NASA Helping In Search For Girl

Law enforcement officials have asked NASA to help them solve the kidnapping of 11-year-old Carlie Brucia in Sarasota, Fla. The space agency is trying to enhance the images taken from a car-wash surveillance camera that showed the child's apparent abduction on Sunday.

Major Kevin Gooding of the Sarasota County Sheriff's Department says they are hoping to get a clear image of the white man in his late 20s to early 30s, who grabbed Carlie's forearm. She was led away from the rear of Evie's Car Wash, 4735 Bee Ridge Road, in Sarasota, while she was walking home from a friend's house.

Gooding says, "Initial enhancement that was done showed that there were tattoos on both of his forearms. It was not clear enough for us to be able to tell exactly what those tattoos were... But that is the type of thing that we will want to be able to focus in on. Obviously, that will help us with our investigation."

Also important in the investigation is the uniform the man was wearing. Gooding notes, "Most of us are familiar with that type of a uniform when you go to your...car service place. That's the type of uniform you usually see a mechanic wearing. We're finding through this investigation there are a variety of people that may wear that type of uniform. The origin, the maker, or the person or the company that provides those uniforms to what company or operation is of importance to us. We are looking into that."

The Sarasota police issued an Amber Alert for the 11-year-old on Sunday. Police do not believe the child knows the man who can be seen leading her away.

The sheriff's department is working with the FBI, state law enforcement authorities and the Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Though no suspects have been identified, Gooding tells The Early Show on Wednesday, "As of this morning, we are at lead 262."

If you have any information about Carlie's disappearance, please call the national hotline at 1-888-382-6237. The award has been raised from $25,000 to $50,000.

Robert Hagemann, the principal at McIntosh Middle School, where Carlie is a sixth grader says, "The students have become very courageous. They have invested their time in making posters, writing cards. Actually, anticipating a timely close to the case and a celebration of her return."

None of the kids have offered suggestions about what they think might have happened, Hagemann notes and points out, "We've asked them not to speculate. Just to continue to celebrate who this young lady is in their life and to prepare for her return. So we've placed a watch on them and closely monitored the mood of campus."

Hagemann describes Carlie as animated, bright and caring individual. He says, "She's well liked by staff and students. She's a good member of this community, a typical young teenage girl that every family, every school would like to have on their campus or in their home."

In an interview Tuesday on The Early Show, Carlie's mother, Susan Schorpen, said Carlie looks older than she actually is, "She's got bright blue eyes. Her hair was, like, on the dirty blonde side. She's approximately five feet tall. She doesn't look like she's an 11-year-old. She appears to be older. She's a little built. Weighs about 115 to 120 pounds," Schorpen says.

The camera behind a car wash caught Carlie being led away Sunday evening by a white male in his late 20s or early 30s, the Sarasota County Sheriff's office said.

Hoping someone may have seen her daughter, Schorpen told co-anchor Hannah Storm how her daughter came to disappear: "She was at a friend's house. She had spent the night for a sleepover. She decided she wanted to come home. She started to walk home. One of my girlfriends saw her, called me. I sent my husband to pick her up. It was in a few minutes and she was abducted."

After looking for 15 minutes and not finding any sign of Carlie, Susan's husband, Steven Kansler, picked up Susan so they could search for Carlie together. After searching for over an hour in bushes and neighbors' yards, the couple went home and called 911.

After watching the surveillance tape, Carlie's father, Joe Brucia, says, "I was horrified." Schorpen points out it should have taken Carlie no more than 15 minutes to walk home.

Though officers started their search for her on Sunday evening, they did not receive the videocamera's record until Monday afternoon, sheriff's officials said. At that point, they issued an Amber Alert.

Officers were searching the neighborhood when the car wash's owner offered to check the tape from the motion-activated camera, Sgt. Chuck Lesaltato said.

The video caught the man walking up to Carlie, talking to her for a few seconds, then grabbing her forearm and leading her away, Lesaltato said.

Police said Carlie didn't seem to know the man, nor did her mother recognize him.

"By my daughter's body language, her facial expressions, her body movements, I do not believe she knows this man, Susan Schorpen says. "She did not go with him willingly."

To the man on the tape, she says, "You need to let my daughter go. My daughter needs to come home."

Indeed, it appears that Carlie raises her hands in frustration on the video. Susan Schorpen points out, "She appears very angry, to me. And the way this man approaches her, with the angle of the camera, you can't exactly see what is going on. You don't know what he's saying.

"I believe that he has either a gun, or a knife, or threatened her with something. You see my daughter jerk when he grabs her. You can see her body language, the way her face is going, the way her mouth is going. She's telling this person to leave her alone. I'm pleading to somebody out there that has seen my daughter. This is at 6:20 at night. It's light out. It's right behind the car wash."