Video Camera Catches Girl's Abduction
S A R A S O T A, Fla., Feb. 3 -- A $25,000 reward is being offered for any information that leads to the recovery of 11-year-old Carlie Brucia, the young girl whose abduction was caught on a car wash surveillance camera Sunday.
The Sarasota County Sheriff's office announced the reward, which has been provided by a private corporation, at an afternoon press conference today.
Authorities have received in excess of 100 phone calls from individuals with tips since the Amber Alert was announced. The sheriff's office said the tips were general in nature, adding that their best lead is still the security video.
The grainy video shows Brucia being led away by a white male in his late 20s or early 30s at about 6:20 p.m. Sunday, according to police.
An FBI agent and an officer from Florida's State Police Department have joined the Sarasota County Sheriff's office in the investigation. Authorities said they are concentrating on enhancing the surveillence video they received from the car wash, in hopes of getting a better look at the man who led Brucia away.
While the Sarasota sheriff's office says they have no concrete leads in the case other than the video, authorities said they were looking into one call they received from a tipster in Kissimmee, Fla. They said the caller reported a struggle between a man and a young girl in a red shirt and blue jeans, the outfit Brucia was wearing when she was last seen. The Kissimmee caller said the young girl was trying to get away from the man in a store parking lot around 5:50 a.m. this morning, according to authorities.
The missing girl's father, Joseph Brucia, said he believes that someone must have seen something that would help police find his daughter when she was abducted near the car wash Sunday.
The car wash is part of a complex that includes a miniature golf course, a driving range and an ice cream parlor.
"There were people less than 300 feet away from the abduction," Joseph Brucia said. "There were people here. It was in daylight."
