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ALEX LEARYAshley Schuering's father told her after the Carlie Brucia killing to "go down fighting" if someone grabs her.
HUDSON - Ashley Schuering was on her bike, headed to her cousin's house to babysit. She was waiting to cross Sea Ranch Drive when a man suddenly came up behind her and grabbed her left arm above the elbow. He dragged the 15-year-old toward his car.
"You have nice legs," he said. "I have a boat anchored at the beach."
Ashley froze, not sure what to do besides scream. And then, just five feet from the man's car, she remembered what her dad had told her.
Fight.
If "somebody comes up to you," he always said, "fight - go down fighting. Don't give up at all." He preached that lesson again when he made her watch the video of Carlie Brucia being led away in Sarasota without struggle by a man authorities say later killed the 11-year-old.
With her father's words in her head Monday afternoon, Ashley jerked free. She turned to the attacker and pushed him in the chest with all her might. The man, who Ashley said seemed drunk, stumbled and nearly fell. Ashley ran to her bike. "I pedaled as fast as I could."
When she reached her cousin's house, Ashley hid the bike and got behind a truck. She watched as the man drove toward U.S. 19 in a blue car, then ran inside, sure he hadn't seen her. Her cousin called for help.
Scott Schuering, 41, raced home from work to find his daughter in tears but otherwise unharmed. He told Pasco County sheriff's deputies that he would look for the suspect at Hudson Beach because he could go undetected.
A blue car was parked in front of Hudson Beach Inn.
"My first instinct was go pound on him," Schuering said Tuesday. "But I thought in that case I'd be going to jail and he'd be getting away." Schuering used his cell phone to call the deputies.
When they arrived, deputies found a man in the car, a cup of beer in one hand and five feet of rope in the other. Duct tape was also found inside the vehicle, according to a sheriff's report.
Harold H. Carroll, 56, was arrested on a charge of attempted kidnapping and possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. Before Circuit Judge William Webb on Tuesday afternoon, Carroll, speaking in a thick Southern drawl, said he was not guilty. Webb told him that it was not an arraignment and a plea would have to come later.
Webb set bail at $500,000 on the attempted kidnapping charge.
Ashley was taken to the scene Monday evening and identified Carroll as the man who tried to abduct her, the Sheriff's Office said.
Carroll is from Temple, Ga., but spent the past few weeks with a friend who lives on Sea Ranch Drive, within walking distance of the Schuering home.
Carroll told a deputy that he invited Ashley to visit his boat and ride his personal watercraft. He initially said he knew Ashley and she had been to his house but then changed his story, according to the report, and said he had only seen her walk past the house.
Records show Carroll had been arrested several times in Georgia for aggravated assault, abandonment and simple battery.
Norman Sailers, who owns the home Carroll was staying at, said his friend of 25 years had come to Pasco County to buy property. Sailers said Carroll buys homes, spruces them up and then resells them. He also said Carroll likes to drink and made regular stops at local bars. He said Carroll arrived with about $15,000 in cash but spent about half on a boat, personal watercraft, golf clubs, furniture and other items. In between looking for homes, Carroll visited yard sales in search of more stuff.
The friends went house hunting Monday and returned home that afternoon. Sailers said they had a disagreement - "He just talks trashy all the time, and I just got mad with him." - and Carroll got his strongbox and suitcase and said he was going to stay on his boat.
About 4:30 p.m., authorities say, Carroll stopped his Mercury Topaz at Sea Ranch Drive and Frances Avenue and approached Ashley Schuering.
Safe at home Tuesday afternoon, the freshman forward on the Hudson High School soccer team sat close to her father, her 11-year-old sister Alicia nearby. Confident and talkative, Ashley reflected on the turn of events and her decision to fight back - which made her popular with the boys at school Tuesday. "They said, "Yeah, you kicked butt.' "
"It could have turned out a lot worse," Ashley said. "I could not be sitting here today with my family and having dinner and all that normal stuff."
- Staff writer Richard Raeke and researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this report. Alex Leary can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6247, or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6247. His e-mail address is leary@sptimes.com