.
00:23:47
Like one time a paint sprayer, my mom was coming and I was doing a few test spots and I got interrupted.
00:23:53
I left it there and a couple days later it was gone. I live in a pretty good neighborhood, you guys know.
00:24:00
You know, what part of town is it again? Sarasota Golf Club. Okay. There's no, it's a circle, so there's no passerby or there's no people walking around.
00:24:07
I mean, for things to missing, you know who it is. I mean, it doesn't just, it doesn't happen over there.
00:24:13
We're too close over there. So, you know, like I said, he's gotten me about four or five times.
00:24:19
So before you said he came over Monday night at 11. Monday night at 11. Prior to Monday night at 11, when's the last time you'd saw him?
00:24:28
Face to face on December 24th. Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve. He went to go shake my hand and I pushed him and shoved him.
00:24:37
We were all supposed to meet him at my sister's house. And he just robbed me the day before.
00:24:42
So I was still pretty mad. And then he picked up his kids and left. So that was like a family Christmas?
00:24:49
Yeah, everyone was going to my sister's house. And I hadn't found out about that until a few hours earlier.
00:24:55
That it was actually him that did. I mean, I knew it was him when I first went home, because first of all, he was missing his wife.
00:25:01
At 3 o'clock, he said, I'll be right home to his wife. 3 o'clock came, 4 o'clock came, 5, 6, 7, 8 o'clock came.
00:25:08
His wife called me. I said, I got to run home, drop money off to my girlfriend, and then I'll come back, and I don't know what I'll do, but I'll be there for you.
00:25:17
I did just that, and when I got home, I seen the spot where it was. I went inside, I said, babe, did you put that snake in the garage?
00:25:24
Because it was too heavy. I didn't think she'd do it. Check no, I thought you did I was like, okay. So anyway, I know but him missing
00:25:30
I know exactly but don't you together the first time I went to his house wait for a while
00:25:35
Then he called me on the cell phone. He said John. I'm trying to get in touch with everybody
00:25:39
But no one's answering the phone my Joe cut the shit. I'm at your house. Come here now
00:25:44
I want my snake bag and he's like what do you mean what snake what snake has it job?
00:25:48
Whatever just get home. You kids are crying rice crying. Just get home. He was right around the corner
00:25:53
corner. He came home, and when he got out of the car, the first thing he said was, I mean, you would
00:25:57
expect him to say, I'm sorry, babe, you know, I'm missing all these hours. No, he's like, what is
00:26:01
John talking about, the snake? I was like, hello, whatever. You know, I said a few words to him,
00:26:08
you know, his eyes were like this, you know, I know what he was doing, and I left. And then
00:26:12
Christmas Eve came, and we had that little altercation, and that was it, and I didn't see
00:26:16
until monday here's the biggest red flag of all joseph had no alibi for the time carly went missing
00:26:26
so yeah definitely monday he was also missing sunday i don't know you guys probably heard
00:26:30
that already he was missing sunday what do you what do you know about that or what do you know
00:26:34
he was missing between uh i think three and 7 30 or three and eight and he lied to three different
00:26:41
people that's the part that i mean i have to know my brother but if he did it he he's gonna rot in
00:26:47
hell because that's pretty shitty to go for you know for a little child that he told he let me say
00:26:53
he told the people that he's here what are the stories that you know of or what he told the the
00:26:58
people i was staying with he he took their car uh mimi and mimi and jeff that's who he's staying
00:27:04
with they've had problems at home because of all this drug shit he he told them he was going to
00:27:10
No, he told them he was going with his wife, I think. And then he told his wife that he was working on someone's car.
00:27:14
Then he told my mom that he was sitting in Marina Jack's looking at the water. You know, that's not like my brother.
00:27:20
He's not, you know, a sightseer or whatever. So everything was just like, oh, you know, you did it again.
00:27:25
You know, the hell with you. And those were hours he was missing. And then to see that on TV, you know, Monday, I mean, that looks damn close like him.
00:27:34
Now, Monday, he didn't have on white sneakers, though. He had on black boots. and I did think that was strange because I never seen him with black boots on you know he usually
00:27:42
does have the white sneakers on which in the video he has white sneakers which is why he said he was
00:27:46
wearing those white sneakers Sunday morning and she also confirmed that he was wearing his mechanic
00:27:51
thing looks like the police had the right guy in their crosshairs and his brother John was spilling
00:27:57
the beans granted it was probably because he had such a resentment built up against his brother
00:28:05
after years of repeated thefts. But either way, John Smith was useful to police.
00:28:12
And he'd prove useful later on also. The tips led police right to Joseph Smith. Three days after Carly disappears,
00:28:21
Joseph Smith is arrested at his house on cocaine possession and a probation violation.
00:28:27
Police believe they have their man. These charges give them enough to hold him. Law enforcement pulled up to Joseph's last known address
00:28:34
in an unmarked vehicle and knocked on the door. Joseph was staying with a friend because of his impending divorce.
00:28:43
One of the neighbors indicated there was someone inside the house, so an officer knocked.
00:28:48
There was no answer. The officer called his supervisor to ask for some instruction,
00:28:54
and the supervisor told him Joseph Smith was on probation. So they called his probation officer to the scene.
00:29:03
Eventually, Joseph's sister showed up and told the cops he would go get her brother.
00:29:09
They brought him out. They asked him a few questions regarding his whereabouts the day Carly was abducted.
00:29:14
And they searched his room and car. Joe acted like he had no knowledge of the abduction.
00:29:22
Detectives even showed him a still photo from the CCTV footage at the car wash. And he replied, that looks like me, but it's not me.
00:29:30
You alright? I'm tired. Okay. It's been a long day. I've spent a long day with you.
00:29:39
Okay. I've spent a long day with you. I know we weren't together the whole time, but I've spent a long day with you.
00:29:48
This is going to be exactly like out at your house, okay? Okay. We got to sit down and we have to talk certainly since uh since i left your house uh i been at work
00:30:06
um but just like just like your house um i want to just talk you and i have some things to talk
00:30:13
about okay because some of the things at the house we got to get straight that's the most important
00:30:20
thing. Okay. This room is about the truth. Okay. It's the most important thing that goes on in this
00:30:28
room is the truth. Um, but we're not at your house. We're at my house. Okay. And because we're at my
00:30:38
house and you're here and I'm a law enforcement officer and this is a police station before we
00:30:43
can talk, I have to read your rights. Have you heard that before? Yeah. Adam 12 and TV. I was
00:30:49
I was thoroughly advised to talk to a lawyer. Who advised you? A friend of mine.
00:30:59
When did he advise you to ask? On the phone. Okay. When did that happen? When did that happen?
00:31:08
When we could talk to him. That means you and I can't talk? Because you talk to a lawyer.
00:31:19
detective left Joseph in the interrogation room for about 15 minutes before returning.
00:31:25
It's always a drag for cops when a suspect of an exceptionally horrible crime decides he needs to speak
00:31:33
with a lawyer. But it's, you know, also his right. In Joseph's case, he didn't have a lawyer yet.
00:31:42
When I came out to you, house, I told you the grave seers must have my job. Yeah.
00:31:49
The most important part of my job is to attempt to locate this child. As such, I am willing to go to any lengths in order to work.
00:32:00
Do you have an attorney right now that I can contact to come down and talk to you?
00:32:06
Would you like me to contact the public defender's office and have a lawyer come down and talk with you right now?
00:32:13
I'd like to talk to my family. This is an ongoing investigation. I have got to find that little girl.
00:32:22
You have asked and requested a lawyer. I must provide you that lawyer, but this investigation has to go on.
00:32:31
In order for this investigation to continue, I need you to talk to that lawyer. Do you have one in mind?
00:32:39
No, I don't. Can I contact the public defender's office for you? And they can bring a lawyer down here.
00:32:46
Yeah. Would that be okay? I guess. I'd rather talk to my family and see what they suggested with a lawyer.
00:32:57
Do they have suggestions? Do they know a lawyer? Sure, my brother or my mother would know.
00:33:03
Is that a lawyer that you want to represent you? I guess that they would know the direction it would take.
00:33:10
I mean, I don't know. I didn't give this much thought. Well, that's obvious. you were caught on camera joseph also had no idea that his brother had been blabbing up a storm about
00:33:24
him his family would be of no help at this point i don't uh i mean you tell you tell me first that
00:33:34
it's something different and you go into the house and you tell me something different there
00:33:40
I mean, I don't understand. You weren't totally honest with me there. What's my job, to be honest with you, or to find a little girl?
00:33:50
That's number one. Number one. Yeah, but I mean... I can't discuss this case with you anymore.
00:33:58
But I need to talk. You need to talk. Because this case has got to go. It's got to continue.
00:34:05
You're the key person. as such I need to get a lawyer in here and he is going to sit down and talk with you
00:34:11
and then maybe through him we can talk then again you won't tell me what's going on
00:34:18
I don't understand I guess how would I even know that this lawyer is from the public
00:34:25
defense office I have a set of rules that I'm sworn to obey like you said you know
00:34:32
this is a serious thing I mean, I was supposed to be clear to this thing. That's not so simple when cameras show you committing the crime.
00:34:45
The whole community agrees it was you and your alibi doesn't add up. Things are not looking good, Joe.
00:34:54
What is the public defender going to tell me? Is he going to tell me what's going on?
00:34:58
Does he have any information? He will and then we can talk. That's what's got to do.
00:35:05
I'm going to contact him now. Okay. Did you say something? Do you think that I could smoke or not?
00:35:13
It is a federal building. It's a law for you to smoke in here. I mean, like outside or something.
00:35:18
Not right now. You got it coming? Yeah, we're working on it right now. I don't need to talk to my family.
00:35:27
See what's going on. Joe, once you have decided to speak to a lawyer, I am under an obligation to respect that right.
00:35:39
Unless you revoke it and say, Detective Davis, okay, I want to talk to you. But you have to do that, okay?
00:35:47
As such, I can't talk to you. You have asked for a lawyer. I am going to get you one from the public defender office okay I can talk to you You have requested a lawyer What about my family Why can I call them
00:36:06
You can't call them because they're not part of this. These are the people that are telling me to get a lawyer.
00:36:20
You know, I want to talk to my parents or my brother. Joe, the people that gave you legal advice ain't here.
00:36:31
Of course. I want to talk to them. It's just a phone call. Let them know what's going on.
00:36:40
My mom's real concerned, you know. My brother, everybody. Okay. Yeah, Joe's brother was concerned,
00:36:47
but he was concerned about whether or not Joseph had really committed this horrible crime
00:36:53
because it sure was looking that way. Once they put Joseph in jail, they set up a little scheme with his brother John.
00:37:03
John knew Joe would never ever confess to the crime if it was something he really did.
00:37:11
It was so horrible, this would be a truth that Joe would take to his grave. John suggested that if someone went to Joe and confessed to crimes that they'd committed that were similar to the ones Joe was accused of
00:37:26
then perhaps maybe he might be willing to open up about what he'd done well that didn't work
00:37:33
then a meeting between John, Joe and their mother was arranged at the jail but he wouldn't crack
00:37:41
he knew they were trying to get a confession out of him and didn't say a thing But on February 5th, it all came spilling out.
00:37:51
Tell me about, and I'm talking about today, tell me about your first contact with Inmate Smith.
00:37:59
My first contact today was beginning of the shift. We have to feed the inmates normally around 4.30.
00:38:08
And I handed him a food tray and a cold beverage. and that was it. What was his mannerisms
00:38:17
or did you observe anything about him? He looked like he was under a lot of stress
00:38:24
and his eyes were glassy. Like he just got done crying. Did he say anything to you?
00:38:31
No. And you gave him a spoon and left? Right. Tell me about the next contact you had with him.
00:38:39
The next contact I had with Mr. Smith was when I got back the food tray from him when he was done eating.
00:38:48
He was staring at me in a manner that he wanted to talk to me and that he had some things on his mind that he wanted to talk about.
00:38:58
When he handed me the food tray, he told me that all this that was going on around him was very stressful
00:39:06
and he wanted to end it tonight. Well, I instructed him that first of all, I wasn't clear on what he meant by ending it,
00:39:16
if he wanted to end his life or end the ongoing investigation. His response was that he wanted to speak to his attorneys because there was just too much
00:39:26
going on in his head and he wanted to get it out of his head. Now he made it clear to me that he wasn't suicidal and that he wanted to confess to
00:39:38
what was on his mind to his attorneys again he said i have to end this tonight and at this point he was demanding to see his attorneys he wasn't hollering but he was he was
00:39:52
standing up against the bars talking to me squeezing the bars you could see that the
00:39:57
you know the frustration in his forearms that he wanted to speak to his attorneys right now
00:40:03
He then said that he wanted to put closure to this tonight He then stated I really fucked up
00:40:14
He didn't he asked me the vino? How big is this right now? meaning the media type of thing and
00:40:24
Then he said I think I guess he finally realized that this is all over the place meaning
00:40:33
It's all over the country within the news media. Did you respond to when he asked how big it was?
00:40:41
I told him that there's flyers around the county because that's what I witnessed.
00:40:48
Joseph then asked the officer if he can have the phones turned back on as they'd been turned off for the night already.
00:40:56
He'd done this before for other inmates, so the officer agreed. Joseph called his brother and the officer tried hard to listen in on the conversation
00:41:07
according to the timeline of events in this case I'm assuming these jailhouse calls weren't recorded
00:41:13
for some reason and I guess John said to Mr. Smith that Joe I can't hear you I can't hear you
00:41:23
can you speak up and Joe Mr. Smith started talking a little louder I guess there was a
00:41:30
a connection in a phone or there was noise in the background because John could not hear Mr. Smith
00:41:38
he then said she's between two trees not too far back he then said maybe by the tree line
00:41:48
and then he said to John and at this point he was very emotional his eyes were were watering he was choked up he said John tell mom I sorry I was not thinking right Please tell mom I sorry Did he hang up or did you think he was cut off
00:42:09
No, he hung up the phone very softly and walked back to his phone. After his arrest, Smith's brother, John, visits him in jail and later the brothers talk by phone.
00:42:22
Later at the trial, John Smith testified about those conversations and against his brother.
00:42:28
Did he say anything about how it ended? I asked. He wasn't sure. What do you mean? What did you ask?
00:42:37
And try to speak up again. Remember, you've got to try to hurt you. I said she was dead.
00:42:40
And what did he say? I don't know if she could be. John Smith testified Joseph told him what he'd done to Carly Bruscia and that the body was hidden near a church.
00:42:50
Was there an open field at the church? Yes. John Smith tells police where to find Carly Brucha.
00:42:57
February 5, 2004, her body is found on the grounds of the Central Church of Christ in Sarasota.
00:43:04
The body of a beautiful 11-year-old girl, Carly Brucha, has been found. Joseph Smith is under arrest for the abduction and murder of Carly.
00:43:17
Joseph's phone confession detailed that he had raped Carly in a borrowed beige station wagon before strangling her and driving her to a field behind a church on Proctor Road.
00:43:30
In a letter to John, Joe said that he took Carly's pink backpack and threw it into the water at Marina Jack in Sarasota.
00:43:39
Later on, Joe had more conversations with his mother and brother. and one of them Joe's mother comforted him
00:43:46
by telling him the best thing he could do was to try to explain it was an accident
00:43:53
nice right? then she went on to tell him she knew he would never do something like this on purpose
00:44:02
but the news media and the community were all up in arms because of the severity
00:44:07
of his charges Joe clarified with his mother asking her if she knew what his charges were
00:44:15
and she said she did. She also asked him what she should relay. Toward the end, the brothers seemed to be discussing a plan
00:44:25
that would have made them a lot of money. Here's a later interview of John Smith explaining
00:44:31
what really went down during and after Joseph's first confession. He told me that he strangled her.
00:44:39
You know, that was what he told me when they put me together in that little jail cell, that little meeting there.
00:44:45
And the reason why, when I came out, they said, what did he say? What did he say?
00:44:51
I said, he said nothing because he told me that he tied her up. And I thought, I just drive over there, let her go, like that.
00:45:01
But after that, he started sending me letters and so forth and, you know, in his own admission.
00:45:07
and he choked her to death. John's admission is still slightly unclear, so let me fix that.
00:45:16
When Joseph originally confessed to his brother, he seemed to be under the impression
00:45:21
that though he raped Carly and choked her out, she may still be alive. Joseph told his brother John where he could find the body,
00:45:31
and John planned to drive out there to untie her, take a photo of her and sell it to the media
00:45:37
then report his findings. I guess they thought they would make John look like a hero
00:45:44
like a Batman character. So John did actually drive out to the church with intentions to carry out this ridiculous plan
00:45:55
but he couldn't find Carly's body. Joseph's mother and brother seemed to be enablers
00:46:02
even participators. Perhaps that's the reason John would later testify against his brother at trial,
00:46:11
acting as the prosecution's key witness. When Carly's body was found, she was, of course,
00:46:18
no longer living. She wasn't found bound, but her extremities had markings suggesting she had been.
00:46:26
She was found partially undressed, corroborating Joseph's confession of sexual assault.
00:46:31
and there were markings suggesting Joseph had dragged Carly's body to its final resting place
00:46:38
on the ground amid some trees. This man who had young daughters himself had raped and murdered an innocent little girl
00:46:48
he didn't even know. Whether he was using drugs or not he felt entitled to someone else's child
00:46:58
for his own sexual deviancy, and he jumped on the first opportunity he saw. Joseph pleaded not guilty to the charges of first-degree murder,
00:47:11
kidnapping, and sexual battery. He wouldn't go to trial until late 2005. In the meantime, journalists and detectives
00:47:20
were digging up disturbing things in Joseph's past that should have had him locked up long before he saw 11-year-old Carly Bruscia
00:47:30
walking alone on that fateful Super Bowl Sunday. 39-year-old Joseph P. Smith pleaded not guilty to the
00:48:00
he committed against an innocent child, 11-year-old Carly Bruscia on February 1st, 2004.
00:48:08
His DNA was found on her clothing. Her body showed evidence of strangulation and sexual assault,
00:48:15
and the fibers from the station wagon Joe was driving were retrieved from Carly's body.
00:48:22
Joseph was unaccounted for during the exact stretch of time Carly went missing and was murdered.
00:48:29
Joseph had even confessed his crimes in many different ways to his brother and mother.
00:48:36
He spoke with them. Over the phone, he wrote letters, and eventually his brother John Smith was called to testify against him.
00:48:46
This was cut and dry. It re-traumatized the community to have to relive this crime two years later,
00:48:54
but the jury made quick work of the whole ordeal. You could feel the tension in the courtroom.
00:49:00
The judge warned everyone, scream or shout, and you're tossed out. And then came the verdict broadcast across the country.
00:49:07
We the jury find as follows as to count one of the charges. The defendant is guilty of murder in the first degree as charged.
00:49:13
Carly Brugia's mother broke down crying and said, thank you, Jesus. Carly's father simply nodded in approval.
00:49:20
Joseph Smith, guilty on all counts. Bailiffs began preparing to take Smith away when the judge had to slow them down.
00:49:26
You need to just slow down for one second. Smith will be back in court a week from Monday when the same jury returns to recommend a life or death sentence.
00:49:35
I will now be preparing to present further evidence on November the 28th and will be arguing that a sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole is the best decision in this case.
00:49:47
I lost one of the most precious things to me in my life because of an animal, a disgusting, perverted animal.
00:49:55
The jury took five hours to pour over the evidence, the surveillance video, the letter that Smith sent to his brother, and the recorded conversations between Smith and his mother where he admitted killing her.
00:50:07
Uh, Joe, the best thing that you could do is just try and explain it was an accident.
00:50:13
Well, but it wasn't an accident, Mom. I know that, Joe. You don't think that I would do that on purpose, Mom?
00:50:19
No. And if Carly's mother could speak to Smith? If I could speak to him, I'd like to know why he chose my daughter and why he had to kill her.
00:50:30
And I'm sure she'd let him know that she was only 11 years old. How could he go through with it?
00:50:35
Carly's family members weren't the only ones affected by this horrible crime. All of Carly's friends and classmates were on high alert.
00:50:44
Joseph former wives and children had to deal with the shame of being connected to such a monster and take this with a grain of salt given John involvement in the aftermath of his brother crimes but he sees himself as a victim also
00:51:01
My life crashed like you have no idea when all this shit happened. And he's the cause of it. He's the direct cause of it.
00:51:12
You think he cares how many lives you ruined? He doesn't give a fuck. All he wants is money for commissary.
00:51:19
He does not give a fuck. I don't think he realizes what he's done to everybody. But still, don't you people realize who he is?
00:51:32
He's a monster. He said, Mom, you killed a little kid. And you're not going to talk to me because I testify, and that's crazy.
00:51:39
But that's what happened. I have no family. None of my family would talk to me except my sister.
00:51:44
So, not only did my whole life crash, no family talks to me, it's been rough. You know, I died, I dove real hard into drugs and equipment.
00:51:59
Ever since this happened, my life just, it just died. I can't explain it. I testified, I did the right thing.
00:52:12
None of my family talks to me. Only my sister. Nobody. Not my aunt, my aunt, my cousin. They won't even take a Facebook request.
00:52:23
Because I'm a rat. You don't talk to code. That's bullshit. You know, he did something wrong with the worst crime you can do.
00:52:32
You murdered, you raped it, you killed a kid. You know, so how could you, how could you look at me as a rat?
00:52:41
First of all, they didn't even need me. They had all the evidence. Joseph's life was not virtuous.
00:52:48
Not before he murdered Carly, and not after. Joseph had already been arrested 13 times prior to his final act of violence,
00:53:00
and he'd been on probation nearly constantly since 1993, often violating the terms.
00:53:08
Joseph's brother believes Joe may have also been responsible for the murder of a young woman named Tara Riley in Bradenton, Florida, just four years before Carly's murder.
00:53:20
Tara Riley's naked body was found in a retention pond behind a Bradenton Walmart in 2000.
00:53:28
Detectives looked into the case when it occurred, but it still remains unsolved to this day.
00:53:34
Long story short Joseph wasn likely to have any willing character witnesses to speak on his behalf at sentencing And a jury swiftly voted 10 to 2 in favor of the death penalty During his time on death row Joseph watched TV
00:53:53
got some marriage proposals for some reason. I don't know what's wrong with you people.
00:53:57
And his dear old mother even moved closer to the prison so she could visit him more often.
00:54:04
How sweet. He began writing a 59-chapter manuscript detailing the woes of his life.
00:54:12
Oh boy, can't wait for that on Audible. In it, he blames all of his transgressions on his drug use.
00:54:18
Oh, you poor little victim. Poor baby. Oh, society should bend over backwards to help you.
00:54:25
He and his lovely mother tried to shop the book around to publishers, but thankfully, they weren't interested.
00:54:32
At least some of the media hasn't gone to complete shit. Not entirely, anyway. Joseph ended up living on death row until 2018, when the unthinkable happened.
00:54:46
A Suncoast prosecutor says the state will again seek the death penalty for the killer of Carly
00:54:51
Fuchsia. A 4-3 decision by the court Thursday vacates the death sentence of Joseph P. Smith,
00:54:57
who was convicted of raping and murdering the 11-year-old on the Suncoast in 2004.
00:55:02
In 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court decision found Florida's death penalty process unconstitutional.
00:55:08
The Herald Tribune reports juries must now unanimously agree on critical findings before judges can impose death sentences.
00:55:16
Carly's father, Joseph Brucha, calls the vote a travesty. It's one of two things.
00:55:21
It's a trend of favoring the criminals over the innocent, the victims. or is it just, you know, more way for attorneys to make billable hours?
00:55:33
Because it certainly doesn't make any sense. I mean, it's a furthest thing from justice that comes to my mind.
00:55:40
The date of Smith's new penalty phase has not yet been announced, but Borussia says he will be attending alongside family.
00:55:47
Two years later, Joseph's death penalty status was reinstated. Then on July 26, 2021, Joseph Smith passed away at Union Correctional Institution in Rayford.
00:56:02
He was 55 years old. Carly Bruchia was a little girl who liked classic little girl things.
00:56:11
She had a lavender bedroom and a pink book bag. Posters of her favorite pop stars on the wall, stickers all over the surfaces of the furniture in her bedroom.
00:56:24
And she was an innocent little girl, so full of excitement for life. This degenerate fuck this evil person this inhuman monster decided to take this sweet child away from her parents
00:56:44
away from her family, away from her friends, away from her home, away from this world.
00:56:51
A memorial garden was set up for the beloved Carly. And it sits behind the central church of Christ
00:57:00
at the spot where her body was recovered. Carly's ashes were built into the memorial site itself.
00:57:11
Unfortunately, Carly's mother, Susan Shorpen, passed away in 2017. And since then, reports seem to suggest that Carly's memorial has fallen into disarray.
00:57:24
Though this was a case that law enforcement and the community seemed to come together in perfect harmony to solve.
00:57:32
It was a case that really never should have happened. An innocent 11-year-old girl
00:57:38
made the impulsive decision to walk home and there are monsters out there. She unfortunately encountered one of them.
00:57:49
An evil adult man who had his own impulses, his own deviant mind and then zero self-control.
00:58:01
Like a wild animal waiting in the forest for slowly moving prey, Joseph spotted Carly and attacked.
00:58:22
All right, that does it. Go check out episode three, Shree Syverson, Sword and Scale Television.
00:58:28
It's one of the best ones we've done so far. I mean, it really made me physically ill.
00:58:33
Go check it out and stay safe. Thank you. you