Joseph Smith Wiki
Joseph Smith Biography
Who was Joseph Smith?
According to the state Attorney General’s Office, Joseph Smith, who was convicted of killing 11-year-old Carlie Brucia in 2004, died in prison Monday.
The cause of death is unknown. He was 39 when he committed a crime Sarasota will never forget.
How old was Joseph Smith?
He was 55 years old.
Carlie Brucia Murder
In 2004, Smith abducted Carlie Brucia while she was walking home from a friend’s house in Sarasota. Four days later, and after Smith’s confession, Brucia’s body was found near a pile of concrete blocks behind a church. She was strangled and raped.
According to the newspaper, surveillance footage showed Brucia walking behind a car wash when Smith grabbed her.
Death warrant
Smith was awaiting sentencing at the time of his death on Monday. The Bradenton Herald-Tribune reported that the Florida Supreme Court ordered his new sentencing in May, months after ruling that the overturned death sentences could not be retroactively reinstated.
Joseph Smith died
Florida officials said a man who had previously been sentenced to death for kidnapping, raping and killing an 11-year-old girl in 2004 died in prison Monday.
The Bradenton Herald-Tribune reported that it is unclear how 55-year-old Joseph Smith died, but the medical examiner’s office will conduct an autopsy to determine the cause of death.
Bruce family statement
Bruce’s father told the Bradenton Herald-Tribune that he learned of Smith’s death Monday morning. The news outlet reported that Brucia’s mother died of a heroin overdose in 2017.
WWSB reported that Smith was considered a suspect in the 2000 murder of Tara Reilly, 25, who was found naked in a pond behind a Walmart in Bradenton. Smith’s brother told the Bradenton Herald-Tribune that he believes Smith killed the woman.
“I wish it had been a man and he would have confessed,” Smith’s brother told the news outlet Monday. “He never truly confessed, I don’t think, about Carlie, and he didn’t confess about Tara.
She died a coward, that’s all.
Reilly’s case remains unsolved.
