WARNING: Watch at Your Own Risk | True Crime Documentary

“9-1-1, what’s the location of the emergency?”

“My… my daughter is missing. She’s gone, we can’t find her anywhere, all her friends…”

“How old?”

“11.”

“And when was the last time that she was… she was seen?”

“6:00 a.m.”

“The body of a beautiful 11-year-old girl, Carlie Brucia, has been found. Joseph Smith is under arrest for the abduction and murder of Carlie.”

“Carlie, the defendant is guilty of murder in the first.”

Smith was sentenced to death, but this week, a circuit judge ordered that he be given a new sentencing trial. This all stems from a recent Supreme Court ruling requiring juries to be unanimous when sentencing someone to death.

February 1st, 2004. It had been a busy day in the United States. The Super Bowl had had its most-watched game ever with nearly 90 million people tuning in to see the New England Patriots beat the Carolina Panthers in a 32-29 victory, with a halftime show starring Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson. The events would become one of the most talked-about pop culture moments of the 2000s. For many football fans, the celebrations were just beginning, but in Sarasota, Florida, it was a very different story. A massive search was underway for a missing 11-year-old girl who had vanished without a trace. The truth was about to come out—a truth so disturbing it would leave a family, a community, a police force, and a country completely devastated.

Carlie Jane Brucia was born on the 16th of March 1992 in Long Island to parents Joe and Susan. They were divorced the following year and Carlie moved to Sarasota, Florida, with her mother, but she would see her family in Long Island during the winter and summer breaks, especially enjoying the Christmas period there. Susan would later remarry and welcome a son with her husband, Steven. Carlie was described as energetic; her teacher said she was lovely and delightful, and her principal called her a shining light. She loved her cat, Charlie, was obsessed with Jennifer Lopez, enjoyed going to the mall, and hanging out with her friends. She always greeted those at McIntosh Middle School, where she was in the sixth grade, with a big hug and a warm smile. She sang in the chorus and enjoyed playing sports. Quite simply, she was someone who loved life.

February 1st, 2004. Carlie had spent the previous day with her friend, and the pair had a sleepover. At around 6:15 p.m., she set off back to her house, just 1 mile away, as she was due to watch the Super Bowl with her family. Her friend’s mother decided to call Susan to check if it was okay for Carlie to be walking home alone. Susan said she didn’t want her daughter walking by the Bee Ridge Road as it could be busy, and she hadn’t given Carlie permission to walk alone. She spoke to her husband, Steven, and he drove off to pick her up. The streets were somewhat quieter as most families were gathered around the television for the Super Bowl, but as Steven drove around the streets, panic was beginning to set in. He couldn’t see Carlie anywhere. She had gone without a trace. Just one hour later, 9-1-1 was called and Carlie Brucia was reported as missing.

“9-1-1, what’s the location of the emergency?”

“My… my daughter is missing. She’s gone, we can’t find her anywhere, all her friends…”

“How old?”

“11.”

“And when was the last time that she was… she was seen?”

“6:00.”

The police were dispatched and soon at Carlie’s house. They spoke to all of Carlie’s friends to see if they had seen or heard from her and knocked on neighbors’ doors in the hopes that someone had information for them. They spoke to the friend whose house she had stayed at and her friend’s mother, and Carlie was described as being a bit upset as her mother and stepdad had been arguing. She had wanted to leave early and go home to spend time with Susan. As news began to spread, the searches got bigger and the police carried on with them until 3:00 in the morning, but there was still no sign of Carlie.

It had soon been 12 hours since she had last been seen. As her classmates arrived at school, they were all hoping to see her there, but she didn’t turn up. After she failed to make it to school, the police decided to bring in bloodhounds to see if they could trace her scent. Using one of her pillowcases, Ruby the bloodhound tracked her scent to behind Evie’s Car Wash at 4715 Bee Ridge Road. It then suddenly stopped. The police quickly sealed off the area and spoke with the owner of the car wash, Mike Evanhoff, who told them there were surveillance cameras operated by a motion sensor. Footage from one camera showed the busy main road but an empty parking lot.

Another camera from a different angle also showed them nothing. They then checked the camera at the back of the car wash. It was a camera that was triggered by movement, and as they pressed play, it showed a recording taken from 6:21 p.m. on the evening of Carlie’s disappearance. It showed a young girl in a red shirt and blue jeans with a pink backpack. This was what Carlie was wearing on the day she had last been seen. Then suddenly, another person came in view: a man. The man in the video was approximately 5’8″ with dark hair and tattoos on his arm. He was wearing a mechanic’s top with a name tag that was too blurry to be made out. He stopped in front of her and the pair spoke for a few seconds. He then grabbed her arm and led her away.

Even though the footage was just a few seconds long, it painted a terrifying picture, and it was clear to all of the officers that Carlie was in grave danger. Her stepfather, Steven, was asked to go down to the station to talk to the police.

“Susan says, ‘Hey, can you go pick up Carlie?’”

“She started walking down behind…”

“I just said, ‘Where’s she at? She’s coming.’”

“I said, ‘The one over here?’”

“And she said, ‘Yeah.’”

“I said, ‘Okay, I need right now where I went.’”

“Okay.”

He said he knew that something was wrong because Carlie just did not behave this way; she was always sure to call and keep her parents in the loop as to where she was and what she was doing. Based on Steven’s phone records, he was immediately ruled out, but he did say something interesting. He said as he was driving down Bee Ridge Road looking for Carlie, he had spotted a red truck that was also driving up and down too, a truck that had pulled into the car wash. He said that when he went to her friend’s house—the same house that Carlie had set off from—a red truck was parked outside. He was sure it was the same one he had seen earlier. The man in the footage was wearing a mechanic’s uniform, something often worn by tow truck drivers. The owner of the truck, a man called Ron, lived at Carlie’s friend’s house, and he had been there the night before. They immediately brought him in for questioning.

“Carlie spent the night Saturday?”

“Yes.”

“Anything Sunday morning?”

“I… I woke up, I don’t know, nothing happened Saturday night.”

“Okay, you know, they were giddy all night long, you know. I was sleeping in the other room.”

“So, uh, I woke up Sunday morning like I normally do, get up, get ready for work.”

“So if you didn’t see her at any point after during the day?”

“During the day? Or if you went to work?”

“Absolutely.”

“Huh, is that what you wore to work Sunday?”

“Or no, actually, I had Super Bowl shirt on yesterday.”

They showed him a photograph of Carlie with the man in the car wash.

“Is that slightest idea?”

“So definitely not.”

Down, and this humiliation, he believed, was the motivation for killing her. John said:

“I’m glad that story put a kick in the authorities’ butts to do something about Tara. She was a sweet girl. She had a long life ahead of her. Way too early to depart this earth. I hope they solve this murder before my brother dies.”

He added that he believed his brother was responsible for her murder. 17 years after Carlie’s abduction and murder, there was a breaking news announcement: 55-year-old Joseph Smith had died at the Union Correctional Institution on the 26th of July 2021. His cause of death was not immediately announced, but it was later reported that he had died as the result of liver cancer, but other sources said it was after contracting hepatitis C. The Florida State Attorney’s Office said in a statement:

“While nothing can bring back Carlie, we are grateful that her family, her friends, and the entire Sarasota community will finally have closure and will not have to endure any further court proceedings to bring him to justice.”

 

Carlie’s father said he felt wonderful when he heard that Joseph had died.

“It’s long overdue. The inept and corrupt criminal justice system could not get it done, so the natural order of things finally took care of it,” he said.

Joseph Smith was never charged in connection with Tara Riley’s murder, and her case remains unsolved. The truth about his potential involvement with other crimes, including hers, will now likely never be known. John said he wished his brother had confessed.

“I don’t think about Carlie, and he definitely didn’t confess about Tara. He died a coward, that’s all.”

Now, loved ones are reaching out to us again, pleading for your help to restore this garden that you see right over there. It’s dying, people are forgetting. At one time, dozens of volunteers came every week to care for the memorial garden for 11-year-old Carlie Brucia. Now, it’s neglected and vandalized. Family friend Sher Langworthy—she and her husband, along with Carlie’s cousin—have worked the last three weeks trying to restore the garden.

“I want her legacy, her memory to live on, and um, I… I want… I want it to um be kind of like an awareness thing, you know, for parents to take their kids here and teach them, you know, what can happen.”

Local volunteers and businesses helped to maintain the garden. The impact of the murder of Carlie Brucia was far-reaching and long-lasting. For her devastated mother, Susan, her life was never the same.

“We’re learning that Susan Schorpen has passed away. Schorpen is the mother of Carlie Brucia.”

“Yeah, Haley, over the years, a lot of folks have been saddened by Carlie’s death. Tonight, they are all grieving for her mom.”

“Susan was a very… I believe, very dedicated mother, and she, uh, loved her daughter very much.”

That’s how Pastor Rod Meyers of the Central Church of Christ is remembering Susan Schorpen, who died on Monday at the age of 47. Meyers remembers one encounter with Schorpen very vividly.

“Susan and I, and Sheriff Balkwell at the time, um, all came out, and we had a… we had a prayer near where Carlie was found, and that was a very meaningful time to me.”

Carlie Brucia was just 11 years old. She had so much to do and so much to see. A life of endless promise clearly lay ahead of her. She was someone who made people feel loved, always being sure to greet her friends with a big hug and a friendly smile. And it is through those happy memories that her spirit continues to live on and be with those who knew and loved her. As her father, Joe, said:

“My family and I, we talk about her and we have photos of her all around the house. She’s in our hearts and minds all the time.”