The Georgia suspect's attorneys say the teen was influenced by the prominence of Carlie Brucia's Sarasota abduction.
By COLLEEN JENKINS
Published October 14, 2004
NEW PORT RICHEY - When 15-year-old Ashley Schuering felt someone grab her off her bike last March, all she could think of was Carlie Brucia, the Sarasota girl who was abducted while she was walking home from a sleepover one month before.
"I needed to get away. I didn't want to get in his car," Schuering told jurors Wednesday. "That if I got in that car, I'd probably be raped and killed."
She next thought of the lesson her dad had taught her while watching news reports of Brucia's abduction and subsequent death.
Bad things happen to everyday people, he told her. Don't let it happen to you.
So, just 5 feet from being pulled into her would-be abductor's blue Mercury Topaz, Schuering pushed him away.
As he fell backward, she ran for her bike and pedaled to her cousin's home nearby.
Schuering recounted these events during the first day of Harold H. Carroll's trial on a kidnapping charge. Carroll, the man Schuering described as "scruffy and bug-eyed," faces life in prison if convicted.
On Wednesday, his defense attorneys questioned the teen's account of what happened the afternoon of March 15 as she rode her bike down Sea Ranch Drive in Hudson toward a babysitting job.
They suggested the story had changed several times and might have been influenced by the prominence the Brucia case had in the Schuering home.
"The evidence is going to show that she panicked and got scared, and she blew this whole thing out of proportion," said attorney Hans Grieble.
Grieble said Carroll, 56, was visiting from Temple, Ga., and looking for property to buy. He bought a boat instead and went to Dollar General for a carload of house supplies the afternoon of March 15.
Witnesses for the state said those supplies included duct tape and rope, which prosecutors believe Carroll would have used on Schuering if he'd had the chance.
Schuering, who has appeared on Oprah Winfrey's show to discuss her experience, said she was waiting to cross Sea Ranch Drive when the older man came from behind and grabbed her left arm.
As he pulled her 27 feet to his car, he calmly said he wanted to bring her to his boat at Hudson Beach, Schuering testified.
"He told me that I had nice legs," she said, fighting back tears.
Grieble argued that Carroll never got out of his car. He questioned how it was possible for no one to have heard or seen Schuering screaming and struggling with his client, as she claimed.
Jurors also heard from Scott Schuering, who went looking for Carroll after racing home from work to find his daughter in tears and with a red handprint on her arm.
The father found a blue car parked in front of Hudson Beach Inn. It had yellow Dollar General bags in the back seat, just as Ashley had described.
Deputies found Carroll inside the car and arrested him. Shortly after, Scott Schuering drove his daughter to the beach to identify Carroll from behind tinted windows.
"That's the man, Dad," she told him.
Closing arguments and a verdict are expected today.
Colleen Jenkins covers courts in west Pasco County. She can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6236 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6236. Her e-mail address is cjenkins@sptimes.com
