June 3, 2024 • 59 mins
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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(00:00):
Sword and Scale contains adult themes andviolence, and is not intended for all
audiences. Listener discretion is advised.And sometimes I observed anything. It's it's
just the picture is I mean amazinglyclose. I mean it's you know,
(00:20):
it looks just like my brother.Sword and Scale episode two sixty five.
Let's go, Well, you simplyhaven't lived until you've cowered in a small
(00:45):
closet with three cats in your significantother thinking you're gonna die in the next
five minutes. Yeah, for asecond there, I thought episode two sixty
four was gonna be the last Swordand Scale. Ever, I'm lying.
I wasn't thinking about Thorn Scale atall. In fact, I was thinking
about death, the imminent death thatwas coming via tornado. I'm not lying
(01:06):
when I say this. The entiresky turned black, It turned tonight in
the middle of the day, andthis was the entire city of Houston.
And if you've ever been to Houston, you know how fucking big it is
that 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
(01:27):
of swordscal Television, Episode three.Sure E c Iyberson before the next twister
hits. I hear Big Daddy Government'sdoing some weird shit with the weather.
Just look at you buy two weeksago. Sarasota Springs sits in the western
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coast of Florida, about halfway betweenTampa and Fort Myers. Sarasota, being
so close to the ocean is beautiful. It's lush and green in some areas,
specifically the safer inland neighborhoods in thesuburbs. Blocks upon blocks of residential
neighborhoods house a community of about fifteenthousand residents. Sarazota Springs is arguably one
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of the best places to live inFlorida, specifically if you're raising a family.
There's lots to do, the beachis right there, and crime rates
are low. February one, twothousand and four, was Super Bowl Sunday,
Josh Grobin saying you raise me Upright before the kickoff of Super Bowl
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thirty eight, a game between NewEngland and Carolina. That year, the
game was in Houston, my hometown. The song choice and location of the
game were tributes to the seven astronautswho lost their lives in the tragic Space
Shuttle Columbia disaster exactly one year prior. Just to set this scene with pop
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culture landmarks, this was also thesuper Bowl that featured Janet Jackson's infamous nipple
slip, remember that one. It'sweird how you remember where you were during
moments like that, and I'm sureyou'll remember that. All of the supermarket
tabloids obsessed over this for the nextseveral weeks. Many residents of Sarasota Springs,
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like the rest of the country,were tuning in for the game,
having parties eating buffalo chicken wings anddrinking beer. But light, of course,
as the tranquil hush of the Sundayevening sunset enveloped the surroundings, the
unexpected cries of a terrified mother desperatelysearching for her child shattered the serene silence.
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Eleven year old Carly Brushaw, asixth grader at Macintosh Middle School,
was staying at her friend Danielle's houseoff of b Ridge Road, just a
little over a mile from where Carlyand her family lived. Just after dinnertime
around six PM, Carly and herfriend got into a little tiff over something
trivial, but being a kid,her emotions were very real to her,
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and she was angry. Carl abruptlydecided she wanted to go go back home
and watch the Super Bowl with herfamily, so she called her stepdad,
Steve Chansler, and told him shewanted to come back, which during the
game is an annoying at all.My daughter called, says she wanted to
come home. What was set onthe phone? I don't know. A
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couple minutes later kind of calls,says Carly standing across the street, come
pick her up. You remember whatit was like being a kid, right,
I mean it hasn't been that long. Emotions feel twice as intense,
at least twice, I mean probablymore like five times, and you have
almost no patience whatsoever. Carly wasmad and she wanted to go home right
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that minute. She didn't want towait for her stepdad to get there,
you know, like the logical thingto do, so she just took off
walking. Carly's friend Danielle, watchedCarly standing on the corner of the street
by her house just before she beganher mile long trek home. It was
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six eighteen pm. Though Sarrizonta Springshas a ton of residential areas. Carly's
walk back to her house would bealong a very busy main road. There
were sidewalks, but the houses liningthose sidewalks quickly disappeared and were replaced by
businesses like bars, mini golf andcar washes. As she continues to walk
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west towards her home. It wasbasically a straight shot from Danielle's house.
Carl would walk west on b RidgeRoad for about twenty minutes before turning right
onto her street, Macintosh Road.Then she'd walk for another few minutes and
she'd be home to an eleven yearold. I'm sure this plan seemed easy
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enough. I've washed my hands andout the door I went, and I
got down there. I didn't seeher. So maybe I passed through Bee
Ridge her and come back, drovereal slow and see her. Went into
EV's, looked inside, see ifshe is an arcade fears. So maybe
she went the back way behind Nick'sbar, the na in the street.
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I went back around and came back. Didn't see her. So I went
back to there Connie's house, andI swears Carly, and so she left
walking. I said, I can'tfind it. So I went back home
and got my wife. Were drivingaround, took her back to the house
with the girls for she yielded thegirls or whatever she said. We got
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in the van. We drove down. So I came down be rich.
I was going real slow, myflash was on. She was screaming out
the one side. I was lookingacross eastbound traffic trying to see so going
across. She said, I'm goingto get out because it's a bunch of
wooded area that had houses. Heart'sjust all rubble and just trees. So
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she'll stop when I get out.She got out, screaming Carly. So
and she did. I pulled intoEve's and parked, took my little boy
out with me, and we startedwalking back to where my wife was.
Carly's mom, stepdad, and youngerbrother 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
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drove, but the effort was fruitless. Susan's only wish was to witness her
daughter, with her thick, ashblonde hair and smile on her face,
emerge from the woods unharmed. Youdon't see you walking on Berridge. You
get all the way to La Laniaaddress. I didn't go to La Liai.
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I passed it because I've only beenthere, you know once or twice.
I passed La LIAI. Go downto the next intersection. I was
there when I made a U turncome back. Then I recognized the house
during the corner now because I've passedit once. I saw it was too
late. So that's when I makea U turn come back, and I
didn't see her outside. So Imade it just right there the little circle
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and I come back out wet,back down be Ridge to see her when
never saw her, all right,So I went all the way down to
Macintosh, come in the back wayby Nick bark Is. Sometimes she'll come
the back way because it's stay enough. It's shorter for her that way,
so I come down that way.I don't see her. So just before
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I get to the golf course,I come out whatever that little road is
there. I turned left and thenanother left into Eve's and I looked.
I didn't see nobody, I said, because that makes she went inside.
But you at this point EV's isactually open. Yeah, there's people full
of people okay. Eve's was alandmark for Carly, given that it was
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a center point between her and herfriend's house. It was a multi building
collection of businesses all under the samename, EV's Express car Wash and Mobile
Detailing, EV's Tavern and Grill onb Ridge, and Eve's Family Golf Center.
Ev seems to have quite the enterprise. Inside the main building was a
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kid's arcade somewhere. Stephen thought hisstepdaughter might have stopped on her walk home.
When he didn't find her there,he thought perhaps she cut through EV's
parking lot and through another neighborhood toget back home quicker. Over an hour
had passed since they began looking forCarly, and Susan's heart was in the
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pit of her stomach, so shedecided to call nine one one at about
seven thirty pm a location of theemergency. My daughter is missing the ship
and missing. Before now, shehad a fight with her girlfriend. She
decided to walk home and we endwell, I only house. They have
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to walk go on. We can'tmind running where I could blo friends add
eleven and when was the last timethat she was what she was seeing?
It was just six o'clock. JeanRound six o'clock and she was at a
friend helge. Yeah, okay.What's her name? Man? Carle c
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A R L I think and thelast name? Who? Sha b are
you b i A? She's awhite female? Yah? O'kay? What's
your date of birth? Sixteen eightytwo? How polishing? Who she too?
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Shy f gener what she weighs?Were nice? And what color her?
Does she have? Pretty? Blood? And the colors? Lou do
you remember what she was wearing?She over come? Don't? Don't you
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have? I can try to seven. That's okay. The deputies look at
that from me when they come out. Okay, does she have a medical
problems? You know? Okay?Where was the last place that she was
seeing? Was she did? Shehad leave her friend's house and that was
the last time that anybody saw her? Yes, okay for somebody there was
here. Okay, all right,we got the deputy coming over to meet
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you. Okay, if you canget any information about what she was wearing
when she left her friend's house,so no, you can tell the deputy.
Can you get that right now?We're getting that right now. Okay,
you can give that to the deputy. Okay, Okay, they'll be
there as soon as they can.Okay, okay, did you say you
were looking around her for the lasthour and a half and was somebody what
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you looking around? Driving? Allright, ma'am, we'll get the deputy
shout to you. Okay, okay, thanks you. Carly Brusha never made
it home that night. Police searchedon and around Carly's potential path home until
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three o'clock in the morning. Theyresumed the search the next day, and
by noon, a bloodhound tracked Carlysent to an area behind Evie's car wash.
That's where the scent trail stopped.But Eve's had security cameras everywhere.
You know, Evie, she doesn'tmiss a thing. Surely one of them
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caught Carly on tape. Carly Brushavanished February first, two thousand and four,
never making it home from a sleepoverat a friend's house. The next
day, after talking with police abouta missing girl in the area, car
wash owner Mike Evanoff looks at tapefrom his surveillance cameras. Just came in
and saw her walking and walking andit's just right away and I saw it.
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Just threw chisen shivers right in mybody. The video grainy and only
ten seconds long, is chilling.Carly is a half mile from her home.
A man in a mechanic's uniform walksup to her outside the car wash.
He leads her away the man huntbegin. The video surveillance from Evie's
car wash showed Carly clear as day. She was facing the camera, walking
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towards it unknowingly, and a manin a blue mechanic shirt with a white
name tag appears to approach her fromthe opposite direction. We see his back
to the camera, but clearly hegrabs her arm and pulls her closer to
him in a kind of aggressive way. Then he turns around to face the
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camera and pulls Carly out of frameby the wrist. That footage is the
last time she's ever seen again.Shown on local and national television, the
video brings hundred of leeds. Surelysomeone would recognize the man on the grainy
tape, and they do. OnFebruary third, just two days after Carly's
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abduction, numerous tips came into theSarasota Sheriff's office, all pointing to one
man, thirty nine year old JosephP. Smith. One of these callers
even new where the guy worked Josephwas apparently a mechanic at a place called
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Saurus Autos. When detectives arrived atthe auto body shop, they were greeted
by a man who admitted he'd beenthe one to call him the tip himself.
He told detectives that Joseph was hisfriend and co worker, but he
had just seen the clip of CarlyBrush's abduction on television and he immediately recognized
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Joe. The guy said that hecalled the shop's landlord and told him to
turn on the news. He watchedthe clip and agreed the guy in the
footage was Joe. It had tobe. I seeing Joe with the uniform
from the backside, from the frontside, of the way his hair was
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cut, the way that he walkedhis gate 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 Iwatched him reach out for the you know,
reach for the girl, I knowit was him. The coworker told
police he didn't want to believe Joewould be capable of such a thing,
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but he wasn't sure because he knewJoe did hard drugs and at the time
he was separated from his current wife. This coworker decided to call in so
quickly because he thought of his owneleven year old daughter and what he'd want
his community to do if she weremissing. Imagine if we all lived by
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that role. The man in theCCTV footage, apparently easily recognized by his
community, was wearing a name tagon his mechanics uniform, but the grainy
resolution of the video footage made itdifficult to decipher. Interestingly, NASA at
software all the way back in twothousand and four that was able to enhance
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grainy footage. It was called VideoImage Stabilization and Registration or VISOR for short.
It was a million dollar piece ofsoftware, almost as expensive as our
new app. But NASA offered itto law enforcement in this case, and
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guess what, it fucking worked.The name tag matched what all of the
callers were saying. It read Joe. On February first, two thousand and
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four, eleven year old Carly Brushawwas staying at her friend's house just a
little over a mile from where herown 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 goingto walk. When Danielle's mother called Carly's
parents to confirm she had permission towalk home, they said no, and
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Carly's mother sent her stepfather to pickher up, but when Steve arrived,
Carly was gone. After a massivesearch, Carly's scent was picked up by
a bloodhound at EV's car Wash,a business located about halfway between Danielle and
Carly's houses. CCTV camera footage showedCarly's abduction in broad daylight. Law enforcement
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narrowed the suspect down quickly, withthe 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 elsehad said. I recognized that guy you
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called in a couple of days ago, right, well, a couple of
days ago, Yes, it wasyesterday. Okay, it's been a blur
as we lost track of time aswe've been in Golden But can you tell
us about what you know what ledto your call, and what you saw
or what you observed or what it'snot that I observed anything. It's it's
just the picture is I mean,amazingly close. I mean it's you know,
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it looks just like my brother.Okay, the voice you're hearing is
John Smith. Now the other one, that's a joke because you know the
name's John Smith. Anyway, thisone was his brother, and he suspected
thirty nine year old Joseph Smith asresponsible for Carly's abduction. Joe Smith,
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then John Smith. Their parents werereally creative with the names, huh.
Anyway, As you can probably tellby his accent, John and his brother
Joseph were originally from Brooklyn, NewYork, along with every other annoying New
Floridian. John moved to Sarasota Countyin the nineties, and Joseph followed him
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in two thousand and three. JosephSarasota's main suspect was an auto mechanic.
He was a two time devorce ais it divorcee or devorcee? I don't,
I don't know. And he hadthree toddler age daughters, a dad
were they full time job? Andthree little girls. Is not someone you'd
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usually suspect of kidnapping someone else's littlegirl. But as we know, the
world is a wretched place. Sundayhe called me just out of the blue.
I spoke to him a month orso. I don't know how I'm
doing. I said, I gottago, and I hung up on them.
Then on Monday, you know,this this thing happened. I saw
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it on the ten o'clock news andI said, my girl said, damn,
it looks like my brother, isn'tit. And then at eleven o'clock,
don't don't don't my brother knocking onmy door Monday morning? No,
at eleven o'clock at night? Oh, Monday night? Did I say Monday
morning? No? No, yousaid eleven o'clock. I was just eleven
o'clock at night, okay, Mondaynight. And remember he lives fall from
me, so it's kind of oddof him out of his way and opened
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the door. You know. Iwas in my just my bottom pants.
Came in and go to bed,like, what do you want? He's
like, oh, I thought youwanted to talk to me. I'm like,
what made you think I wanted totalk to you. He's like,
no, I got to go tobed, and he's like, well,
I need to talk. I'm likeI don't really care. I'm going to
bed. I gotta go and closedthe door and then he left. It
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was just real strange, And likeI said, the next day came and
you know, everyone's talking about itand people calling me, hend I seeing
your brother on the news, andI'm like, you know, don't,
don't don't say that's my brother,because you don't know. You know,
it might look like him, butyou know, unless you're hndre percent sure,
I don't, don't say it's him. And I just I was just
getting a lot of phone calls.You know, he's got a very bad
habit of drugs. You know whatwas his drug of choice when he got
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when he was on that when we'rekids, it was cocaine. And then
when he when I came down toFlorida ninety yeah, ninety, he he
got into heroin. And heroin wasthis thing for a long time, sniffing
it and then in the past fewyears pushing it. Joseph had apparently struggled
with back pain his entire life,turning the pills to self medicate and eventually
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escalating to intravenous heroin use. Sohe maintained a job somehow and looked and
behaved relatively normally. Joseph's drug addictiongot him into trouble numerous times for things
like theft and possession. His mostfrequent target was his own brother John.
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A friend of his called me andsaid 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 stolefrom me in the past. Most
of its electronics, power equipment.Yeah, stuff that I usually leave out
in the bag guard. Like onetime it was a paint sprayer. My
mom was coming and I was doinga few test spots and I got interrupted.
I left it there and a coupleof days later it was gone.
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You know, I lived in apretty good need with it. You guys
know, it's you know, youknow, we're part of ten again,
sever sort of golf club. There'sno it's a circle, so there's no
passive buyers, there's no people walkingaround and for things to missing. You
know who it is. I mean, it doesn't just it doesn't happen over
there. We're too close over there. So you know, like I said,
he's gotten me about four or fivetimes. So before you said he
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came over Monday night at eleven eleven. Prior to Monday night at eleven,
when's the last time you had sawhim face to face? So on December
twenty fourth, Christmas Christmas Eve,if he went to do a shake my
hand, I pushed him and shovedhim. But we were all posted to
me to my sister's house and hejust robbed me that the day before,
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so I was still pretty mad.And then he picked up his kids and
left them. So that was likea family Christmas. Yeah, well,
everyone was going to my sister's house, and you know, I hadn't found
out about that until a few hoursearlier that it was actually him that day.
I mean, I knew it washim when I first went home with
this first way he was missing hiswife's is. At three o'clock, he
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said, I'll be right home tohis wife. Three o'clock came, four
o'clock came, five, six,seven, eight o'clock came. His wife
called me. I said, Igot to run home, drop money on
to my girlfriend, and then I'llcome back and I don't know what I'll
do, but I'll be there foryou. I did just that, and
when I got home, I seenthe spot where it was. I went
inside. I said, Babe,did you put that snake in the garage
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because it's too heavy and didn't thinkshe'd do it. He's like, no,
I thought you did. I waslike, the fuck it? So
anyway, I know, but himmissing, I know exactly put two and
two together. So the first timeI went to his house, waited for
a little while. Then he calledme in his cell phone and he said,
John, I'm trying to get intouch at everybody, but no one's
answering the phone, Like, Joe, cut the shit. I'm at your
house. Come here now. Iwant my snake back. And he's like,
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what snake? What snake? Isaid, Joe, whatever, just
get home. Your kids are crying, wife's crying. Just get home.
He was right around the corner.He came home, and when he got
out of the car, the firstthing he said was I mean, you'd
expect him to say I'm sorry,babe, and I'm missing while he's out.
No, He's like, what isJohn talking about the snake? I
was like, hello, whatever,you know. I said a few words
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to him, and his eyes werelike this, you know I know what
he was doing. And I leftand then Christmas Eve came and we had
that altercation and that was it,and I didn't see him toild Monday.
Here's the biggest red flag of all. Joseph had no alibi for the time
Carly went missing, so you know, definitely he was also missing Sunday.
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I don't know, you guys wherewe heard that? All right? He
was missing Sunday? What do youwhat do you know about that? He
was missing between I think three andseven, thirty three and eight, and
he lied to three different people.That's the part that I mean. I
haven't know my brother, but ifhe did it, he's gonna rot in
hell because that's pretty shitty to gofor, you know, the little child
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he told. Let me see,he told the people that he the stories
that you know of or what hetold the people he was staying with.
He took their car, Mimi andJeff, that's who he's staying with,
because they had problems at home becauseof all his drug shit. He told
them he was going to work.No, he told them he was going
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with his wife, I think,and they told his wife that he was
working on someone's car. They toldmy mom they was sitting at Marina Jack's
looking at the water. You know, that's not like my brother. He's
not you know, a sight seerior whatever. So everything was just like,
oh, you know, you didit again, you know, the
hell with you? And those werethe hours he was missing. And then
to see that on TV, youknow Monday, I mean that looks damn
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clothes like him he was now Monday. He didn't have a white sneakers though,
he hit on black boots, andI did think that was strange because
I never seen him with black bootson. You know, he usually does
have the white sneakers on, whichin the video he has white sneakers,
which his wife said he was wearingthose white sneakers Sunday morning, and she
also confirmed that he was wearing hismechanic thing. Looks like the police had
the right guy in their crosshairs andhis brother John was spilling the beans.
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Granted it was probably because he hadsuch a resentment built up against his brother
after years of repeated thefts, buteither way, John Smith was useful to
police, and he'd proved useful lateron. Also, the tips led police
right to Joseph Smith three days afterCarly disappears. Joseph Smith is arrested at
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his house on cocaine possession and aprobation violation. Police believe they have their
man. These charges give them enoughto hold him. Law enforcement pulled up
to Joseph's last known address in anunmarked vehicle and knocked on the door.
Joseph was staying with a friend becauseof his impending divorce. One of the
neighbors indicated there was someone inside thehouse, so an officer knocked. There
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was no answer. The officer calledhis supervisor to ask for some instruction,
and the supervisor told him Joseph Smithwas 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
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him a few questions regarding his whereaboutsthe day Carly was abducted, and they
searched his room and car Joe actedlike he had no knowledge of the abduction.
Detectives even showed him a still photofrom the CCTV footage as the car
wash, and he replied, thatlooks like me, but it's not me.
(29:30):
You're right, okay, it's beena long day it's been a long
day with you. I've spent along day with you. I know we
went together the whole time, butit's been a long day with you.
This is going to be exactly likeout at your house. Okay, We've
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got to sit down and we haveto talk. Certainly, since I've up
to your house, I've been atwork. But just like just like your
house, I want to just talk. You and I have some things to
talk about, okay, because someof the things at the house we got
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to get straight. That's the mostimportant thing, okay, in this room,
it's about the truth. Mm hmm. Okay, it's the most important
thing that goes on in this roomis the truth. But we're not at
your house. We're at my house. Okay. And because we're at my
house and you're here, and I'ma law enforcement officer and this is a
(30:41):
police station. Before we can talk, I have to read to your rights.
Have you heard that before? Yeah, Adam twelve and TV and it
was already advised to talk to alawyer who advised you, friend of mine?
When did you invite that? Wonderfulokay, when did that happen?
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When did that happen? Well,we talked to Okay, that means you
and I can't talk, should talkto a lawyer. The detective left Joseph
in the interrogation room for about fifteenminutes before returning. It's always a drag
(31:27):
for cops when the suspect of anexceptionally horrible crime decides he needs to speak
with a lawyer. But it's youknow, also his right. In Joseph's
case, he didn't have a lawyeryet. When I came out to you
house, I told you the graveseriousness of my job. The most important
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part of my job is to attemptto locate this child. As such,
I am willing to go to anylinks in order to work. Do you
have an attorney right now that Ican contact to come down and talk to
you. Would you like me tocontact the Public Defender's office and have a
lawyer come down and talk with youright now? I'd like to talk to
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my family. This is an ongoinginvestigation. I have got to find that
little girl. You have asked andrequest a lawyer. I must provide you
that lawyer, but this investigation hasto go on for it. In order
for this investigation to continue, Ineed you to talk to that lawyer?
(32:37):
Do you have one in mind?Can I contact the Public Defender's office for
you and they can bring a lawyerdown here? Yeah? Would that be
okay? I guess, And youknow, I'd rather talk to my family
see what they will suggest it witha lawyer. Do they have suggestion?
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Do they know a lawyer? Sure? My brother, my mother wouldn't know.
Is that a lawyer that you wantto represent you? I know,
I guess that they wouldn't know thedirection would take. I mean, I
don't know. You know, Ididn't give this much thought. You know,
well that's obvious you were caught oncamera. Joseph also had no idea
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that his brother had been blabbing upa storm about him. His family would
be of no help at this point. I don't. I mean, you
tell you tell me first that it'ssomething different, and you go into the
house and you tell me something differentthere. I mean, I don't understand
(33:44):
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'tdiscuss this case with you anymore. But
I need to talk. You needto talk because this case has got to
go. It's got to continue.You're the key person as such. I
(34:07):
need to get a lawyer in here, and he is going to sit down
and talk with you, and thenmaybe through him we can talk. Then
again, you won't. You won'ttell me what's going on. I don't
understand. I guess how would Ieven know that? His lawyers from the
Public Defender's office. I have aset of rules that I've sworn to a
(34:30):
bed and like you said, youknow this is a serious thing. I
mean, I was supposed to beclear to this thing. That's not so
simple. When cameras show you committingthe crime, the whole community agrees it
was you, and your alibi doesn'tadd up. Things are not looking good,
(34:52):
Joe. What is the public defendergoing 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 gotta bean. I'm my
contacting Now. Okay, did yousay something? Do you think do you
think that I could smoke up?But it is a federal buildings smoking here,
(35:15):
I mean like outside or something.All right, now you gotta tell
Yeah, we're working. We're workingon right now. I don't need to
talk to you know, my family. See what's cold on, Joe.
Once you have decided to speak toa lawyer, I am under an obligation
(35:37):
to respect that right unless you revokeit and say, take of Davis.
Okay. I want to talk toyou, but you have to do that.
Okay. As such, I can'ttalk to you. You have asked
for a lawyer. I am goingto get you one from the Public Defender's
office. Okay, I can't talkto you. You have requested a What
(36:00):
about my family? Why can't Iquote them? M You can't call them
because they're not part of this mHM. And these are the these are
the people that are telling me toget a lawyer. You know, I
(36:22):
want to I want to talk tomy ANNs or my brother Joe, the
people they give you legal advice.I ain't here, of course I want
to talk to them. It's justa phone call. Let them know what's
going on. And my mom's realconcerned, you know, my brother,
(36:43):
everybody Okay, Yeah, Joe's brotherwas concerned, but he was concerned about
whether or not Joseph had really committedthis horrible crime, because it sure was
looking that way. Once they putJoseph in jail, they set up a
little scheme with his brother John.John knew Joe would never ever confess to
(37:07):
the crime. If it was somethinghe really did, it was so horrible.
This would be a truth that Joewould take to his grave. John
suggested that if someone went to Joeand confessed to crimes that they'd committed that
were similar to the ones Joe wasaccused of, then perhaps maybe he might
(37:29):
be willing to open up about whathe'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'tsay a thing. But on February fifth,
(37:49):
it all came spilling out. Tellme about and I'm talking about today.
Tell me about your first contact withhim, May Smith. Contact today
was the beginning of the shift.We have to feed the inmates normally around
four point thirty, and I handedhim a food tray and a cold beverage
(38:14):
and that was it. What washis mannerisms or did you observe anything about
him? He looked like he wasunder a lot of stress and his eyes
were glassy, like you just gotdone crying. Did he say anything to
you? No, and he gavehim his food and left right. Tell
(38:36):
me about the next contact you hadwith him. The next contact I had
with mister Smith was when I gotback the food tray from him. When
he was done eating. He wasstaring at me in a manner that he
wanted to talk to me and thathe had some things on his mind that
he wanted to talk about. Whenhe handed me to the food t right,
(39:00):
he told me that all that wasgoing on around him was very stressful
and he wanted to end it tonight. While I instructed him that first of
all, I wasn't clear on whathe meant by ending it, if he
wanted to end his life or endthe ongoing investigation. His response was that
(39:22):
he wanted to speak to his attorneysbecause there was just too much going on
in his head and he wanted toget it out of his head now.
He made it clear to me thathe wasn't suicidal and that he wanted to
confess to what was on his mindto his attorneys. Again, he said,
(39:42):
I have to end this tonight.And at this point he was demanding
to see his attorneys. He wasn'thollering, but he was standing up against
the bars talking to me, squeezingthe bars. You could see that,
you know, the frustration in hisforearms, that he wanted to speak to
his attorneys right now. He thensaid that he wanted to put closure to
(40:07):
this tonight. He then stated,I really fucked up. He then he
asked me, Divino, how bigis this right now? Meaning the media
type of thing? And then hesaid, I think I guess he finally
(40:28):
realized that this is all over theplace, meaning it's all over the country
within the news media. Did yourespond to when he asked how big it
was? I told him that there'sflyers around the county because that's what I
witnessed. Joseph then asked the officerif he can have the phones turned back
(40:52):
on, as they'd been turned offfor the night already. He'd done this
before for other inmates, so theofficer greed. Joseph called his brother,
and the officer tried hard to listenin on the conversation. According to the
timeline of events in this case,I'm assuming these Jael house calls weren't recorded
(41:14):
for some reason, and I guessJohn said to mister Smith that Joe,
I can't hear you. I can'thear you can speak up, and Joe's
mister Smith started talking a little louder. I guess there was a big connection
in the phone or there was noisein the background because John could not hear
(41:37):
mister Smith. He then said,she's between two trees, not too far
back. He then said maybe bythe tree line. And then he said
to John. And at this pointhe was very emotional. His eyes were
wading, he was choked up.He said, John, tell mom,
(42:00):
I'm sorry. I was not thinkingright. Please tell Mom, I'm sorry.
Did he hang up or you thinkhe was cut off? No,
he hung up the phone very softlyand walked back through the home. After
his arrest, Smith's brother John visitshim in jail, and later the brothers
(42:20):
talked by phone. Later at thetrial, John Smith testified about those conversations
and against his brother. Did hesay anything about how it ended? I
asked he was to show what doyou mean? What did you ask?
And try to speak up again?Remember you've got she was dead, and
what did he say? I don'tknow she could be John Smith testified,
(42:45):
Joseph told him what he'd done toCarly Brusha and that the body was hidden
near a church. Was there anopen field at the church? Yes?
John Smith tells police where to findCarly Brushaw. February fifth, two thousand
and four. Her body is foundon the grounds of the Central Church of
Christ in Sarasota. The body ofbeautiful love you, old girl, Carly
(43:07):
Yusha has been found. Joseph Smithis under arrest for the abduction and murder
of Carly. Joseph's phone confession detailedthat he had raped Carly in a borrowed
beige station wagon before strangling her anddriving her to a field behind a church
(43:28):
on Proctor Road. In a letterto John, Joe said that he took
Carly's pink backpack and threw it intothe water at Marina Jack in Sarasota.
Later on, Joe had more conversationswith his mother and brother. In one
of them, Joe's mother comforted himby telling him the best thing he could
(43:49):
do was to try to explain itwas an accident. Nice right. Then
she went on to tell him sheknew he would never do something like this
on purpose, but the news mediaand the community were all up in arms
because of the severity of his charges. Joe clarified with his mother, asking
(44:13):
her if she knew what his chargeswere in she said she did. She
also asked him what she should relay. Towards the end, the brothers seemed
to be discussing a plan that wouldhave made them a lot of money.
Here's a later interview of John Smithexplaining what really went down during and after
(44:34):
Joseph's first confession. He told meand he strangled her. You know,
that was what he told me whenthey put me together in a little jail
cell, a little meeting there.And the reason why when I came out,
they said, well, you know, what did he say? What
did he say? Isaiah said nothing, because he told me that he tied
her up, and I thought I'djust drove over there, let it go
(45:00):
like that. But after that hestarted sending me a letter and so forth,
and you know, in his ownadmission, and you know, he
talked to her death. John's admissionis still slightly unclear, so let me
fix that. When Joseph originally confessedto his brother, he seemed to be
under the impression that though he rapedCarly and choked her out. She may
(45:24):
still be alive. Joseph told hisbrother John where he could find the body,
and John planned to drive out thereto untie her, take a photo
of her, and sell it tothe media, then report his findings.
I guess they thought they would makeJohn look like a hero, like a
(45:45):
Batman character. So John did actuallydrive out to the church with intentions to
carry out this ridiculous plan, buthe couldn't find Carly's body. Joseph's mother
and brother seemed to be enablers,even participators. Perhaps that's the reason John
(46:07):
would later testify against his brother attrial, acting as the prosecution's key witness.
When Carly's body was found, shewas of course no longer living.
She wasn't found bound, but herextremities had marking suggesting she had been.
(46:27):
She was found partially undressed, corroboratingJoseph's confession of sexual assault, and they
were marking suggesting Joseph had dragged Carly'sbody to its final resting place on the
ground amidst 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
(46:52):
using drugs or not. He feltentitled to someone else's child for her his
own sexual deviancy, and he jumpedon the first opportunity he saw. Joseph
pleaded not guilty to the charges offirst degree murder, kidnapping, in sexual
(47:13):
battery. He wouldn't go to trialuntil late two thousand and five. In
the meantime, journalists and detectives weredigging up disturbing things in Joseph's past that
should have had him locked up longbefore he saw eleven year old carl Brusha
walking alone on that fateful Super BowlSunday. Thirty nine year old Joseph P.
(47:57):
Smith pleaded not guilty to the crimeshe committed against an innocent child,
eleven year old Carly Brushaw on Februaryfirst, two thousand and four. His
DNA was found on her clothing.Her body showed evidence of strangulation and sexual
assault, and the fibers from thestation wagon Joe was driving were retrieved from
(48:20):
Carly's body. Joseph was unaccounted forduring the exact stretch of time Carly went
missing and was murdered. Joseph hadeven confessed his crimes in many different ways
to his brother and mother. Hespoke with them over the phone, he
wrote letters, and eventually his brotherJohn Smith was called to testify against him.
(48:45):
This was cut and dry. Itretraumatized the community to have to relive
this crime two years later, butthe jury made quick work of the whole
ordeal. You could feel the tensionin the court room. The judge warned
everyone scream or shout and you're tossedout. And then came the verdict,
(49:06):
broadcast across the country. Will thejury find as follows as to count one
of the charges, the defendant isguilty of murder in the first degree as
charged. Carly Bruce's mother broke down, crying and said thank you Jesus.
Carly's father simply nodded in approval.Joseph Smith guilty on all counts. Baylis
to give the ring to take Smithaway when the judge had to slow them
down. I need to just slowdown for one second. Smith will be
(49:30):
back in court a week from Mondaywhen the same jury returns to recommend a
life or death sentence. I willnow be preparing to present further evidence on
November the twenty eighth, and willbe arguing that a sentence of life in
prison without possibility of parole is thebest decision in this case. I almost
one of the most precious things tome in my life because of an animal,
(49:52):
a disgusting, perverted animal. Thejury 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 andhis mother where he admitted killing her.
Joe, the best thignque you coulddo is just try and explain it
(50:12):
with an accident. I know that, Joe. You don't think that I
would do that off as well.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 tokill her. And I'm sure she let
him know that she was only elevenyears old. How could he go through
(50:35):
with it? Carly's family members weren'tthe only ones affected by this horrible crime.
All of Carly's friends and classmates wereon high alert. Joseph's former wives
and children had to deal with theshame of being connected to such a monster
and take this with a grain ofsalt. Given John's involvement in the aftermath
(50:55):
of his brother's crimes, but hesees himself as a victim. Also,
my life, my life crashed,like you have no idea when all this
shit happened, and he's the causeof it. He's the direct cause of
it. You think he cares howmany legs you ruined? He doesn't give
(51:15):
a fuck. All he wants ismoney for her comments are he does not.
He does not give a fuck.I don't think he realizes, you
know what he's done to everybody,But still don't you people realize who he
is. He's a monster. Themoney killed a little kid. And you're
(51:36):
not gonna talk to me because Itestifyed and that's crazy, but that's not
happened. I have no family.None of my family would talk to me.
He's my sister, so not onlymy whole life crash. No family
talks to me. He's been rough, you know, you know, I
die. I don't real hard andthe drugs and the women since this habited
(52:01):
my life, just it just itjust died. I can't explain it.
I testified, I did the rightthing. None of my family talked to
me, only my sister. Nobody, not my end because it won't even
(52:21):
take a Facebook request because I'm arat. You don't talk to cold.
That's bullshit. You know, hedid something wrong, the worst crime you
can do. You murdered, youraped it, you killed a kid.
You know, so how could you? How could you look at me as
a riot? It doesn't even haveany First of all, they didn't even
(52:43):
need me. They had all theevents. Joseph's life was not virtuous,
not before he murdered Carly and notafter. Joseph had already been arrested thirteen
times prior to his final act ofvice violence, and he'd been on probation
nearly constantly since nineteen ninety three,often violating the terms. Joseph's brother believes
(53:09):
Joe may have also been responsible forthe murder of a young woman named Tara
Riley in Bradington, Florida, justfour years before Carly's murder. Tara Riley's
naked body was found in a retentionpond behind a Bradington Walmart in two thousand.
Detectives looked into the case when itoccurred, but it still remains unsolved
(53:34):
to this day. Long story short, Joseph wasn't likely to have any willing
character witnesses to speak on his behalfat sentencing, and a jury swiftly voted
ten to two in favor of thedeath penalty. During his time on death
row, Joseph watched TV, gotsome marriage proposals for some reason. I
(53:55):
don't know what's wrong with you people, and his dear old mother even moved
closer to the prison so she couldvisit him more often. How sweet.
He began writing a fifty nine chaptermanuscript detailing the woes of his life.
Oh boy, can't wait for thaton audible. In it, he blames
(54:15):
all of his transgressions on his druguse. So you, poor little victim,
poor baby, Oh, society shouldbend over backwards to help you.
He and his lovely mother tried toshop the book around to publishers, but
thankfully they weren't interested. At leastsome of the media hasn't gone to complete
(54:35):
shit, not entirely anyway. Josephended up living on death row until twenty
eighteen, when the unthinkable happened.A sun cohost prosecutor says the state will
again see the death penalty for thekiller of Carlis Busha. A four to
three decision by the court Thursday vacatesthe death sentence of Joseph P. Smith,
(54:57):
who was convicted of raping and murderingthe eleven year old on the sun
Coast in two thousand and four.In twenty sixteen, the US Supreme Court
decision vound FDA's death penalty process unconstitutional. The held of being reports juries must
now unanimously agree on critical findings beforejudges can impose death sentences. Carly's father,
Joseph Brusia, calls the vote atravesty. It's one of two things.
(55:21):
It's it's a trend of favoring thecriminals over of the innocent and the
victims. Or is it just,you know, more way for attorneys to
make billible hours, Because it certainlydoesn't make any sense. I mean,
it's a fellest thing from justice thatcomes to my mind. The David Smith's
new penalty phase has not yet beenannounced, but Brushes says he will be
(55:44):
attending alongside family. Two years later, Joseph's death penalty status was reinstated.
Then, on July twenty sixth,twenty twenty one, Joseph Smith passed away
at Union Directional Institution in Rayford.He was fifty five years old. Carly
(56:06):
Brusha was a little girl who likedclassic 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 thesurfaces of the furniture in her bedroom.
And she was an innocent little girl, so full of excitement for life.
(56:30):
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. A memorial
(56:52):
garden was set up for the belovedCarly, and it sits behind the Central
Church of Christ at the spot whereher body was recovered. Carly's ashes were
built into the memorial site itself.Unfortunately, Carly's mother, Susan Shorpen,
(57:15):
passed away in twenty seventeen, andsince then reports seemed to suggest that Carly's
memorial has fallen into disarray. Thoughthis was a case that law enforcement in
the community seemed to come together inperfect harmony to solve, it was a
case that really never should have happened. An innocent eleven year old girl made
(57:39):
the impulsive decision to walk home,and there are monsters out there. She
unfortunately encountered one of them, anevil adult man who had his own impulses,
his own deviant mind, and zeroself control. Like a wild animal
(58:04):
waiting in the forest for slowly movingprey, Joseph spotted Carly and attacked.
All right, that does it.Go check out episode three shres iverson Swordscale
(58:27):
Television. It's one of the bestones we've done so far. I mean
it really made me physically ill.Go check it out and stay safe.
Sword and Scale contains adult themes andviolence, and is not intended for all
audiences. Listener discretion is advised.And sometimes I observed anything. It's it's
just the picture is I mean amazinglyclose. I mean it's you know,
(00:20):
it looks just like my brother.Sword and Scale episode two sixty five.
Let's go, Well, you simplyhaven't lived until you've cowered in a small
(00:45):
closet with three cats in your significantother thinking you're gonna die in the next
five minutes. Yeah, for asecond there, I thought episode two sixty
four was gonna be the last Swordand Scale. Ever, I'm lying.
I wasn't thinking about Thorn Scale atall. In fact, I was thinking
about death, the imminent death thatwas coming via tornado. I'm not lying
(01:06):
when I say this. The entiresky turned black, It turned tonight in
the middle of the day, andthis was the entire city of Houston.
And if you've ever been to Houston, you know how fucking big it is
that 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
(01:27):
of swordscal Television, Episode three.Sure E c Iyberson before the next twister
hits. I hear Big Daddy Government'sdoing some weird shit with the weather.
Just look at you buy two weeksago. Sarasota Springs sits in the western
(02:00):
coast of Florida, about halfway betweenTampa and Fort Myers. Sarasota, being
so close to the ocean is beautiful. It's lush and green in some areas,
specifically the safer inland neighborhoods in thesuburbs. Blocks upon blocks of residential
neighborhoods house a community of about fifteenthousand residents. Sarazota Springs is arguably one
(02:27):
of the best places to live inFlorida, specifically if you're raising a family.
There's lots to do, the beachis right there, and crime rates
are low. February one, twothousand and four, was Super Bowl Sunday,
Josh Grobin saying you raise me Upright before the kickoff of Super Bowl
(02:47):
thirty eight, a game between NewEngland and Carolina. That year, the
game was in Houston, my hometown. The song choice and location of the
game were tributes to the seven astronautswho lost their lives in the tragic Space
Shuttle Columbia disaster exactly one year prior. Just to set this scene with pop
(03:09):
culture landmarks, this was also thesuper Bowl that featured Janet Jackson's infamous nipple
slip, remember that one. It'sweird how you remember where you were during
moments like that, and I'm sureyou'll remember that. All of the supermarket
tabloids obsessed over this for the nextseveral weeks. Many residents of Sarasota Springs,
(03:35):
like the rest of the country,were tuning in for the game,
having parties eating buffalo chicken wings anddrinking beer. But light, of course,
as the tranquil hush of the Sundayevening sunset enveloped the surroundings, the
unexpected cries of a terrified mother desperatelysearching for her child shattered the serene silence.
(04:30):
Eleven year old Carly Brushaw, asixth grader at Macintosh Middle School,
was staying at her friend Danielle's houseoff of b Ridge Road, just a
little over a mile from where Carlyand her family lived. Just after dinnertime
around six PM, Carly and herfriend got into a little tiff over something
trivial, but being a kid,her emotions were very real to her,
(04:56):
and she was angry. Carl abruptlydecided she wanted to go go back home
and watch the Super Bowl with herfamily, so she called her stepdad,
Steve Chansler, and told him shewanted to come back, which during the
game is an annoying at all.My daughter called, says she wanted to
come home. What was set onthe phone? I don't know. A
(05:16):
couple minutes later kind of calls,says Carly standing across the street, come
pick her up. You remember whatit was like being a kid, right,
I mean it hasn't been that long. Emotions feel twice as intense,
at least twice, I mean probablymore like five times, and you have
almost no patience whatsoever. Carly wasmad and she wanted to go home right
(05:43):
that minute. She didn't want towait for her stepdad to get there,
you know, like the logical thingto do, so she just took off
walking. Carly's friend Danielle, watchedCarly standing on the corner of the street
by her house just before she beganher mile long trek home. It was
(06:04):
six eighteen pm. Though Sarrizonta Springshas a ton of residential areas. Carly's
walk back to her house would bealong a very busy main road. There
were sidewalks, but the houses liningthose sidewalks quickly disappeared and were replaced by
businesses like bars, mini golf andcar washes. As she continues to walk
(06:28):
west towards her home. It wasbasically a straight shot from Danielle's house.
Carl would walk west on b RidgeRoad for about twenty minutes before turning right
onto her street, Macintosh Road.Then she'd walk for another few minutes and
she'd be home to an eleven yearold. I'm sure this plan seemed easy
(06:49):
enough. I've washed my hands andout the door I went, and I
got down there. I didn't seeher. So maybe I passed through Bee
Ridge her and come back, drovereal slow and see her. Went into
EV's, looked inside, see ifshe is an arcade fears. So maybe
she went the back way behind Nick'sbar, the na in the street.
(07:13):
I went back around and came back. Didn't see her. So I went
back to there Connie's house, andI swears Carly, and so she left
walking. I said, I can'tfind it. So I went back home
and got my wife. Were drivingaround, took her back to the house
with the girls for she yielded thegirls or whatever she said. We got
(07:38):
in the van. We drove down. So I came down be rich.
I was going real slow, myflash was on. She was screaming out
the one side. I was lookingacross eastbound traffic trying to see so going
across. She said, I'm goingto get out because it's a bunch of
wooded area that had houses. Heart'sjust all rubble and just trees. So
(08:00):
she'll stop when I get out.She got out, screaming Carly. So
and she did. I pulled intoEve's and parked, took my little boy
out with me, and we startedwalking back to where my wife was.
Carly's mom, stepdad, and youngerbrother 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
(08:24):
drove, but the effort was fruitless. Susan's only wish was to witness her
daughter, with her thick, ashblonde hair and smile on her face,
emerge from the woods unharmed. Youdon't see you walking on Berridge. You
get all the way to La Laniaaddress. I didn't go to La Liai.
(08:45):
I passed it because I've only beenthere, you know once or twice.
I passed La LIAI. Go downto the next intersection. I was
there when I made a U turncome back. Then I recognized the house
during the corner now because I've passedit once. I saw it was too
late. So that's when I makea U turn come back, and I
didn't see her outside. So Imade it just right there the little circle
(09:09):
and I come back out wet,back down be Ridge to see her when
never saw her, all right,So I went all the way down to
Macintosh, come in the back wayby Nick bark Is. Sometimes she'll come
the back way because it's stay enough. It's shorter for her that way,
so I come down that way.I don't see her. So just before
(09:30):
I get to the golf course,I come out whatever that little road is
there. I turned left and thenanother left into Eve's and I looked.
I didn't see nobody, I said, because that makes she went inside.
But you at this point EV's isactually open. Yeah, there's people full
of people okay. Eve's was alandmark for Carly, given that it was
(09:52):
a center point between her and herfriend's house. It was a multi building
collection of businesses all under the samename, EV's Express car Wash and Mobile
Detailing, EV's Tavern and Grill onb Ridge, and Eve's Family Golf Center.
Ev seems to have quite the enterprise. Inside the main building was a
(10:16):
kid's arcade somewhere. Stephen thought hisstepdaughter might have stopped on her walk home.
When he didn't find her there,he thought perhaps she cut through EV's
parking lot and through another neighborhood toget back home quicker. Over an hour
had passed since they began looking forCarly, and Susan's heart was in the
(10:37):
pit of her stomach, so shedecided to call nine one one at about
seven thirty pm a location of theemergency. My daughter is missing the ship
and missing. Before now, shehad a fight with her girlfriend. She
decided to walk home and we endwell, I only house. They have
(11:00):
to walk go on. We can'tmind running where I could blo friends add
eleven and when was the last timethat she was what she was seeing?
It was just six o'clock. JeanRound six o'clock and she was at a
friend helge. Yeah, okay.What's her name? Man? Carle c
(11:26):
A R L I think and thelast name? Who? Sha b are
you b i A? She's awhite female? Yah? O'kay? What's
your date of birth? Sixteen eightytwo? How polishing? Who she too?
(11:46):
Shy f gener what she weighs?Were nice? And what color her?
Does she have? Pretty? Blood? And the colors? Lou do
you remember what she was wearing?She over come? Don't? Don't you
(12:09):
have? I can try to seven. That's okay. The deputies look at
that from me when they come out. Okay, does she have a medical
problems? You know? Okay?Where was the last place that she was
seeing? Was she did? Shehad leave her friend's house and that was
the last time that anybody saw her? Yes, okay for somebody there was
here. Okay, all right,we got the deputy coming over to meet
(12:31):
you. Okay, if you canget any information about what she was wearing
when she left her friend's house,so no, you can tell the deputy.
Can you get that right now?We're getting that right now. Okay,
you can give that to the deputy. Okay, Okay, they'll be
there as soon as they can.Okay, okay, did you say you
were looking around her for the lasthour and a half and was somebody what
(12:54):
you looking around? Driving? Allright, ma'am, we'll get the deputy
shout to you. Okay, okay, thanks you. Carly Brusha never made
it home that night. Police searchedon and around Carly's potential path home until
(13:15):
three o'clock in the morning. Theyresumed the search the next day, and
by noon, a bloodhound tracked Carlysent to an area behind Evie's car wash.
That's where the scent trail stopped.But Eve's had security cameras everywhere.
You know, Evie, she doesn'tmiss a thing. Surely one of them
(13:37):
caught Carly on tape. Carly Brushavanished February first, two thousand and four,
never making it home from a sleepoverat a friend's house. The next
day, after talking with police abouta missing girl in the area, car
wash owner Mike Evanoff looks at tapefrom his surveillance cameras. Just came in
and saw her walking and walking andit's just right away and I saw it.
(14:01):
Just threw chisen shivers right in mybody. The video grainy and only
ten seconds long, is chilling.Carly is a half mile from her home.
A man in a mechanic's uniform walksup to her outside the car wash.
He leads her away the man huntbegin. The video surveillance from Evie's
car wash showed Carly clear as day. She was facing the camera, walking
(14:26):
towards it unknowingly, and a manin a blue mechanic shirt with a white
name tag appears to approach her fromthe opposite direction. We see his back
to the camera, but clearly hegrabs her arm and pulls her closer to
him in a kind of aggressive way. Then he turns around to face the
(14:46):
camera and pulls Carly out of frameby the wrist. That footage is the
last time she's ever seen again.Shown on local and national television, the
video brings hundred of leeds. Surelysomeone would recognize the man on the grainy
tape, and they do. OnFebruary third, just two days after Carly's
(15:07):
abduction, numerous tips came into theSarasota Sheriff's office, all pointing to one
man, thirty nine year old JosephP. Smith. One of these callers
even new where the guy worked Josephwas apparently a mechanic at a place called
(15:28):
Saurus Autos. When detectives arrived atthe auto body shop, they were greeted
by a man who admitted he'd beenthe one to call him the tip himself.
He told detectives that Joseph was hisfriend and co worker, but he
had just seen the clip of CarlyBrush's abduction on television and he immediately recognized
(15:50):
Joe. The guy said that hecalled the shop's landlord and told him to
turn on the news. He watchedthe clip and agreed the guy in the
footage was Joe. It had tobe. I seeing Joe with the uniform
from the backside, from the frontside, of the way his hair was
(16:11):
cut, the way that he walkedhis gate 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 Iwatched him reach out for the you know,
reach for the girl, I knowit was him. The coworker told
police he didn't want to believe Joewould be capable of such a thing,
(16:33):
but he wasn't sure because he knewJoe did hard drugs and at the time
he was separated from his current wife. This coworker decided to call in so
quickly because he thought of his owneleven year old daughter and what he'd want
his community to do if she weremissing. Imagine if we all lived by
(16:55):
that role. The man in theCCTV footage, apparently easily recognized by his
community, was wearing a name tagon his mechanics uniform, but the grainy
resolution of the video footage made itdifficult to decipher. Interestingly, NASA at
software all the way back in twothousand and four that was able to enhance
(17:21):
grainy footage. It was called VideoImage Stabilization and Registration or VISOR for short.
It was a million dollar piece ofsoftware, almost as expensive as our
new app. But NASA offered itto law enforcement in this case, and
(17:44):
guess what, it fucking worked.The name tag matched what all of the
callers were saying. It read Joe. On February first, two thousand and
(18:23):
four, eleven year old Carly Brushawwas staying at her friend's house just a
little over a mile from where herown 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 goingto walk. When Danielle's mother called Carly's
parents to confirm she had permission towalk home, they said no, and
(18:48):
Carly's mother sent her stepfather to pickher up, but when Steve arrived,
Carly was gone. After a massivesearch, Carly's scent was picked up by
a bloodhound at EV's car Wash,a business located about halfway between Danielle and
Carly's houses. CCTV camera footage showedCarly's abduction in broad daylight. Law enforcement
(19:15):
narrowed the suspect down quickly, withthe 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 elsehad said. I recognized that guy you
(19:41):
called in a couple of days ago, right, well, a couple of
days ago, Yes, it wasyesterday. Okay, it's been a blur
as we lost track of time aswe've been in Golden But can you tell
us about what you know what ledto your call, and what you saw
or what you observed or what it'snot that I observed anything. It's it's
just the picture is I mean,amazingly close. I mean it's you know,
(20:06):
it looks just like my brother.Okay, the voice you're hearing is
John Smith. Now the other one, that's a joke because you know the
name's John Smith. Anyway, thisone was his brother, and he suspected
thirty nine year old Joseph Smith asresponsible for Carly's abduction. Joe Smith,
(20:29):
then John Smith. Their parents werereally creative with the names, huh.
Anyway, As you can probably tellby his accent, John and his brother
Joseph were originally from Brooklyn, NewYork, along with every other annoying New
Floridian. John moved to Sarasota Countyin the nineties, and Joseph followed him
(20:52):
in two thousand and three. JosephSarasota's main suspect was an auto mechanic.
He was a two time devorce ais it divorcee or devorcee? I don't,
I don't know. And he hadthree toddler age daughters, a dad
were they full time job? Andthree little girls. Is not someone you'd
(21:17):
usually suspect of kidnapping someone else's littlegirl. But as we know, the
world is a wretched place. Sundayhe called me just out of the blue.
I spoke to him a month orso. I don't know how I'm
doing. I said, I gottago, and I hung up on them.
Then on Monday, you know,this this thing happened. I saw
(21:38):
it on the ten o'clock news andI said, my girl said, damn,
it looks like my brother, isn'tit. And then at eleven o'clock,
don't don't don't my brother knocking onmy door Monday morning? No,
at eleven o'clock at night? Oh, Monday night? Did I say Monday
morning? No? No, yousaid eleven o'clock. I was just eleven
o'clock at night, okay, Mondaynight. And remember he lives fall from
me, so it's kind of oddof him out of his way and opened
(22:00):
the door. You know. Iwas in my just my bottom pants.
Came in and go to bed,like, what do you want? He's
like, oh, I thought youwanted to talk to me. I'm like,
what made you think I wanted totalk to you. He's like,
no, I got to go tobed, and he's like, well,
I need to talk. I'm likeI don't really care. I'm going to
bed. I gotta go and closedthe door and then he left. It
(22:21):
was just real strange, And likeI said, the next day came and
you know, everyone's talking about itand people calling me, hend I seeing
your brother on the news, andI'm like, you know, don't,
don't don't say that's my brother,because you don't know. You know,
it might look like him, butyou know, unless you're hndre percent sure,
I don't, don't say it's him. And I just I was just
getting a lot of phone calls.You know, he's got a very bad
habit of drugs. You know whatwas his drug of choice when he got
(22:44):
when he was on that when we'rekids, it was cocaine. And then
when he when I came down toFlorida ninety yeah, ninety, he he
got into heroin. And heroin wasthis thing for a long time, sniffing
it and then in the past fewyears pushing it. Joseph had apparently struggled
with back pain his entire life,turning the pills to self medicate and eventually
(23:11):
escalating to intravenous heroin use. Sohe maintained a job somehow and looked and
behaved relatively normally. Joseph's drug addictiongot him into trouble numerous times for things
like theft and possession. His mostfrequent target was his own brother John.
(23:33):
A friend of his called me andsaid 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 stolefrom me in the past. Most
of its electronics, power equipment.Yeah, stuff that I usually leave out
in the bag guard. Like onetime it was a paint sprayer. My
mom was coming and I was doinga few test spots and I got interrupted.
I left it there and a coupleof days later it was gone.
(23:56):
You know, I lived in apretty good need with it. You guys
know, it's you know, youknow, we're part of ten again,
sever sort of golf club. There'sno it's a circle, so there's no
passive buyers, there's no people walkingaround and for things to missing. You
know who it is. I mean, it doesn't just it doesn't happen over
there. We're too close over there. So you know, like I said,
he's gotten me about four or fivetimes. So before you said he
(24:19):
came over Monday night at eleven eleven. Prior to Monday night at eleven,
when's the last time you had sawhim face to face? So on December
twenty fourth, Christmas Christmas Eve,if he went to do a shake my
hand, I pushed him and shovedhim. But we were all posted to
me to my sister's house and hejust robbed me that the day before,
(24:41):
so I was still pretty mad.And then he picked up his kids and
left them. So that was likea family Christmas. Yeah, well,
everyone was going to my sister's house, and you know, I hadn't found
out about that until a few hoursearlier that it was actually him that day.
I mean, I knew it washim when I first went home with
this first way he was missing hiswife's is. At three o'clock, he
(25:02):
said, I'll be right home tohis wife. Three o'clock came, four
o'clock came, five, six,seven, eight o'clock came. His wife
called me. I said, Igot to run home, drop money on
to my girlfriend, and then I'llcome back and I don't know what I'll
do, but I'll be there foryou. I did just that, and
when I got home, I seenthe spot where it was. I went
inside. I said, Babe,did you put that snake in the garage
(25:22):
because it's too heavy and didn't thinkshe'd do it. He's like, no,
I thought you did. I waslike, the fuck it? So
anyway, I know, but himmissing, I know exactly put two and
two together. So the first timeI went to his house, waited for
a little while. Then he calledme in his cell phone and he said,
John, I'm trying to get intouch at everybody, but no one's
answering the phone, Like, Joe, cut the shit. I'm at your
house. Come here now. Iwant my snake back. And he's like,
(25:45):
what snake? What snake? Isaid, Joe, whatever, just
get home. Your kids are crying, wife's crying. Just get home.
He was right around the corner.He came home, and when he got
out of the car, the firstthing he said was I mean, you'd
expect him to say I'm sorry,babe, and I'm missing while he's out.
No, He's like, what isJohn talking about the snake? I
was like, hello, whatever,you know. I said a few words
(26:07):
to him, and his eyes werelike this, you know I know what
he was doing. And I leftand then Christmas Eve came and we had
that altercation and that was it,and I didn't see him toild Monday.
Here's the biggest red flag of all. Joseph had no alibi for the time
Carly went missing, so you know, definitely he was also missing Sunday.
(26:29):
I don't know, you guys wherewe heard that? All right? He
was missing Sunday? What do youwhat do you know about that? He
was missing between I think three andseven, thirty three and eight, and
he lied to three different people.That's the part that I mean. I
haven't know my brother, but ifhe did it, he's gonna rot in
hell because that's pretty shitty to gofor, you know, the little child
(26:51):
he told. Let me see,he told the people that he the stories
that you know of or what hetold the people he was staying with.
He took their car, Mimi andJeff, that's who he's staying with,
because they had problems at home becauseof all his drug shit. He told
them he was going to work.No, he told them he was going
(27:11):
with his wife, I think,and they told his wife that he was
working on someone's car. They toldmy mom they was sitting at Marina Jack's
looking at the water. You know, that's not like my brother. He's
not you know, a sight seerior whatever. So everything was just like,
oh, you know, you didit again, you know, the
hell with you? And those werethe hours he was missing. And then
to see that on TV, youknow Monday, I mean that looks damn
(27:33):
clothes like him he was now Monday. He didn't have a white sneakers though,
he hit on black boots, andI did think that was strange because
I never seen him with black bootson. You know, he usually does
have the white sneakers on, whichin the video he has white sneakers,
which his wife said he was wearingthose white sneakers Sunday morning, and she
also confirmed that he was wearing hismechanic thing. Looks like the police had
the right guy in their crosshairs andhis brother John was spilling the beans.
(27:59):
Granted it was probably because he hadsuch a resentment built up against his brother
after years of repeated thefts, buteither way, John Smith was useful to
police, and he'd proved useful lateron. Also, the tips led police
right to Joseph Smith three days afterCarly disappears. Joseph Smith is arrested at
(28:22):
his house on cocaine possession and aprobation violation. Police believe they have their
man. These charges give them enoughto hold him. Law enforcement pulled up
to Joseph's last known address in anunmarked vehicle and knocked on the door.
Joseph was staying with a friend becauseof his impending divorce. One of the
neighbors indicated there was someone inside thehouse, so an officer knocked. There
(28:48):
was no answer. The officer calledhis supervisor to ask for some instruction,
and the supervisor told him Joseph Smithwas 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
(29:10):
him a few questions regarding his whereaboutsthe day Carly was abducted, and they
searched his room and car Joe actedlike he had no knowledge of the abduction.
Detectives even showed him a still photofrom the CCTV footage as the car
wash, and he replied, thatlooks like me, but it's not me.
(29:30):
You're right, okay, it's beena long day it's been a long
day with you. I've spent along day with you. I know we
went together the whole time, butit's been a long day with you.
This is going to be exactly likeout at your house. Okay, We've
(29:53):
got to sit down and we haveto talk. Certainly, since I've up
to your house, I've been atwork. But just like just like your
house, I want to just talk. You and I have some things to
talk about, okay, because someof the things at the house we got
(30:18):
to get straight. That's the mostimportant thing, okay, in this room,
it's about the truth. Mm hmm. Okay, it's the most important
thing that goes on in this roomis the truth. But we're not at
your house. We're at my house. Okay. And because we're at my
house and you're here, and I'ma law enforcement officer and this is a
(30:41):
police station. Before we can talk, I have to read to your rights.
Have you heard that before? Yeah, Adam twelve and TV and it
was already advised to talk to alawyer who advised you, friend of mine?
When did you invite that? Wonderfulokay, when did that happen?
(31:04):
When did that happen? Well,we talked to Okay, that means you
and I can't talk, should talkto a lawyer. The detective left Joseph
in the interrogation room for about fifteenminutes before returning. It's always a drag
(31:27):
for cops when the suspect of anexceptionally horrible crime decides he needs to speak
with a lawyer. But it's youknow, also his right. In Joseph's
case, he didn't have a lawyeryet. When I came out to you
house, I told you the graveseriousness of my job. The most important
(31:49):
part of my job is to attemptto locate this child. As such,
I am willing to go to anylinks in order to work. Do you
have an attorney right now that Ican contact to come down and talk to
you. Would you like me tocontact the Public Defender's office and have a
lawyer come down and talk with youright now? I'd like to talk to
(32:14):
my family. This is an ongoinginvestigation. I have got to find that
little girl. You have asked andrequest a lawyer. I must provide you
that lawyer, but this investigation hasto go on for it. In order
for this investigation to continue, Ineed you to talk to that lawyer?
(32:37):
Do you have one in mind?Can I contact the Public Defender's office for
you and they can bring a lawyerdown here? Yeah? Would that be
okay? I guess, And youknow, I'd rather talk to my family
see what they will suggest it witha lawyer. Do they have suggestion?
(32:58):
Do they know a lawyer? Sure? My brother, my mother wouldn't know.
Is that a lawyer that you wantto represent you? I know,
I guess that they wouldn't know thedirection would take. I mean, I
don't know. You know, Ididn't give this much thought. You know,
well that's obvious you were caught oncamera. Joseph also had no idea
(33:22):
that his brother had been blabbing upa storm about him. His family would
be of no help at this point. I don't. I mean, you
tell you tell me first that it'ssomething different, and you go into the
house and you tell me something differentthere. I mean, I don't understand
(33:44):
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'tdiscuss this case with you anymore. But
I need to talk. You needto talk because this case has got to
go. It's got to continue.You're the key person as such. I
(34:07):
need to get a lawyer in here, and he is going to sit down
and talk with you, and thenmaybe through him we can talk. Then
again, you won't. You won'ttell me what's going on. I don't
understand. I guess how would Ieven know that? His lawyers from the
Public Defender's office. I have aset of rules that I've sworn to a
(34:30):
bed and like you said, youknow this is a serious thing. I
mean, I was supposed to beclear to this thing. That's not so
simple. When cameras show you committingthe crime, the whole community agrees it
was you, and your alibi doesn'tadd up. Things are not looking good,
(34:52):
Joe. What is the public defendergoing 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 gotta bean. I'm my
contacting Now. Okay, did yousay something? Do you think do you
think that I could smoke up?But it is a federal buildings smoking here,
(35:15):
I mean like outside or something.All right, now you gotta tell
Yeah, we're working. We're workingon right now. I don't need to
talk to you know, my family. See what's cold on, Joe.
Once you have decided to speak toa lawyer, I am under an obligation
(35:37):
to respect that right unless you revokeit and say, take of Davis.
Okay. I want to talk toyou, but you have to do that.
Okay. As such, I can'ttalk to you. You have asked
for a lawyer. I am goingto get you one from the Public Defender's
office. Okay, I can't talkto you. You have requested a What
(36:00):
about my family? Why can't Iquote them? M You can't call them
because they're not part of this mHM. And these are the these are
the people that are telling me toget a lawyer. You know, I
(36:22):
want to I want to talk tomy ANNs or my brother Joe, the
people they give you legal advice.I ain't here, of course I want
to talk to them. It's justa phone call. Let them know what's
going on. And my mom's realconcerned, you know, my brother,
(36:43):
everybody Okay, Yeah, Joe's brotherwas concerned, but he was concerned about
whether or not Joseph had really committedthis horrible crime, because it sure was
looking that way. Once they putJoseph in jail, they set up a
little scheme with his brother John.John knew Joe would never ever confess to
(37:07):
the crime. If it was somethinghe really did, it was so horrible.
This would be a truth that Joewould take to his grave. John
suggested that if someone went to Joeand confessed to crimes that they'd committed that
were similar to the ones Joe wasaccused of, then perhaps maybe he might
(37:29):
be willing to open up about whathe'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'tsay a thing. But on February fifth,
(37:49):
it all came spilling out. Tellme about and I'm talking about today.
Tell me about your first contact withhim, May Smith. Contact today
was the beginning of the shift.We have to feed the inmates normally around
four point thirty, and I handedhim a food tray and a cold beverage
(38:14):
and that was it. What washis mannerisms or did you observe anything about
him? He looked like he wasunder a lot of stress and his eyes
were glassy, like you just gotdone crying. Did he say anything to
you? No, and he gavehim his food and left right. Tell
(38:36):
me about the next contact you hadwith him. The next contact I had
with mister Smith was when I gotback the food tray from him. When
he was done eating. He wasstaring at me in a manner that he
wanted to talk to me and thathe had some things on his mind that
he wanted to talk about. Whenhe handed me to the food t right,
(39:00):
he told me that all that wasgoing on around him was very stressful
and he wanted to end it tonight. While I instructed him that first of
all, I wasn't clear on whathe meant by ending it, if he
wanted to end his life or endthe ongoing investigation. His response was that
(39:22):
he wanted to speak to his attorneysbecause there was just too much going on
in his head and he wanted toget it out of his head now.
He made it clear to me thathe wasn't suicidal and that he wanted to
confess to what was on his mindto his attorneys. Again, he said,
(39:42):
I have to end this tonight.And at this point he was demanding
to see his attorneys. He wasn'thollering, but he was standing up against
the bars talking to me, squeezingthe bars. You could see that,
you know, the frustration in hisforearms, that he wanted to speak to
his attorneys right now. He thensaid that he wanted to put closure to
(40:07):
this tonight. He then stated,I really fucked up. He then he
asked me, Divino, how bigis this right now? Meaning the media
type of thing? And then hesaid, I think I guess he finally
(40:28):
realized that this is all over theplace, meaning it's all over the country
within the news media. Did yourespond to when he asked how big it
was? I told him that there'sflyers around the county because that's what I
witnessed. Joseph then asked the officerif he can have the phones turned back
(40:52):
on, as they'd been turned offfor the night already. He'd done this
before for other inmates, so theofficer greed. Joseph called his brother,
and the officer tried hard to listenin on the conversation. According to the
timeline of events in this case,I'm assuming these Jael house calls weren't recorded
(41:14):
for some reason, and I guessJohn said to mister Smith that Joe,
I can't hear you. I can'thear you can speak up, and Joe's
mister Smith started talking a little louder. I guess there was a big connection
in the phone or there was noisein the background because John could not hear
(41:37):
mister Smith. He then said,she's between two trees, not too far
back. He then said maybe bythe tree line. And then he said
to John. And at this pointhe was very emotional. His eyes were
wading, he was choked up.He said, John, tell mom,
(42:00):
I'm sorry. I was not thinkingright. Please tell Mom, I'm sorry.
Did he hang up or you thinkhe was cut off? No,
he hung up the phone very softlyand walked back through the home. After
his arrest, Smith's brother John visitshim in jail, and later the brothers
(42:20):
talked by phone. Later at thetrial, John Smith testified about those conversations
and against his brother. Did hesay anything about how it ended? I
asked he was to show what doyou mean? What did you ask?
And try to speak up again?Remember you've got she was dead, and
what did he say? I don'tknow she could be John Smith testified,
(42:45):
Joseph told him what he'd done toCarly Brusha and that the body was hidden
near a church. Was there anopen field at the church? Yes?
John Smith tells police where to findCarly Brushaw. February fifth, two thousand
and four. Her body is foundon the grounds of the Central Church of
Christ in Sarasota. The body ofbeautiful love you, old girl, Carly
(43:07):
Yusha has been found. Joseph Smithis under arrest for the abduction and murder
of Carly. Joseph's phone confession detailedthat he had raped Carly in a borrowed
beige station wagon before strangling her anddriving her to a field behind a church
(43:28):
on Proctor Road. In a letterto John, Joe said that he took
Carly's pink backpack and threw it intothe water at Marina Jack in Sarasota.
Later on, Joe had more conversationswith his mother and brother. In one
of them, Joe's mother comforted himby telling him the best thing he could
(43:49):
do was to try to explain itwas an accident. Nice right. Then
she went on to tell him sheknew he would never do something like this
on purpose, but the news mediaand the community were all up in arms
because of the severity of his charges. Joe clarified with his mother, asking
(44:13):
her if she knew what his chargeswere in she said she did. She
also asked him what she should relay. Towards the end, the brothers seemed
to be discussing a plan that wouldhave made them a lot of money.
Here's a later interview of John Smithexplaining what really went down during and after
(44:34):
Joseph's first confession. He told meand he strangled her. You know,
that was what he told me whenthey put me together in a little jail
cell, a little meeting there.And the reason why when I came out,
they said, well, you know, what did he say? What
did he say? Isaiah said nothing, because he told me that he tied
her up, and I thought I'djust drove over there, let it go
(45:00):
like that. But after that hestarted sending me a letter and so forth,
and you know, in his ownadmission, and you know, he
talked to her death. John's admissionis still slightly unclear, so let me
fix that. When Joseph originally confessedto his brother, he seemed to be
under the impression that though he rapedCarly and choked her out. She may
(45:24):
still be alive. Joseph told hisbrother John where he could find the body,
and John planned to drive out thereto untie her, take a photo
of her, and sell it tothe media, then report his findings.
I guess they thought they would makeJohn look like a hero, like a
(45:45):
Batman character. So John did actuallydrive out to the church with intentions to
carry out this ridiculous plan, buthe couldn't find Carly's body. Joseph's mother
and brother seemed to be enablers,even participators. Perhaps that's the reason John
(46:07):
would later testify against his brother attrial, acting as the prosecution's key witness.
When Carly's body was found, shewas of course no longer living.
She wasn't found bound, but herextremities had marking suggesting she had been.
(46:27):
She was found partially undressed, corroboratingJoseph's confession of sexual assault, and they
were marking suggesting Joseph had dragged Carly'sbody to its final resting place on the
ground amidst 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
(46:52):
using drugs or not. He feltentitled to someone else's child for her his
own sexual deviancy, and he jumpedon the first opportunity he saw. Joseph
pleaded not guilty to the charges offirst degree murder, kidnapping, in sexual
(47:13):
battery. He wouldn't go to trialuntil late two thousand and five. In
the meantime, journalists and detectives weredigging up disturbing things in Joseph's past that
should have had him locked up longbefore he saw eleven year old carl Brusha
walking alone on that fateful Super BowlSunday. Thirty nine year old Joseph P.
(47:57):
Smith pleaded not guilty to the crimeshe committed against an innocent child,
eleven year old Carly Brushaw on Februaryfirst, two thousand and four. His
DNA was found on her clothing.Her body showed evidence of strangulation and sexual
assault, and the fibers from thestation wagon Joe was driving were retrieved from
(48:20):
Carly's body. Joseph was unaccounted forduring the exact stretch of time Carly went
missing and was murdered. Joseph hadeven confessed his crimes in many different ways
to his brother and mother. Hespoke with them over the phone, he
wrote letters, and eventually his brotherJohn Smith was called to testify against him.
(48:45):
This was cut and dry. Itretraumatized the community to have to relive
this crime two years later, butthe jury made quick work of the whole
ordeal. You could feel the tensionin the court room. The judge warned
everyone scream or shout and you're tossedout. And then came the verdict,
(49:06):
broadcast across the country. Will thejury find as follows as to count one
of the charges, the defendant isguilty of murder in the first degree as
charged. Carly Bruce's mother broke down, crying and said thank you Jesus.
Carly's father simply nodded in approval.Joseph Smith guilty on all counts. Baylis
to give the ring to take Smithaway when the judge had to slow them
down. I need to just slowdown for one second. Smith will be
(49:30):
back in court a week from Mondaywhen the same jury returns to recommend a
life or death sentence. I willnow be preparing to present further evidence on
November the twenty eighth, and willbe arguing that a sentence of life in
prison without possibility of parole is thebest decision in this case. I almost
one of the most precious things tome in my life because of an animal,
(49:52):
a disgusting, perverted animal. Thejury 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 andhis mother where he admitted killing her.
Joe, the best thignque you coulddo is just try and explain it
(50:12):
with an accident. I know that, Joe. You don't think that I
would do that off as well.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 tokill her. And I'm sure she let
him know that she was only elevenyears old. How could he go through
(50:35):
with it? Carly's family members weren'tthe only ones affected by this horrible crime.
All of Carly's friends and classmates wereon high alert. Joseph's former wives
and children had to deal with theshame of being connected to such a monster
and take this with a grain ofsalt. Given John's involvement in the aftermath
(50:55):
of his brother's crimes, but hesees himself as a victim. Also,
my life, my life crashed,like you have no idea when all this
shit happened, and he's the causeof it. He's the direct cause of
it. You think he cares howmany legs you ruined? He doesn't give
(51:15):
a fuck. All he wants ismoney for her comments are he does not.
He does not give a fuck.I don't think he realizes, you
know what he's done to everybody,But still don't you people realize who he
is. He's a monster. Themoney killed a little kid. And you're
(51:36):
not gonna talk to me because Itestifyed and that's crazy, but that's not
happened. I have no family.None of my family would talk to me.
He's my sister, so not onlymy whole life crash. No family
talks to me. He's been rough, you know, you know, I
die. I don't real hard andthe drugs and the women since this habited
(52:01):
my life, just it just itjust died. I can't explain it.
I testified, I did the rightthing. None of my family talked to
me, only my sister. Nobody, not my end because it won't even
(52:21):
take a Facebook request because I'm arat. You don't talk to cold.
That's bullshit. You know, hedid something wrong, the worst crime you
can do. You murdered, youraped it, you killed a kid.
You know, so how could you? How could you look at me as
a riot? It doesn't even haveany First of all, they didn't even
(52:43):
need me. They had all theevents. Joseph's life was not virtuous,
not before he murdered Carly and notafter. Joseph had already been arrested thirteen
times prior to his final act ofvice violence, and he'd been on probation
nearly constantly since nineteen ninety three,often violating the terms. Joseph's brother believes
(53:09):
Joe may have also been responsible forthe murder of a young woman named Tara
Riley in Bradington, Florida, justfour years before Carly's murder. Tara Riley's
naked body was found in a retentionpond behind a Bradington Walmart in two thousand.
Detectives looked into the case when itoccurred, but it still remains unsolved
(53:34):
to this day. Long story short, Joseph wasn't likely to have any willing
character witnesses to speak on his behalfat sentencing, and a jury swiftly voted
ten to two in favor of thedeath penalty. During his time on death
row, Joseph watched TV, gotsome marriage proposals for some reason. I
(53:55):
don't know what's wrong with you people, and his dear old mother even moved
closer to the prison so she couldvisit him more often. How sweet.
He began writing a fifty nine chaptermanuscript detailing the woes of his life.
Oh boy, can't wait for thaton audible. In it, he blames
(54:15):
all of his transgressions on his druguse. So you, poor little victim,
poor baby, Oh, society shouldbend over backwards to help you.
He and his lovely mother tried toshop the book around to publishers, but
thankfully they weren't interested. At leastsome of the media hasn't gone to complete
(54:35):
shit, not entirely anyway. Josephended up living on death row until twenty
eighteen, when the unthinkable happened.A sun cohost prosecutor says the state will
again see the death penalty for thekiller of Carlis Busha. A four to
three decision by the court Thursday vacatesthe death sentence of Joseph P. Smith,
(54:57):
who was convicted of raping and murderingthe eleven year old on the sun
Coast in two thousand and four.In twenty sixteen, the US Supreme Court
decision vound FDA's death penalty process unconstitutional. The held of being reports juries must
now unanimously agree on critical findings beforejudges can impose death sentences. Carly's father,
Joseph Brusia, calls the vote atravesty. It's one of two things.
(55:21):
It's it's a trend of favoring thecriminals over of the innocent and the
victims. Or is it just,you know, more way for attorneys to
make billible hours, Because it certainlydoesn't make any sense. I mean,
it's a fellest thing from justice thatcomes to my mind. The David Smith's
new penalty phase has not yet beenannounced, but Brushes says he will be
(55:44):
attending alongside family. Two years later, Joseph's death penalty status was reinstated.
Then, on July twenty sixth,twenty twenty one, Joseph Smith passed away
at Union Directional Institution in Rayford.He was fifty five years old. Carly
(56:06):
Brusha was a little girl who likedclassic 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 thesurfaces of the furniture in her bedroom.
And she was an innocent little girl, so full of excitement for life.
(56:30):
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. A memorial
(56:52):
garden was set up for the belovedCarly, and it sits behind the Central
Church of Christ at the spot whereher body was recovered. Carly's ashes were
built into the memorial site itself.Unfortunately, Carly's mother, Susan Shorpen,
(57:15):
passed away in twenty seventeen, andsince then reports seemed to suggest that Carly's
memorial has fallen into disarray. Thoughthis was a case that law enforcement in
the community seemed to come together inperfect harmony to solve, it was a
case that really never should have happened. An innocent eleven year old girl made
(57:39):
the impulsive decision to walk home,and there are monsters out there. She
unfortunately encountered one of them, anevil adult man who had his own impulses,
his own deviant mind, and zeroself control. Like a wild animal
(58:04):
waiting in the forest for slowly movingprey, Joseph spotted Carly and attacked.
All right, that does it.Go check out episode three shres iverson Swordscale
(58:27):
Television. It's one of the bestones we've done so far. I mean
it really made me physically ill.Go check it out and stay safe.
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