Man who raped and murdered 11-year-old Carlie Brucia dies in Florida prison

(The AEGIS Alliance) – The monster of a man that in 2004 murdered aged 11 little girl Carlie Brucia, after kidnapping and then raping her, was found dead while locked up at a Florida penitentiary.

55-year-old Joseph Smith was found dead on Monday on Death Row at the Union Correctional Institution, situated in Raiford, around 45 miles southwest of Jacksonville, the Florida Department of Corrections verified to the Miami Herald but did not release additional information.

The way Smith died is still unclear until an autopsy has been completed.

“While nothing can bring back Carlie, we are grateful that her family, her friends, and the entire Sarasota community will finally have closure and will not have to endure any further court proceedings to bring Smith to justice,” State Attorney Ed Brodsky, that was informed of Smith’s fatality by the Florida Attorney General’s office, pointed out to the Miami Herald.

A Sarasota car wash’s security video recorded Smith’s kidnapping of Carlie on February 1, 2004, that happened to be on Super Bowl Sunday while she was walking back to her residence from her friend’s house.

Smith raped and then murdered Carlie, the girl’s body was discovered 4 days after Smith admitted to the crime.

Joseph Smith had been found guilty in November 2005 of the kidnapping, rape, as well as murder of Carlie, then in March of 2006, he was given a death sentence.

The death penalty had been vacated in April of 2018, just to be reinstated later on.

Although Smith had been scheduled to be resentenced in the case, there was a ruling in late 2020, in Florida Supreme Court’s State v. Okafor as well as State v. Jackson, that an earlier vacated death penalty is unable to be reinstated retroactively.

Kyle James Lee – The AEGIS Alliance – This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.