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SARASOTA - A man told deputies he heard a scream at a Sarasota car wash about the time an 11-year-old girl was kidnapped. A woman reported a freshly dug hole with a shovel nearby. A man told investigators about a pair of discarded jeans, size six, found near the Gandy Bridge.
Those were some of the nearly 800 tips investigators received after Carlie Brucia disappeared on Feb. 1. Her kidnapping, captured by a surveillance camera at Evie's Car Wash in Sarasota, was played and replayed on national television and prompted calls as far away as Ohio, Minnesota and Texas.
Authorities released 619 pages of tip sheets on Tuesday as part of their case against Joseph P. Smith, accused of the kidnapping and slaying of Carlie.
It's hard to know which tips helped investigators as they searched for Carlie and her killer because the records are heavily redacted and authorities and prosecutors have declined to discuss their case in detail.
But the records show that caller after caller said the man who grabbed Carlie on the surveillance tape looked, dressed and walked like Smith, with at least two saying they were "100 percent sure" it was him.
Smith's attorney, public defender Adam Tebrugge, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
The records also are a testament to how much suspicion and fear rippled through the community after Carlie's kidnapping. People called to suggest their co-workers, neighbors, ex-husbands, stepfathers and local panhandlers were possibly responsible for Carlie's disappearance.
Carlie was last seen leaving the home of a friend at 6:16 p.m. Feb. 1 on Super Bowl night. The kidnapping was captured on tape at 6:21 p.m. as Carlie walked along the rear of the car wash.
While investigators searched for the blond sixth-grader, people across the country called thinking they had seen her - asking for quarters with a man in an Ohio Save-A-Lot, wearing only a sweater and pants in freezing Wisconsin and holding a man's hand at a Texas medical center.
Several psychics called, one suggesting Carlie's body was in a local pond, another saying she was in a storage locker with duct tape. One caller from New York had a dream that Carlie was still alive, and promised to e-mail a map of where she was held.
Around Sarasota, all strangers became suspect. One caller reported a person in an old green station wagon videotaping in front of the house. Another said the man in the kidnapping video was eating alone at Cici's Pizza near U.S. 41 in Sarasota.
Others offered their services. A graphic designer in Tampa called to say he had downloaded and enhanced images from the surveillance video and had more detailed information about the suspect's tattoos. Wal-Mart called to offer the photo enhancement resources of its marketing department. On Feb. 3, Smith was arrested for violating his probation on drug charges. While in jail, Smith told an undisclosed source that he abducted and killed Carlie, according to an arrest report. The source was able to lead investigators to Carlie's body near a church in Sarasota, and Smith was charged in her death.
The records released Tuesday show that several people called authorities and offered Smith's name. Others called to tell investigators any number of details about Smith's life - where he rented a storage shed, who his stepfather was, where he worked as a mechanic and who his friends were.
"The suspect from the abduction looked just like a person she knows," a tip report from Feb. 3 said. "The person's name is "Joe Smith... ' "
Another caller on Feb. 3 "stated emphatically that guy on video was definitely Joe Smith."
The next day, another caller said she was "100 percent sure suspect is Joe Smith because Joe did a tattoo on her stomach."
Smith remains jailed on charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping and sexual battery.