The ex-wife of suspected child killer Joseph Smith believes he kidnapped and murdered 11-year-old Carlie Brucia in Florida and hopes the ex-con gets the death penalty if he’s found guilty.
“I believe it was him,” ex-wife Julie Streeter told the TV program “Inside Edition.”
When Streeter was asked if Smith should be executed, she replied: “Yes, I do. That is the most disgusting, heinous crime anybody could ever commit.”
Streeter, 29, said her troubled union with Smith was short-lived. The pair married in 1994, lived in Sarasota and filed for divorce two years later.
“He didn’t hit me. He hit the walls,” said Streeter, 29. “I was throwing things, he was throwing things. It just got violent at that time.”
Streeter told “Inside Edition” she knew her ex-husband was the man in the surveillance video once his mug shot was released.
“The way he walks, his haircut. It just looks like him,” she said.
Streeter speculated Smith’s limits were tested the day Brucia was abducted when she heard of a report that his current wife asked him for a divorce the same day.
“He would lose his mind,” Streeter said. “He would probably lose his mind and do something stupid. Very stupid.”
Streeter has remarried and lives in central Florida.
“My love, my heart goes out to Carlie’s family,” she said.
She added she plans to remove a tattoo Smith needled onto her thigh 10 years ago.
It reads, “Forever in my heart … Love, Joe.”
Meanwhile, Carlie Brucia’s father defended Florida authorities in Sarasota yesterday, saying they “acted responsibly” while looking for his daughter.
Critics say Sarasota police could have saved the 11-year-old girl from the killer’s clutches if they had immediately instituted an Amber Alert. Brucia told reporters otherwise.
“There’s been some criticism as far as the Amber Alert and I don’t feel that way,” Brucia told Miami’s Local 10 TV station.
“I think they acted responsibly. I don’t think it would have helped my daughter.”
Brucia noted officials can’t constantly employ the Amber Alert system, saying, “I think if it’s used too often it will become ineffectual.”
Investigators apparently listed Brucia as a runaway when she first disappeared and waited until the next day before issuing the Amber Alert.
The Central Church of Christ, which sits near the wooded area where Brucia’s body was found, will hold an outdoor memorial service for Carlie this evening.
Her funeral is scheduled for Thursday, a family friend said.
With Post Wire Services