Sword and Scale - Episode 265

Episode Date: June 3, 2024

Sunday, February 1, 2004 was Superbowl XXXVIII, a game between the Carolina Panthers and the New England Patriots. Sarasota Springs, a medium-sized community in Florida, was celebrating the game like most other American towns: with beer, food, and family. While the rest of Sarasota Springs indulged in the festivities with their loved ones, one family was desperately searching for one of theirs, an 11-year-old girl named Carlie Brucia.

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help is there to support your success every step of the way. Do retail right with Shopify. Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at Shopify.com slash sword and scale all lowercase go to Shopify.com slash sword and scale to take your retail business to the next level today Shopify.com slash sword and scale sword and scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised. It's not that I observed anything, it's just the picture is amazingly close. 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 your significant other thinking you're gonna die in the next five minutes. Yeah, for a second there I thought episode 264 was gonna be the last Sword and Scale ever. I'm lying. I wasn't thinking about Sword and Scale at all. In fact, I was thinking about death.

The imminent death that was coming via tornado. I'm not lying when I say this, the entire sky turned black. It turned to night in the middle of the day. And this was the entire city of Houston. And if you've ever been to Houston, you know how fucking big it is. When we emerged from that closet,

it was literally like a bomb had gone off. But we're still here. So go check out the latest episode of Sword and Scale Television, episode 3, Shuri Syverson, before the next Twister hits. I hear Big Daddy Government's doing some weird shit with the weather. Just look at Dubai two weeks ago. Two weeks ago. Bring on summer with instant savings at Dunn Stores. Spend 20 euro or more in store on fashion or home and we'll treat you to a 5 off 25

voucher. You can spend instantly on groceries. Shop the latest trends in fashion and then head straight to our food hall to save on summer picnic essentials. Buy some stylish luggage and homewares, then pop to the grocery aisles to stock up on travel-sized toiletries for less. Saving this summer couldn't be simpler. Dunn stores. Always better value. Terms and conditions apply. Sarasota Springs sits in the western coast of Florida, about halfway between Tampa and Fort Myers.

Sarasota, being so close to the ocean, is beautiful. Slush and green in some areas, specifically the safer inland neighborhoods in the suburbs. Blocks upon blocks of residential neighborhoods house a community of about 15,000 residents. Sarasota Springs is arguably one of the best places to live in Florida. Specifically if you're raising a family. There's lots to do. The beach is right there, and crime rates are low. February 1st, 2004 was Super Bowl Sunday. Josh Groban saying, you raise me up, right before the kickoff of Super Bowl XXXVIII, a

game between New England and Carolina. That year, the game was in Houston, my hometown. The song choice and location of the game were tributes to the seven astronauts who lost their lives in the tragic Space Shuttle Columbia disaster exactly one year prior. Just to set the scene with pop culture landmarks, this was also the Super Bowl that featured Janet Jackson's infamous nipple slip. Remember that one? It's weird how you remember where you were during moments like that.

And I'm sure you'll remember that all of the supermarket tabloids obsessed over this for the next several weeks. Many residents of Sarasota Springs, like the rest of the country, were tuning in for the game, having parties, eating buffalo chicken wings, and drinking beer. But light, of course. As the tranquil hush of the Sunday evening sunset enveloped the surroundings, the unexpected cries of a terrified mother, desperately searching for her child, shattered the serene silence. 11 year old Carly Bruschia, a sixth grader at McIntosh Middle School, was staying at her friend Danielle's house off of Bee Ridge Road, just a little over a mile from where Carly and her family lived.

Just after dinnertime around 6 p.m., Carly and her friend got into a little tiff over something trivial. But being a kid, her emotions were very real to her, and she was angry. Carly abruptly decided she wanted to go back home and watch the Super Bowl with her family, so she called her stepdad, Steve Kansler, and told him she wanted to come back, which, during the game, isn't annoying at all. My daughter called and said she wanted to come home. What was said on the phone, I don't know. A couple minutes later,

Carly calls and says Carly is standing across the street. Come pick her up. You remember what it was like being a kid, right? I mean, it hasn't been that long. Emotions feel twice as intense. At least twice, I mean, probably more like five times. And you have almost no patience whatsoever. Carly was mad, and she wanted to go home right that minute. She didn't

want to wait for her stepdad to get there. You know, like the logical thing to do. So she just took off walking. Carly's friend Danielle watched Carly standing on the corner of the street by her house just before she began her mile-long trek home. It was 6.18 p.m. Though Sarasota Springs has a ton of residential areas, Carly's walk back to her house would be along a very busy main road. 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. 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. 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. I washed my hands and at the door I went. And I got down there, I didn't see her. I said, well maybe I passed her on Bee Ridge. enough. I don't know the name of the street. I went back around and came back, didn't see her.

So I went back to their Connie's house. And I swear it's Carly. And so she left walking. I swear I can't find her. So I went back home, got my wife. We were driving around. Took her back to the house where the girls were she yelled at the girls or whatever She said we got in the van we drove down. I came down be rich. I was going real slow. My flash was on She was screaming out the one side. I was looking across Eastbound traffic trying to see

So going across she said I'm gonna get out because it's a bunch of wooded area that has houses there. It's just all Rubble and just trees so she'll stop. I'm gonna get out. She got out screaming Carly So she did I pulled into Evie's and parked Took my little boy out with me and we started walking back to where my wife was Carly's mom stepdad and younger brother continued looking for her for another hour They took all the back roads home weaving in and out of different neighborhoods His mom, stepdad, and younger brother continued looking for her for another hour. They took all the back roads home, weaving in and out of different neighborhoods. Carly's mother Susan screaming Carly's name out the window as they drove.

But the effort was fruitless. Susan's only wish was to witness her daughter, with her thick ash blonde hair and smile on her face, emerge from the woods unharmed. You don't see her walking on B-Ridge, you get all the way to the Lillani address. I didn't go to Lillani, I passed it because I've only been there once or twice. I passed Lillani, go down to the next intersection that was there and I made a U-turn and come back.

And then I recognized the house there in the corner now because I passed it. Once I saw it, it was too late. So that's when I make a U-turn and come back and I didn't see her outside. So I made it just right there, a little circle there. I come back out, went back down Bee Ridge to see her when they saw her. All right. So I went all the way down to McIntosh, coming the back way by Nick's Bar, because sometimes she'll come the back way

because it's shorter for her that way. 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, I turn left and then another left into Evey's. And I looked, I didn't see nobody, because I thought maybe she went inside. At this point, Evey's is actually open. Yeah, there's people, full of people.

Evey's was a landmark for Carly, given that it was a center point between her and her friend's house. It was a multi-building collection of businesses all under the same name. Evie's Express Car Wash and Mobile Detailing, Evie's Tavern and Grill on Bee Ridge, and Evie's Family Golf Center. Evie seems to have quite the enterprise. Inside the main building was a kids arcade. Somewhere, Steven thought his stepdaughter might have stopped on her walk home. When he didn't find her there, he thought perhaps she cut through Evie's parking lot and through another neighborhood to get back home quicker.

Over an hour had passed since they began looking for Carly and Susan's heart was in the pit of her stomach so she decided to call 911 at about 730 p.m. 911 what's the location of the emergency? My daughter is missing. Has she been missing before? No, she had a fight with her girlfriend and she decided to walk home. And we drove around for about an hour and a half. And it's about an hour and a half walk. She's gone. We can't find her anywhere. I've called all her friends.

How old is she? Eleven. And when was the last time that she was seen? It was at six o'clock June. Around 6 o'clock. And she was at her friend's house? Yeah. Okay, what's her name ma'am?

Carly C-A-R-L-I-Ink. And her last name? Lucia B-R-U-C-I-A. She's a white female? Yeah. Okay, what's her last name? Husha B-R-U-C-I-A She's a white female? Yeah Okay, what's her date of birth? 2016-82 Okay, how tall is she?

Um, she's just shy of five feet Okay, do you know how much she weighs? I don't know, 120 pounds Okay, what color hair does she have? Pretty blonde And what color hair does she have? Pretty blonde. And what color are her eyes? Blue. Do you remember what she was wearing?

Oh no, she's just had a few steps over. Um, the last few pounds, I don't know what she had on. I can try to save it. That's OK, the deputies will get that from you when they come out, okay? Does she have any medical problems? No. Okay. Where was the last place that she was seeing? Did she leave her friend's house? That was the last time that anybody saw her?

Yeah. Okay. Is there somebody there with you? Yeah. Okay. All right. We've got the deputies coming over to meet you, okay? If you can get any information about what she was worried when she left her friend's house, and you can tell the deputy. We're going to get that right now. Pardon me?

We're getting that right now. Okay, you can give that to the deputy, okay? Yes. Okay. They'll be there as soon as they can. Okay. Okay. Did you say you were looking around for her for the last hour and a half?

Yes. And was somebody with you looking around? My husband was driving. Alright ma'am, we'll get the deputies out to you, okay? Yes. Okay. Thank you. Bye bye.

Carly Bruschia never made it home that night. Police searched on and around Carly's potential path home until 3 o'clock in the morning. They resumed the search the next day, and by noon a bloodhound tracked Carly's scent to an area behind Evie's car wash. That's where the scent trail stopped. But Evie's had security cameras everywhere. You know Evie. She doesn't miss a thing.

Surely one of them caught Carly on tape. Carly Bruschia vanished February 1st, 2004, never making it home from a sleepover at a friend's house. 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. Just came in and saw her walking and him walking and it's just right away right when I saw it just through chills and chills and shivers right in my body. The video grainy and only 10 seconds

long is chilling. Carly is a half mile from her home. A man in a mechanics uniform walks up to her outside the car wash. He leads her away. The manhunt begin. The video surveillance from Evie's car wash showed Carly clear as day. She was facing the camera, walking towards it unknowingly. And a man in a blue mechanics shirt with a white name tag appears to approach her from the opposite direction. We see his back to the camera, but clearly he grabs her arm and pulls her closer to him in a kind of aggressive way.

Then he turns around to face the camera and pulls Carly out of frame by the wrist. That footage is the last time she's ever seen again. Shown on local and national television, the video brings hundreds of leads. Surely someone would recognize the man on the grainy tape. And they do. On February 3rd, just two days after Carly's abduction, numerous tips came into the Sarasota Sheriff's Office, all pointing to one man. 39-year-old Joseph P. Smith. One of these callers even knew where the guy worked. Joseph was apparently a mechanic at a place called Saurus Autos. When detectives arrived

at the auto body shop, they were greeted by a man who admitted he had been the one to call him the tip himself. He told detectives that Joseph was his friend and co-worker, but he had just seen the clip of Carly Brusch's abduction on television and he immediately recognized Joe. The guy said that he called the shop's landlord and told him to turn on the news. 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. The way his hair was cut, the way that he walked, his gait was just like, you know, Joe walking through the shop.

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. The coworker told police he didn't want to believe Joe would be capable of such a thing, but he wasn't sure because he knew Joe did hard drugs and at the time he was separated from his current wife. This co-worker decided to call in so quickly because he thought of his own 11 year old daughter and what he'd want his community to do if she were missing. Imagine if we all lived by that rule. The man in the CCTV footage,

apparently easily recognized by his community, was wearing a name tag on his mechanics uniform. 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. It was called Video Image Stabilization and Registration, or VIZER for short. It was a million dollar piece of software, almost as expensive as our new app. But NASA offered it to law enforcement in this case.

And guess what? It fucking worked. The name tag matched what all of the callers were saying. It read Joe. The moment you got told the good news, when the lads added you into the group, skipping nights out, missing the crack, rewatching classics and learning new tricks, being driven to the biggest game of your life by your mam. And then you finally come on in the 51st minute. It's the minor moments that last a lifetime. The Electric Ireland GAA minor championships. This is major.

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Dunn Stores. Always better value. Terms and conditions apply. I know mead noor a ffurr tu an jascail. Rob, f Always better value. Terms and conditions apply....and the same goes for the rest of the world. And that's how you get on board with the new generation of Nome. The Nome is the leader of the fan tale. The biggest commercial company in CLG Electric Ireland. On February 1st 2004, 11-year-old Carly Bruschia was staying at her friend's house just a little over a mile from where her own family lived in Sarasota Springs. Carly decided that she wanted to go home following a little argument she had with her friend and said she was going

to walk. When Danielle's mother called Carly's parents to confirm she had permission to walk home, they said no, and Carly's mother sent her stepfather to pick her up. But when Steve arrived, Carly was gone. After a massive search, Carly's scent was picked up by a bloodhound at Evie's Car Wash, a business located about halfway between Danielle and Carly's houses. CCTV camera footage showed Carly's abduction in broad daylight. Law enforcement narrowed the suspect down quickly with the help of hundreds of tips from the community and NASA's million-dollar visor technology. As if all that wasn't enough of a jump start on this case, the suspect's own brother contacted law

enforcement to say the exact same thing everyone else had said. I recognized that guy. You called in a couple of days ago, right? No, not a couple days ago, probably yesterday. It was yesterday, okay. It's been a blur, we lost track of time. But can you tell us about what led to your call and what you saw or what you observed or what? It's not that I observed anything, it's just the picture is amazingly close. It looks just like picture is, I mean, amazingly close. I mean, it's, you know, it looks just like my brother.

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. Anyway, this one was his brother and he suspected 39-year-old Joseph Smith as responsible for Carly's abduction. Joe Smith and John Smith.

Their parents were really creative with the names, huh? Anyway, as you can probably tell by his accent, John and his brother Joseph were originally from Brooklyn, New York, along with every other annoying New Floridian. John moved to Sarasota County in the 90s and Joseph followed him in 2003. Joseph, Sarasota's main suspect, was an auto mechanic. He was a two-time divorcee. Is it divorcee or divorcee? I don't know. And he had three toddler-aged daughters. 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. But as we know, the world is a wretched place.

Sunday he called me just out of the blue. I haven't spoke to him in a month or so. He didn't even know how I'm doing. I said, I gotta go. And I hung up on him. Then Monday, you know, this thing happened. I saw it on the 10 o'clock news and I said, my girl said, damn, it looks like my brother, isn't it?

And then at 11 o'clock, my brother's my girl said damn looks like my brother isn't it and then at 11 o'clock don't don't don't my brother's knocking on my door Monday morning no 11 o'clock at night oh well Monday not I say Monday morning no no I you said 11 o'clock I was just like at night okay Monday night and maybe he lives far from me so it's kind of odd when they go out of his way and open the door you know I was in my just my bottom pants, but he came in to go to bed. 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 wanted to talk to you? Like, no, I gotta go to bed. He's like, well, I need to talk. I'm like, I don't really care. I'm going to bed. I gotta go. I closed the door and then left. It was just real strange 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 and I'm like you know don't say that's my brother because you don't know you know it might look like him but you know unless you're 100% sure don't say it's him. I was getting a lot of phone calls you know he's got a very bad habit of drugs you know. What was his drug of choice when he got, when he was on that? When we were kids, it was cocaine. And then when he, when I came down to Florida in 90, yeah, probably 90, he got into heroin and heroin was his thing for a long time.

Sniffing it and then the past few years pushing it. Joseph had apparently struggled with back pain his entire life, turning to pills to self-medicate and eventually escalating to intravenous heroin use. 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. 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, so he didn't have an immediate buyer, unlike the other things that he stole from me in the past. Most of it's electronics, power equipment, stuff like that? Yeah, stuff that I usually leave out in the backyard. Like one time a paint sprayer, my mom was coming

and I was doing a few test spots and I got interrupted. I left it there and a couple days later it was gone. I live in a pretty good neighborhood as you guys know. What part of town is it again? Sarasota Golf Club. Okay. It's a circle so there's no passerbyers, there's no people walking around. For things to missing, you know who it is.

It doesn't happen over there. We're too close over there. Like I said, he's gotten me about four or five times. 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 had saw him? Face to face saw him? December 24th.

Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve. He went to go shake my hand and I pushed him and shoved him. We were all supposed to meet at my sister's house and he just robbed me the day before. So I was still pretty mad. And then he picked up his kids and left so that was like a family Christmas yeah we were all everyone was going my sister's house and uh you know I hadn't found out about that until a few hours earlier that it was actually

him that I mean I knew it was him when I first went home this first one he was missing his wife's at three 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. His wife called me. I said, I gotta 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. 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? Because it was too heavy, I didn't think she'd do it. She's like no I thought you did. I was like motherfucker. So anyway I know but him missing I know exactly but them two together it's not the first time. I went to his house waited for a little while then he called me on the cell phone he said uh John I'm trying to get in touch with everybody but no one's answering the phone. I'm like Joe cut the shit I'm at your

house come here now I want my snake back. And he's like, what snake, what snake? I said, Joe, whatever, just get home. Your kids are crying, your wife's crying, just get home. He was right around the corner. He came home and when he got out of the car, the first thing he said was, I mean, you'd expect him to say, I'm sorry, babe.

I got missing while he's out. No, he's like, what is Joe talking about, the snake? I was like, hello, whatever. You know, I said a few words to him, you know, his eyes were like this, you know, I know what he was doing and I left and then Christmas Eve came and we had that little altercation and that was it. I didn't see him until Monday. Here's the biggest red flag of all. Joseph had no alibi for the time Carly went missing. So, yeah, definitely Monday night. He was also missing Sunday. I don't know if you guys have ever heard that already. He was missing Sunday.

What do you know about that? He was missing between, I think, 3 and 7.30 or 3 and 8. And he lied to three different people. That's the part that, I mean, I have to know him as my brother, but if he did it, he's gonna rot in hell, because that's pretty shitty to go for, you know, with a little child. But he told, he told the people that he stayed with- Yeah, what are the stories that you know of? He told the people that he was staying with, he took their car,

Mimi and Jeff, that's who he's staying with, they're having problems at home because of all this drug shit. He told them he was going to work, no, he told them he was going with his wife, I think. And they told his wife they was working on someone's car. They told my mom that he was sitting in Marina Jacks looking at the water. You know, that's not, I'm not like my brother, he's not, you know, a sightseer or whatever. So everything was just like, ah, you did it again. The hell with you. And those were the hours he was missing.

And then to see that on TV, you know, Monday, I mean, that looks damn close like him. Now Monday, he didn't have on white sneakers though. He had on black boots. And I did think that was strange because I'd never seen him with black boots on. You know, he usually does have the white sneakers on, which in the video he has white sneakers, which is why he said he was wearing those white sneakers Sunday morning. And she also confirmed that he was wearing his mechanic thing. Looks like the police had the right guy in their crosshairs and his brother John was spilling the beans. Granted, it was probably because he had such a resentment built up against his brother after years of repeated

thefts. But either way, John Smith was useful to police. And he'd prove useful later on also. The tips led police right to Joseph Smith. Three days after Carly disappears, Joseph Smith is arrested at his house on cocaine possession and a probation violation. Police believe they have their man. These charges give them enough to hold him. Law enforcement pulled up to Joseph's last known address in an unmarked vehicle and knocked on the door. Joseph was staying with a friend because of his impending divorce. One of the neighbors indicated there was someone inside the house. So when officer knocked, there was no answer. The officer called his supervisor

to ask for some instruction and the supervisor told him Joseph Smith was on probation. So they called his probation officer to the scene. Eventually Joseph's sister showed up and told the cops she would go get her brother. They brought him out, they asked him a few questions regarding his whereabouts the day Carly was abducted, and they searched his room and car.

Joe acted like he had no knowledge of the abduction. 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. You all right? I'm tired. Okay. It's been a long day.

It's been a long day with you. Okay. I've spent a long day with you. I know we went together the whole time, but it's been a long day with you. I know we went together the whole time, but I spent a long day with you. This is gonna be exactly like out at your house, okay? Okay. We gotta sit down and we have to talk.

Certainly, since I've left your house, I've been at work but just like just like your house I want to just talk you and I had some things to talk about okay because some of the things at the house we got to get straight that's the most important thing okay in this room is about the truth mm-hmm okay It's the most important thing that goes on in this room is the truth. But we're not at your house, we're at my house. And because we're at my house and you're here and I'm a law enforcement officer and this is a police station, before we can talk I have to read you your rights.

Have you heard that before? Yeah. Atom 12 and TV and everything. I was already advised to talk to a lawyer. Who advised you? A friend of mine. When did he advise you that? On the phone.

Okay. When did that happen? When did that happen? When we had talked to. Okay. That means you and I can't talk. We should talk to a lawyer. Okay. The detective left Joseph in the interrogation room for about 15 minutes before returning. It's always a drag for cops when a suspect of an excessive use of force is arrested. We've left Joseph in the interrogation room for about 15 minutes before returning. It's always a drag for cops when a suspect of an exceptionally horrible crime decides

he needs to speak with a lawyer. But it's, you know, also his right. In Joseph's case, he didn't have a lawyer yet. When I came out to your house house I told you the great seriousness of my job. Yeah. 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. Do you have an attorney right now that I can contact to come down and talk to you? Would you like me to contact the public defender's office and have a lawyer come down and talk with you right now?

I'd like to talk to my family, but This is an ongoing investigation. I have got to find that little girl You have asked and request the lawyer. I find that little girl. You have asked and requested a lawyer. I must provide you that lawyer, but this investigation has to go on. In order for this investigation to continue, I need you to talk to that lawyer. Do you have one in mind? No, I don't. Can I contact the public defender's office for you? And they can bring a lawyer down here? Yeah.

Would that be okay? I guess. I mean, I'd rather talk to my family and see what they suggested with a lawyer. Do they have suggestions? Do they know a lawyer? Sure. My brother and my mother would know. Is that a lawyer that you want to represent you?

I know, I guess that they would know the direction we take. I mean, I don't know, you know, I didn't give this much thought, you know. Well, that's obvious. You were caught on camera. Joseph also had no idea that his brother had been blabbing up a storm about him. His family would be of no help at this point. I don't want to. I mean, you tell you tell me first that it's something different and you go into the house and you tell me something different there.

I mean, I don't understand. You weren't totally honest with me there. What's my job, to be honest with you or find a little girl? That's number one. Number one? Yeah, but I mean. I can't discuss this case with you anymore, but I need to talk. You need to talk, because this case has got to go.

It's got to continue. 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. And then maybe through him, we can talk. Then again, you won't tell me what's going on. I don't understand. I guess how would I even know that this lawyer is from the public defender's office? I have a set of rules that I'm sworn to obey. And like you said, you know, 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. The whole community agrees it was you and your alibi doesn't add up. Things are not looking good, Joe. What is the public defender going to tell me? Is he going to tell me what's going on? Does he have any information? He will and then we can talk.

That's what's got to be. I'm gonna contact him now. Okay. Did you say something? Do you think, do you think that I could smoke in here? It is a federal building, there's a lot of you smoking here. I mean like outside or something. Not right now.

You like coming? Yeah, we're working on it right now. I need to talk to my family. See what's going on. Joe, once you have decided to speak to a lawyer, I am under an obligation to respect that right. Unless you revoke it. And say, Detective Davis, okay, I want to talk to you. But you have to do that, okay?

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's office, okay? I can't talk to you. You have requested a lawyer. What about my family? Why can't I call them?

You can't call them because they're not part of this. These are the people that are telling me to get a lawyer. You know, I want to talk to my parents or my brother. Joe, the people that gave you legal advice ain't here. Of course. I want to talk to them. It's just a phone call. Let them know what's going on. My mom's real concerned, you know? My brother, everybody. Okay. Yeah, Joe's brother was concerned, but he was concerned about whether or not Joseph

had really committed this horrible crime, because it sure was looking that way. Once they put Joseph in jail, they set up a little scheme with his brother, John. John knew Joe would never never ever confess to the crime if it was something he really did. 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,

then perhaps maybe he might be willing to open up about what he'd done. Well, that didn't work. Then a meeting between John, Joe, and their mother was arranged at the jail, but he wouldn't crack. 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. Tell me about, uh, and I'm talking about today, tell me about your first contact with inmates. My first contact today was the beginning of the shift. We have to feed the inmates normally around

4.30 and I handed him a food tray and a cold beverage and that was it. What was his mannerisms or did you observe anything about him? He looked like he was under a lot of stress and his eyes were glassy. Like he just got done crying. Did he say anything to you? No. And you gave him his food and left? Right. Tell me about the next contact you had with him. The next contact I had with Mr. Smith was when I got back the food tray from him when he was done eating. 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. When he handed me the food tray, he told me that all this that was going on around him was very stressful 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, 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 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 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 standing up against the bars talking to me, squeezing the bars. You could see that the, you know, the frustration in his forearms that he wanted to speak to his attorneys right now. He then said that he wanted to put closure to this tonight. He then stated, I really fucked up. Then he asked me, Davino, how big is this right now? Meaning the media type of thing. And then he said, I think, I guess he finally realized

that this is all over the place, meaning it's all over the country within the news media. Did you respond to when he asked how big it was? I told him that there's fliers around the county because that's what I witnessed. Joseph then asked the officer if he can have the phones turned back on as they'd been turned off for the night already. 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.

According to the timeline of events in this case, I'm assuming these jailhouse calls weren't recorded for some reason. And I guess John said to Mr. Smith that Joe I can't hear you, I can't hear you, can you speak up? And Joe, Mr. Smith, started talking a little louder. I guess there was a bad connection in the phone or there was noise in the background because John could not hear Mr. Smith. He then said, she's between two trees, not too far back. He then said, maybe by the tree line. And then he said to John, and at this point he was very emotional, his eyes were watering, he was choked up.

He said, John, tell mom I'm sorry. I was not thinking right. Please tell mom I'm sorry. I was not thinking right. Please tell Mom I'm sorry. Did he hang up or did he think he was cut off? 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. Later at the trial, John Smith testified about those conversations and against his brother. Did he say anything about how it ended? I asked, he wasn't sure.

What do you mean, what did you ask? And try to speak up again, remember you've gotta try to hurt yourself. I asked that she was dead. 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 Bruschia and that the body was hidden near a church. Was there an open field at the church?

Yes. John Smith tells police where to find Carly Bruschia. February 5th, 2004, her body is found on the grounds of the Central Church of Christ in Sarasota. The body of a beautiful 11-year-old girl, Carly Ruscha, has been found. Joseph Smith is under arrest for the abduction and murder of Carly. 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. 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. Later on, Joe had more conversations with his mother and brother. In one of them, Joe's mother comforted him by telling him the best thing he could do was to try to explain it was an accident. Nice, right? Then she went on to tell him she knew he would never do something like this on purpose. But the news media and the community were all up in arms because of the severity of his charges.

Joe clarified with his mother, asking her if she knew what his charges were and she said she did. She also asked him what she should relay. Toward the end, the brothers seemed to be discussing a plan that would have made them a lot of money. Here's a later interview of John Smith explaining what really went down during and after Joseph's first confession. He told me that he strangled her. You know, that was what he told me when they put me together in that little jail cell, that little meeting there. And the reason why, when I came out, they said, what did he say, what did he say?

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, something like that. But after that, he started sending me letters and so forth and you know in his own admission and you know he choked her to death. John's admission is still slightly unclear so let me fix that. When Joseph originally confessed to his brother he seemed to be under the impression 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 and John planned to drive out there to untie her, take a photo of her, and sell it to the media. Then report his findings.

I guess they thought they would make John look like a hero, like a Batman character. So John did actually drive out to the church with intentions to carry out this ridiculous plan. But he couldn't find Carly's body. Joseph's mother and brother seemed to be enablers, even participators. Perhaps that's the reason John would later testify against his brother at trial, acting as the prosecution's key witness. When Carly's body was found, she was, of course, no longer living. She wasn't found bound, but her extremities had markings suggesting she had been.

She was found partially undressed corroborating Joseph's confession of sexual assault and there were markings suggesting Joseph had dragged Carly's body to its final resting place on the ground amid some trees. This man who had young daughters himself had raped and murdered an innocent little girl he didn't even know. Whether he was using drugs or not, he felt entitled to someone else's child 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, kidnapping, and sexual battery. He wouldn't go to trial until

late 2005. In the meantime, journalists and detectives were digging up disturbing things in Joseph's past that should have had him locked up long before he saw 11-year-old Carly Bruschia walking alone on that fateful Super Bowl Sunday. Cha-ching. That's my impression of a sexy cash register. It's also the sound of yet another sale on your online Shopify store. But did you know that Shopify powers selling in person, too? That's right. Shopify is the sound of selling everywhere. Online, in-store, on social media, and beyond. To Ching.

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slash sword and scale all lowercase. Go to Shopify.com slash sword and scale to take your retail business to the next level today. Shopify.com slash sword and scale. The moment you got told the good news, Rob, you made the, when the lads added you into the group. Skipping nights out, missing the crack. Rewatching classics and learning new tricks. Being driven to the biggest game of your life, by your mam. And then, you finally come on in the 51st minute. It's the minor moments that last a lifetime. The Electric Ireland GAA Minor Championships. This is major. you there. The Ford Summer Sales Event runs from the 7th to the 18th of June. Experience the new Cougar and new Puma models ready for 242, along with offers across the range, including up to 4,500 euro off the adventure-ready new Cougar.

Book an appointment for the Summer Sales Event on ford.ie. Tees and sees apply. Ford. Bring on tomorrow. Decent C's apply. Ford, bring on tomorrow. 39-year-old Joseph P. Smith pleaded not guilty to the crimes he committed against an innocent child. 11-year-old Carly Bruschia on February 1st, 2004. His DNA was found on her clothing. Her body showed evidence of strangulation and sexual assault, and the fibers from the station wagon Joe was driving were retrieved from Carly's body.

Joseph was unaccounted for during the exact stretch of time Carly went missing and was murdered. Joseph had even confessed his crimes in many different ways to his brother and mother. He spoke with them over the phone, he wrote letters and eventually his brother John Smith was called to testify against him. This was cut and dry. It re-traumatized the community to have to relive this crime two years later. But the jury made quick work of the whole ordeal. You could feel the tension in the courtroom.

The judge warned everyone. Scream or shout, and you're tossed out. And then came the verdict broadcast across the country. We, the jury, find as follows as to count one of the charges. The defendant is guilty of murder and the first degree as charged. Carly Brugge's mother broke down crying and said, Thank you, Jesus. Carly's father simply nodded in approval.

Joseph Smith, guilty on all counts. Bailiffs began preparing to take Smith away when the judge had to slow them down. 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. 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. I lost one of the most precious things to me in my life because of an animal, a disgusting perverted animal. The jury took five hours to pull 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. And if Carly she let him know that she was only 11 years old. How could he go through with it? 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.

Joseph's 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's involvement in the aftermath of his brother's crimes, but he sees himself as a victim also. My life crashed like you had no idea when all this shit happened and he's the cause of it, He's the direct cause of it. You think he cares how many lives you ruined? He's using you a fuck. All he wants is money for commissar.

He does not give a fuck. I don't think he realizes what he's done to everybody. But still, don't people realize who he he is he's a monster Jamali killed a little kid and you're not gonna talk to me because I testify that's crazy but that's what happened I have no family none of my family would talk to me except my sister so not only did my whole life crash no family family talks to me, it's been rough.

You know, I died. I drove real hard in the drugs and the women. Ever since this happened, my life just, it just died. I can't explain it. Am I testified? I did the right thing? None of my family talks to me. Only my sister. Nobody. Not my aunt, my mom, my cousins.

They won't even take a Facebook request. Because I'm a rat. You don't talk to code. That's bullshit. You know, he did something wrong. The worst crime you can do. You murder, you raped it, you kill a kid. You know, how could you look at me as a rat? It doesn't even have any... First of all, they didn't even need me. They had all the evidence.

Joseph's life was not virtuous. Not before he murdered Carly and not after. Joseph had already been arrested 13 times prior to his final act of violence and he'd been on probation nearly constantly since 1993, often violating the terms. Joseph's brother believes Joe may have also been responsible for the murder of a young woman named Tara Riley in Bradington, Florida, just four years before Carly's murder. Tara Riley's naked body was found in a retention pond behind a Bradington Walmart in 2000. Detectives looked into the case when it occurred, but it still remains unsolved to this day. Long story short, Joseph wasn't likely to have any willing character witnesses to speak

on his behalf at sentencing, and a jury swiftly voted 10-2 in favor of the death penalty. During his time on death row, Joseph watched TV, got some marriage proposals for some reason, I don't know what's wrong with you people, and his dear old mother even moved closer to the prison so she could visit him more often. How sweet. He began writing a 59-chapter manuscript detailing the woes of his life. Oh boy, can't wait for that on Audible. In it he blames all of his transgressions on his drug use. So you poor little victim, poor baby.

Oh, society should bend over backwards to help you. He and his lovely mother tried to shop the book around to publishers but thankfully they weren't interested. 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. Suncoast prosecutor says the state will again seek the death penalty for the killer of Carly Burscha. A 4-3 decision by the court Thursday vacates the death sentence of Joseph P. Smith, who

was convicted of raping and murdering the 11-year-old on the Suncoast in 2004. In 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court decision found Florida's death penalty process unconstitutional. The Herald-Jabine reports reports juries must now unanimously agree on critical findings before judges can impose death sentences. Carly's father Joseph Brucho calls the vote a travesty. It's one of two things. It's a trend of favoring the criminals over the innocent victims or is it just you know more way for attorneys to make billable hours because it certainly doesn't make any sense i mean it's it's a fellow thing from justice that comes to my mind the date of smith's new penalty phase has not yet been announced but bruce just says he

will be attending alongside family 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. He was 55 years old. Carly Bruschia was a little girl who liked classic little girl things. 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 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, away from her family, away from her friends, away from her home, away from this world. The memorial garden was set up for the beloved Carly, and it sits behind the central church of Christ at the spot where her body was recovered. Carly's ashes were built into the memorial site itself. 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.

Though this was a case that law enforcement and the community seemed to come together in perfect harmony to solve. It was a case that really never should have happened. An innocent 11-year-old girl made the impulsive decision to walk home and there are monsters out there. She unfortunately encountered one of them. An evil adult man who had his own impulses, his own deviant mind and zero self-control. Like a wild animal waiting in the forest for slowly moving prey. Joseph spotted Carly and attacked.

All right, that does it. Go check out episode 3, Shree Cyverson, Sword and Scale television. It's one of the best ones we've done so far. I mean it really made me physically ill. Go check it out and stay safe. So Thanks for watching!