Child abduction murders rare

2-8-2004 National:

The average victim of child abduction and murder is an 11-year-old girl considered a low-risk, "normal" child from a middle-class neighborhood. She has a stable family relationship. And her initial contact with an abductor occurs within a quarter-mile of her home.
That description is from a seminal study by the Washington State Attorney General's Office. And it could be a description of Carlie Brucia, the Sarasota girl whose body was found early Friday a short distance from the carwash where a surveillance camera recorded her abduction on Feb 1. Joseph Smith, 37, a mechanic with a lengthy arrest record, is charged with kidnapping and murder.

Child abduction experts say that in 74% of cases in which a child is abducted and killed, the child is dead within three hours of the abduction.

"When this happens, (the victims) aren't being taken and driven around in a car for a couple of weeks," says Joe Weis, professor of sociology at the University of Washington and a co-author of the Washington study. "The abductors are very typically killing them in a very short period of time."

Experts are quick to point out that the overwhelming majority of child abductions end with the victim being safely returned home. Child abduction murders are "pretty rare compared to the total number of reported missing kids," Weis says. "People are probably more afraid and concerned than the numbers would reflect."

The videotaped images of Carlie's abduction, and the apparent ease with which her captor was able to take her, struck dread in the hearts of many parents across the nation. The Web site of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which gets about 400,000 parental requests for information on an average day, got about 2 million on Friday.

Experts say the visceral public reaction is understandable given the circumstances. "I really think this case has hit a nerve," center president Ernie Allen says. "And I really think that is a result of the video {ndash}{ndash} the average American sitting at home watching their television and seeing how easy it was for this character to take this child."

In Sarasota, the case has hit the public especially hard. During the weekend, dozens of mourners left flowers, stuffed animals and notes at the small ranch house where the 11-year-old sixth-grader lived with her mother, stepfather and brother, 6. A circuit court judge who handled Smith's recent probation hearings says he has received death threats from people outraged that Smith was on probation after a history of arrests.

A public memorial service for Carlie is planned Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. outside Central Church of Christ, near where the girl's body was found.

About 800,000 children are reported missing each year, and about 58,200 of these involve non-family abductions, according to the U.S. Department of Justice's most recent assessment of missing children. About 115 of these are the most serious kind, in which the abductor intends to keep the child permanently, the child is gone overnight, is killed, transported 50 miles or more, or is ransomed. One-third of the most serious cases result in the child being killed, the October 2002 study found.

"That's a terrible number, but a larger number do not end with the death of a child," Allen says. "You don't have to live in fear. You don't have to be paralyzed by fear. But you need to be cautious and prepared."

The Washington State Attorney General's Office study, which examined more than 600 child abduction murder cases between 1993 and 1997, found that when an abducted child is killed, it happens within 24 hours 94% of the time.

"That is true," Allen says. "But it's also important to point out that we do recover children after days and weeks and months and even years.

"It is very much a function of what the abductor's motivations are. The overwhelming majority (of non-family abductions) are sexual, and all sex offenders are not child killers."

Allen also points out that "Amber Alerts," in which the public is instantly notified about child abductions, are now used in many places. And they have led to the safe recovery of 123 children. All 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico now have clearinghouses for sharing information on missing children.

Meanwhile, Carlie's family wants the state to investigate how it was that Smith was free. The convicted drug felon was on probation despite a long criminal history.

"I really find the decision made by some of these judges very questionable," said Joe Brucia, Carlie's father. "I would ask the governor to look into this." ..more.. by Larry Copeland, USA TODAY