Transcript of Her Last Call

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I just love this ring. This was the beginning of Denise and I. This ring was the first gift I ever gave Denise. It was less than a month after we started dating. It's got a heart on it with a really tiny stone in the middle. It's kind of hard to imagine that this $40 ring ultimately was one of the biggest pieces of evidence in the whole case. It takes me back to the happy times, but at the same time, it does take me back to the worst day of my life.

I know, I don't know where mommy is.

Northport Emergency.

I just got home from work and my wife, I can't find her.

She's never done this before?

No, no, no, no, no.

A Northport man came home and found his two young children, both under the age of 3, home alone and his wife missing. Denise Lee's husband reported her missing and the massive search was underway.

21-year-old mother of two been missing since mid-afternoon.

Denise Amber Lee disappeared from her home home around 3:30 in the afternoon on January 17th.

Authorities are still calling it an active investigation.

Take me back to that day. What do you remember about getting up and getting going that morning?

Typically in the morning, I, I would try to be as quiet and ninja-like as possible, getting ready for work and leaving because Denise, as soon as she would wake up, she'd be awake. I was working a bunch of different jobs and just trying to make sure that she could stay home with the boys. Started my shift, 7:00 AM to 11:00 AM, and the brief conversation, I'll remember it like it was yesterday, a nice cold front came through Florida in January, so it got down to like the low 70s. And so I'm like, "Open up the house, turn off the AC so we can save money." And she's like, OK, I'll do that.

I was going to invite them over to eat. Maybe once a week we would try to do that. And I remember trying to call there, just say, hey, you guys want to come over? And never got an answer.

My shift ended at 3 o'clock. I had a 25-minute drive home. And I called her a total of 7 times. And she didn't answer.

Was that unusual?

That was weird. I started getting a little nervous that something wasn't right. I pulled in the driveway. But the windows were shut. I opened the door, and the first thing I noticed was how hot it was in the house. I walked in the front door, put my phone and keys down on the chair, and noticed her cell phone sitting on the top of the couch. The AC was off, and so I turned that on, and I noticed her purse and keys sitting on the counter.

But no sign of Denise.

No sign of Denise. Everything looked normal. And that's when I heard Noah starting to wake up from a nap, but it was coming out of Adam's bedroom. And so I walked in there, and they were both in the same crib.

Is that typical?

That was not— that was not normal. Pick up Noah, and he's immediately asking me, "Where's Mommy? Where's Mommy? Where's Mommy?" I literally walked in every room of the house, and she wasn't anywhere. I didn't know what else to do, and I called 911.

Northport Emergency.

Yes, I'm at LaTour Avenue. I just got home from work and my wife, I can't find her. My kids were in the house and I don't know where she is. I've looked every single place and I don't know.

How old are your kids, sir?

My oldest is 2 and my youngest is 6 months. No, I know, I don't know where mommy is.

Her vehicle's in the driveway?

Yes.

Does she have any medical conditions?

No.

Her purse is here. I don't— her cell phone is here. I don't—

I don't know.

I don't know.

Okay, what is her name?

Denise.

Yes.

Oui. Oui.

There's little video clips of her at the park with the— pushing Noah in the swing, her giggling. That was her. You know, that was Denise all the time with the kids.

I got you.

Ready, Daddy?

I'm ready.

You ready?

She was a stay-at-home mom. She was, like, all about her boys and her family.

Noah, you ready?

Whoa!

What was she like as a mom juggling two little boys?

Selfless is the number one word. She put them first for everything. Patience. I don't think I ever heard her raise her voice at them.

Wana.

Wana smile.

I remember Sitting back and just going, wow, you know, she's an amazing human.

Denise was pretty young, 21-year-old young mom. Tell me about her life at that point.

Oh, she loved being a mom. You know, her family meant everything to her. She was so proud of her kids and, you know, Nathan. They were her life.

She looks so happy.

Yeah, that's her with, Noah and Adam. They look— they're like they're about the same size there.

They do look about the same size.

They're 18 months apart.

They look like the happy family right here. Mm-hmm. Take me back to the time when you met, those teen years.

She was a senior in high school. I was a sophomore. She was a sophomore technically in college. She was super crazy smart and was taking college courses already.

She was a brainiac and was very smart.

Denise's dad, Rick Goff, had been a longtime detective with the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office at the time.

Rick Goff is a legend at the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office. He's been here a long time. I felt like I just had an instant friendship with Rick, kind of guys cut from the same cloth. Cops, cops.

Is that Rick?

Yes.

Oh, my goodness.

Yeah.

What was it about her that attracted you?

She was beautiful, funny, goofy. As we started dating and got to know each other better, the thing that I loved about her the most was how she looked at me.

Nathan remembers that Denise was just 17 when she first spoke to him and the two went out on a date.

I wanted to take her somewhere special, 'cause if she was the one, I wanted it to be memorable, and I kind of already knew. Like, it was weird. I kind of already knew.

You already knew that age?

I think so.

So you started dating, and pretty soon it's February, Valentine's Day. How did you mark the occasion?

Valentine's Day was not even a month after our first date, and so we went to the mall, and we came up with this plan to not go over $40. Like, that was our cap. She found a ring. It had a heart on it with a little stone in the middle. That turned out to be the most special thing, her prized possession.

Soon you're talking marriage.

We weren't talking marriage until we found out that somebody was gonna be coming into this world.

I remember finding out, like, she was pregnant, and I was kind of shocked 'cause she was, like, really young.

She was really happy that day. I don't think she stopped smiling the whole day.

We had Noah about 5 months later, and then Adam was born another 18 months later.

That's a quick family.

Yeah, we didn't waste any time. We had no money, but we didn't care, and we were madly in love.

Then January 17th, 2008, everything changes.

Have you checked the residence?

Yes. Every closet, every room, bathroom, everywhere.

It was like she evaporated.

She wouldn't have left them kids for nothing.

We knew she didn't leave on her own free will.

North Port is a great little town. It's a beautiful city. The neighborhood that Denise and her husband lived in was just a typical small family Florida neighborhood.

It is a very family-friendly place. It's a place where families go to raise children, and it's a place where people go to feel safe.

How did they wind up moving to Northport?

They were looking for a house to rent, and they saw that one and liked it.

And it was a brand-new house. Never been lived in, cheap. It was pretty cheap.

Back then, the recession was hitting, and there was a ton of empty houses for rent. And we found a 3-bedroom, 2-bath for, like, $500 a month. And it was in a beautiful area, all pine trees. Pine trees, wooded area, very secluded, which we thought was a good thing. Being in our own house was really special. It was like, okay, we're a real family. But we loved it. We loved the house.

But on January 17th, 2008, that house is at the center of a missing persons investigation.

Have you checked the residence?

No.

The entire residence?

Yeah, I checked the entire house, yes. Every closet, every room, bathroom, everywhere.

Are the children okay?

Yes, well, my youngest one's crying, but they're okay. Okay. Oh, my kids.

All right, Nathan, I have an officer en route for you. If she does return home by the time we get their calls back, let us know, okay?

Okay.

All right, thank you.

Thank you.

Bye-bye.

My name is Chris Morales, and I am the Deputy Chief of Police for the Northport Police Department.

But at that time, you were?

At the time, I was a detective, with the agency in the Major Crimes Unit.

You get this call that Denise Lee is missing.

I got a notification from my sergeant and said, "Hey, I need you two to go out to LaTorre Avenue in reference to a missing female." 10-4.

Thin build, approximately 5'2", dirty blonde hair, blue eyes, £110.

Photos were disseminated out throughout the department to members on their computers and who to be out on the lookout for at that time.

Do you just wait for the police? Do you call anybody else?

Yeah, so as soon as I got off the phone with 911, I called Denise's dad.

Who happens to be a detective.

Rick always, when he answers the phone, he just starts talking. And the first thing Rick asked me, I'll never forget it. And I can't imagine what this must have felt like from his standpoint. He asked me, "Do you guys want to come over for dinner tonight?" And I'm like, "Rick, I— we can't. I don't know where Denise is." And he's like, "What do you mean by that?" Did you immediately become concerned?

Yes.

Why?

Because he said she wasn't around and the two boys were there home alone when he got home. Absolutely.

And then he went into cop mode. Is there any signs of forced entry? Is there blood anywhere? You know, and I'm like, "Rick, no, it's like she evaporated." And I felt better after talking to him because I knew if anybody was going to find where Denise was, it was him.

And then I take off straight to Northport to their house and had to get a hold of my wife.

I didn't know what to think. I had no idea what could have happened.

So very quickly, Denise's mom arrives to take Noah and Adam home. They had taped off the house. Crime scene was there.

I brought them home with me. Adam was only 6 months old. She was still nursing him. I had a friend go to the store, get formula, because I knew it was going to be time for him to eat. He was hungry. They were my focus.

Now, when you first go out there, I would imagine you've got to rule out the husband.

Any investigator knows that when you have something of suspicion when it comes to a domestic, a husband and wife, that you're going to be on hypervigilant of wanting to focus on that person, right?

Cars from the Northport Police Station are soon on the scene, and Nathan says one of the officers starts to hone in on him.

And I understand it. You watch a lot of these types of shows, and it's always the husband. But luckily, Denise's dad arrived, and that changed everything. They respected his authority. This was his daughter, and this investigation ramps up very quickly.

First thing, they go, "Well, maybe she went with somebody else, you know, her and Nathan haven't talked." I go, "Absolutely not." Nathan was her life. There's no way she would go off and leave them kids at home like this. I know 100% me there's something wrong.

Everything we have for Brandon—

There are multiple law enforcement agencies involved. Who's taking the lead?

Northport's taking the lead on it 'cause it's in their jurisdiction, but Detective Morales was the case agent.

Was there any sign of forced entry or a struggle? No.

No. None.

Nothing.

Nothing.

So it looked like a woman just kind of vanished.

Yep, with leaving her two precious babies behind.

Her phone was there, her keys were there, her purse was there. So all indications there was something wrong.

I remember Rick Gough was sitting across the street, leaned up against his car with his arms crossed and his head kind of in a way downward of dismay.

He was distraught.

He— yeah.

You're her father, but you're also in law enforcement. So what goes on for you at this moment?

Me? I was, hey, you know, you always hear postpartum depression maybe after a pregnancy, but it's been 6 months, so you kind of, well, maybe she's just lost in the woods out here, 'cause the whole house is surrounded by woods and stuff. So I went to Chief Cameron, I called him at the time, and he was the undersheriff, and I'd say, hey, can we get our helicopter up here? Northport doesn't have a helicopter.

Extra people. Instantly, I felt the panic in his voice. And all he kept saying to me, I'll never forget this, "Chief, something's wrong. Chief, something's terribly wrong." He goes, "My daughter is gone. Her car's at her house, her phone's at her house, her purse is at her house, her kids are at her house, and she's not." He said, "Chief, she would never do that. She would never leave her kids, Chief." I said, "I'm on the way, I'm bringing the cavalry.

We'll help you, we're gonna find her." So you had law enforcement just coming in every minute.

Law enforcement was hearing it, about a sergeant's daughter's missing. They were just— they were coming, going, "What can we do? What can we do? What can we help?

Where can we go?" I called the dispatchers, and I said, "Anybody who's free, any detective, any officer, any motorcycle, doesn't matter what, just send them to Northport.

We got to go find Rick's daughter." We were trying to figure out, where is Denise? So we started going door to door, talking to neighbors. Around 2:30, the neighbor, a young female, had saw a green Camaro.

She said she saw a man in a green Camaro. She made eye contact with him.

I could see through my blinds a green Camaro going up and down the road, and I walked outside just as he was turning around. He pulled into her driveway real quick and sat in the car.

Jennifer Eckhardt, who lived next door, saw him park in Denise Lee's driveway after he had kind of been prowling up and down the street several times.

And he sat there for, let's say, a good 15 minutes. And so I went back inside, and then about 10 minutes later, he left.

Who's inside this green Camaro that seemed to be lurking outside?

She said it's going to be a darker green Camaro.

Hours go by, and with the search on for this mysterious green car, a heart-stopping 911 call comes in.

911.

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Denise A. Lee, Northport 118. S107 heading east toward Campbasson area.

Within minutes of Nathan Lee making that 911 call to report that his wife Denise is missing, North Port Police are at his doorstep. And after canvassing the neighborhood, they soon come up with their first lead.

We got the information from the neighbor of a green Camaro that was seen in her driveway around 2:30. That was about an hour prior to Nathan getting home. So we were on the questions with Nathan about, Do you have friends that have a Camaro, family members, someone at your work?

I do, actually. I know a guy, I work with a guy, drove a green Camaro. But it turned out it wasn't him.

210, it's going to be a darker green Camaro, and it's gonna be probably an early 2000, late '90s model.

All we had to go on at that point was look for any green Camaro you see and stop it, because that's all we have.

We knew that someone had to have taken her.

I put my guys at every intersection I could possibly think of because my fear was whoever it was, if they got onto the interstate, they could be in Miami in a couple— we'd lose them.

Nearly 4 hours after Denise's neighbor spotted that green Camaro, a new 911 call comes in to Sarasota County dispatch, and it immediately grabs their attention.

911, what's your emergency? I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I just want to go.

Hello? What's up?

Why did you do that? I'm sorry, I just want to see my family.

Hello?

Please let me go. Please let me go. I just want to see my family again.

Incredibly, the woman on the line is Denise Lee herself.

When that call came in, We absolutely knew that she was abducted.

What's your name, ma'am? My name is Denise, and I'm your beautiful husband, and I just want to see my kids again. Please, I just want to see my family again. Let me go.

She's with her abductor.

She's with her abductor.

And managing to make a 911 call.

Denise had found the phone and was able to hide the phone and call 911.

That's pretty incredible.

It is absolutely incredible and very heroic. She was very good at giving indicators to 911. She didn't want to let him know that she was talking to somebody.

Do you know this guy that's with you?

No.

You don't know him from anywhere? No, please. Oh, God, help me. What is the address of your house? Where are we going? I gotta go up and around. Up and around where? 'Cause it's blocked. Can you see that? That's the way 4 streets, well, 5 streets over from your house. I can't see nothing.

I mean, where?

Northport L9, Sarasota just had Denise A. Lee on the phone advising she was taken by an unknown subject.

Chief Cameron came to me, said there was a 911 call. And they said, listen, there's a girl on the phone. They think it's Denise.

I said, Rick, I have to have you listen to this recording. And I played it for him.

I'm sorry, please let me go.

Hello?

Please let me go, God, please.

He is just— he cried and he said, "That's her." That was horrible for me and horrible for Rick.

She was trying to save her life, get back to her kids. You know, it's just tough. It's tough to— tough to deal with.

When you eventually heard that call, that couldn't have been easy for you.

Yeah, that was tough.

What's your home address? Do you know? I don't know. Can you just take me to my house? Can you just take me home? On the tour, please.

Can you take me back to my house on the tour? Which is the address where she lived.

Just take me home and ask me, please.

I don't know where we're going.

Laying on top of the phone in the back seat, best we can figure, and answering dispatch's questions and trying to relay it secretly, talking to him.

Can they turn off the radio or turn it down? Yeah, that's for me. Can I know how you— I can't hear you, it's too loud. No, I'm on the phone.

Where are we?

I know when she picked up that phone, she's thinking, "Okay, I'm gonna be saved," because 911 is gonna know where I am, and my dad, I know, is looking for me, and they're gonna find me.

I don't know where your phone is. I'm sorry.

Ultimately, Michael King realizes he doesn't have his phone, and you can hear him asking where it is.

I don't have your phone. Please, bro.

[SPEAKING SPANISH] He's slowly starting to get more and more suspicious that, you know, she might have the phone.

I don't have it. I'm sorry. She might have the phone laid down and not hear a thing I'm saying, too.

The fact that she was able to get all the information she needed, I mean, it was unbelievable.

She was doing everything in her power to be found.

Yes.

Absolutely.

Are you gonna hurt me? Are you gonna let me out now?

No.

Help me.

Don't, don't.

I lost them. Chris, I lost her. The guy grabbed the phone from her.

Unfortunately, you can hear him pull off to the side of the road, and then you hear the phone disconnect.

The clock is ticking, Are you hopeful?

When the 911 call came in, absolutely hopeful.

I was thankful that she was alive. I thought it was only a matter of time before they found her.

I was thinking, okay, this is going to be her chance.

21-year-old Denise Lee has just called 911 pleading for her life after being kidnapped from her home.

I think for For the family, it was almost a sense of hope that, you know, we heard her voice and we know that she's alive. And now authorities were essentially trying to pinpoint her location.

I assumed she called 911, they know where she is. That's what everybody thinks. Turns out that's not how it works.

Can police pinpoint where she is at that point with the 911 call?

They were trying to triangulate the call, meaning from one cell tower to this cell tower to this one and trying to dial in an approximate area where it was at.

By the time we started to go up on the phone itself with our federal partners who assist us, the phone was dead.

She was still able to keep the line open and for them to get critical information about this person who had taken her.

We have a phone number that ties back to whatever called into 911.

We were able to take that number and through phone providers, we were able to identify who the subscriber was of that number. Which came back to Michael King.

Had you ever heard of this man before?

No, I've never heard of Michael King before.

Did his name ring a bell to you at all?

No, it did not.

Just completely a random guy?

Yes. Usually there's a connection or a relationship or a motive, some tie-in between the parties involved in cases like this. For the life of us, we couldn't figure this one out.

We ran Michael King through databases and came back with Michael King, which had owned an actual green Camaro.

And so you knew right away that this is—

This is our guy.

This is your guy.

This is our guy.

With police now desperately trying to locate Michael King, another alarming 911 call comes into Sarasota County.

Police emergency, operator Von Hill.

Right after Denise had made this 911 call, approximately 9 minutes later, we received a phone call from a Sabrina Muxlow.

What's the problem? I just got a call from my dad, and his cousin came over his house with a girl in the car.

On the line is a teenage girl who tells a frightening story that she's just heard from her own father.

She was tied up and the girl came out of the— like, got out of the car and my dad's cousin went and put her back in the car when she got out. Okay, where's your dad's house? Um, it's in Northport. Do you know the address of it? He wants to be anonymous. His cousin left. Okay, what's the cousin driving? A green Camaro. And what does he look like? He's white, medium size, kind of chubby. What's the cousin's name? Oh, it's Mikey King.

Michael King?

Yeah.

Okay.

Sabrina ultimately ended up making the 911 call based off of information that she got from her dad, Harold Muxlow, which is Michael King's cousin.

Harold, instead of calling 911, he calls his daughter.

Are you sure you can't give me your dad's address? Um, he doesn't want nothing to do with it. Like, he's afraid to call because it's his cousin. I guess my mom says this guy's crazy. Okay, so all you can tell me, his name is Michael King, he was just at your dad's house, and he had a woman tied up, and she tried to get out of the car and he put her back in the car, correct?

She was yelling out to Muxla, call police, call the cops. Just the The idea that she was so actively, you know, some people would have been subdued in the back.

Doing everything she could.

He heard a woman's voice. He asked King, "What's going on?" King brushed him off and he let King drive away unimpeded.

Okay, we've been looking for this female.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE] Yes, we've got the helicopter up.

You are just so wonderful to call us and give us this information. Okay.

Yeah.

You learned that his cousin, Harold Muxlow, he didn't call the police even though she was screaming for him to call police.

I was very angry at him, you know, and he called his 17-year-old daughter to stick up for him. Thank God she called 911, too, and gave us the description of the car and stuff like that herself because he was too much of a coward to do it himself. He had a 17-year-old daughter, too, and he— Didn't want to help my daughter.

911, what's the location of your emergency?

Um, it's, uh, I'm not sure exactly what the emergency is exactly.

Harold, probably feeling guilty, goes to a local payphone up the street and then later calls us to tell us something we already know.

I think there's somebody that's been taken without their, uh, They don't want to be where they need to be. Uh-huh. And they're in a '95 green Camaro from Northport, Vermont.

Okay.

How do you know this?

I know.

Do you know who the guy is?

Uh, no.

Okay. Do you know— other than the green 1995 Camaro, do you know anything else?

Uh, no, sure don't.

Okay. Do you know the last time you saw him?

Uh, about 15 minutes ago.

But it's Sabrina's original 911 call call that reveals a chilling detail.

Now, where would he be going with this female? Um, he came over to my dad's house, borrowed a shovel, a gas tank, and something else.

King came to him with some cockamamie story about King's lawnmower being broken down, and so he asked his cousin Harold Muxlow for a shovel. A gas can, a flashlight.

Once we learned he had stopped at his cousin's house to obtain those items, we knew time was of the essence, that we needed to find her quickly because that window of opportunity was dwindling fast.

Breaking news.

Right now, Northport police are searching for a woman they say was kidnapped.

With the desperate search for Denise Lee in high gear, 911 is about to get another call.

911, where's your emergency? Well, I'm on 41 going south.

This one from a woman who's driving and sees something and knows she needs to say something.

It's like a— I want to say like a Camaro type of car, and there's a kid in the backseat and screaming, and not a happy scream, like, "Get me out of here" scream. Do you want me to turn, try to follow him?

It's a pretty busy road, US 41. It's a— yeah, it's a very busy road, actually.

Jane Kowalski finds herself driving down this road in North Port, Florida, unaware that a young mom of 2, Denise Lee, has been missing for 3 hours now.

I'm on the phone with my sister, hands-free talking, and I get up to Cranberry Boulevard, stop for a stoplight. The light had turned red, and there's screaming going on. And I turn to the left to look to the car next to me that had pulled up next to me, and the screaming was coming from that car.

What kind of screams?

Horrific, loud, uh, curdling, just horrific screams. I looked over and I see the guy as clear as day. It's like from here to right there, but he kept turning and trying to push something down in his back seat, and then a hand comes up, and it was a Camaro, right? And so it was like two doors, so that there's a little window in the back, and the hand's coming up and just hitting that window.

Give me a sense of how the hand was Wow. What's your instinct telling you about what's happening?

Something's wrong.

Something's completely wrong. Something's wrong. Someone needs help. So the light turns green, and I hesitate because I want to get that license plate. In Florida, you only have license plates on the back. But the light turns green, and he hesitates. We don't go. Well, there's tons of cars behind us, and they start honking.

He knows that you see him.

Yeah, he knows, 'cause I looked at him, and I'm— 'cause I sort of looked at him, and I'm like, "What's going on?" I kind of gave him the look like, "What the hell?" You know? "What's going on in your car?" And I finally go forward thinking that he's gonna go forward, but he pulls right behind me.

So you can't see his license plate now because he's behind you.

He's behind me. And that's also sort of scary 'cause I know that he saw me looking at him. So I hang up with my sister. I call 911.

911, where's your emergency? Well, I'm on 41 County Road. Going south, and I was at a stoplight, and a man pulled up next to me, and there was a child screaming in the car. What kind of vehicle is he in? It's a blue Camaro, like Camaro, like in the '90s or early 2000s or something.

Okay.

Jane's 911 call goes to a different dispatch, Charlotte County, the same agency Denise's dad works for.

The way 911 phone systems work is when you dial your phone, it will hit the closest tower to where you are at that moment in time. But by the time this woman, when she makes the phone call, she's close to the Charlotte line, the closest tower rings into our dispatch.

About how old is this child? Can you tell me? I did see the child. I'd say less than 10, definitely not an infant, old enough to bang on the window.

But of course, It's not a child at all. It's Denise Lee restrained, fighting to get anybody's attention for help.

This particular car, the back seat was so small that Denise was probably having to lay down in the back seat of the car.

And at the wheel is Michael King, the man authorities have been desperately searching for.

And I turned to look at him and he's a white male, sort of light-colored hair. Sort of plump. He's behind me now, and I tried to slow down so he could pass me and I could read his license plate, and he's going slower than I am, which is not right because we're like, we're holding up traffic and stuff. But I think that he saw me look at him, and I'm not trying to be overdramatic here, but he's going even slower now.

She's making it very well known that Michael, uh, is aware that she sees him and she knows that something's not right there. So Obviously his speeds are reduced significantly.

Okay, he's pulling over to the other lane now.

I'm in this lane over here, in the right-hand lane, and he was behind me and he cuts all the way over to the turn lane.

Over there.

And that's when I'm like, should I follow him? But I'm over here, all this traffic comes in, and I can't make the turn.

Oh, shit. And he's gonna turn left on Toledo Blade. He's turning left right now.

Oh, okay.

And I'm in the other lane and now— He's turning left on Toledo Blade.

Do you want me to turn?

Try to follow him or— Does he want her to follow him? Okay, can you turn? He just turned on Toledo Blade. I don't know if I can catch up. There's a bunch of traffic and I can't get over. Oh boy.

He was doing everything he can to avoid her. It is clear that he changed courses direction because of Jane Kowalski.

Child in the car and it was banging on the window and screaming and crying and screaming, like screaming, screaming, screaming, and not a happy scream, like get me out of here scream. The vehicle had a white male, white male driver, blue or black Camaro. Male had light hair and there was a Child screaming in the car. And banging on the window.

Okay.

And banging on the window.

Okay.

I've got everybody hollering at me and just one second.

And I could hear stuff in the background and she kept talking to other people asking questions too.

That whole comm center is buzzing with two shifts of people trying to help Rick and trying to find Denise.

Okay. I'm going to just pull over now. Let me get over. Yeah, that would be great. I don't know if there's an Amber Alert out or something like that, but bear with me.

And you asked her if there was an Amber Alert issued.

I did. At one point, I was like, "Is there an Amber Alert out?" Yeah. Again, I thought it was a child who had been abducted and I didn't know what was going on.

Do you have any idea that a 21-year-old mom is missing?

No.

And you're witnessing a kidnapping.

I had no I had no idea I was witnessing a kidnap. I didn't know what was going on in the car.

That green Camaro turned out to be a traveling crime scene in and of itself.

With Michael King identified as their prime suspect, police raced to his Northport home.

We have the house surrounded with 30 units on scene.

This was the biggest lead that we had.

Yeah, there's a TV on and it sounds like voices in this home.

Go in now. Kick the door in.

Put out a Bolo to FHP2, please, for dark green Camaro. Who'd you say is driving that Camaro?

Michael King.

So you know now who you're looking for.

100%.

And the key is now to track him down.

Find him and save her.

As the manhunt for Michael King is ramping up, Denise's younger sister, Amanda is at the movies 150 miles away, unaware of her sister's disappearance, when she gets a voicemail.

It was, like, very hysterical. I heard about what happened to Denise. I immediately called my parents, and I was like, "What is happening?

Like, what's going on?" What's going through your mind?

Just a lot of emotions, like, a lot of worry. You would never think ever that something like that would happen to you, especially with our dad being there. In law enforcement.

You're a detective with Charlotte County.

Yes.

You had worked undercover. Were you processing whether this could have been related to a case that you had handled?

Absolutely. That's— that was the first thing came up on everybody's radar, I think. And I worked some pretty big people in the day, so—

With Michael King identified as their prime suspect, police raced to his North Port home. So you're making your way to his home with the hope that you'll find her there.

This was the biggest lead that we had.

We have the house surrounded with the 3 units on scene. 2 of us are in point close.

Nobody's coming to the door. They don't see any car.

There is a TV on, and it sounds like voices in this home.

They got to go in. If she's in there, go in now. Kick the door in.

I want entry made on that house.

10-4.

The 2 marked officers at the front, make entry. This is a uniformed officer.

When you got here, what did you see right away inside?

Very dark and gloomy inside. They found out that it was pretty much TV music, and it was probably used to keep volume up high for what was probably occurring in the house.

There's indication that someone had been there.

Yes.

But no sign of Denise.

Yes.

Or Michael King.

Correct.

His house was basically empty except for a TV, and that is where we believe he took her.

There was obviously signs of someone being held against their will. They saw a makeshift bed in the master bedroom, a Winnie the Pooh blanket.

Her hair tie was left on the floor.

They saw an elongated mirror that was propped up against the wall.

Would you have duct tape wadded up in a bedroom with long strands that look like long White, brown hair.

But then they found some duct tape and some blonde hair that stuck to the duct tape and stuff like that.

You had to know that that does not sound good. Right.

Once we figured out they were no longer there, then we treated it as a crime scene. But at this point, we're still just worried about finding Denise. All of that's secondary. The main thing is, is she still alive? Where are they?

So you missed this moment, and then what next? Where are you hoping to find them?

Pretty much what we were doing was shutting down the city.

We need Sumter shut down so no one can get to the interstate.

We shut down Northport and was holding a roadblock to vehicles going in and out and looking for a green Camaro.

We also need the on-ramp shut down to the interstate.

I need one of you guys making sure nobody gets on the interstate unless they're checked.

What is it like for you as those hours are going by and no real firm word?

The more worried I got, the less hopeful I got. I was.

Law enforcement was hard-pressed to figure out where this vehicle could be. And there was actually a Florida Highway Patrol trooper that was driving up and down 75 looking for this exact car driven by Michael King.

I end up making a U-turn right on the median. Suddenly out of nowhere, a pair of headlights appeared. And I realized that it was a green Camaro.

We've got a green Camaro heading southbound. I swung around on it. Trying to catch up to it.

Immediately I saw the first 3 digits of the tag. I knew at this point I had the right vehicle.

FHP has the vehicle stopped at 178 southbound, 178 southbound.

I yell, "Driver, don't give me a reason to fire into your vehicle." Ein perfekter Frühlingstag.

Sonne. Park.

Picknick.

So viele Pollen.

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Northport 232, do you have traffic?

00724.

10-4.

L81 to any units that are on the perimeter, need to stay there.

249 Central.

Well, what's that tag on our Camaro? We have a green Camaro with a black— hold on one second.

It's 9 PM, and after several hours of this frantic search for Denise, this Florida Highway Patrol trooper finally spots the green Camaro and then goes on a hot pursuit to be able to catch Michael King.

I activated my lights and my sirens. He was a little hesitant, but he finally pulled over.

North Port units, FHP has a vehicle stopped at 178 southbound, 178 southbound.

It came over the radio, FHP had the car stopped, and immediately I jumped in my car and headed out to the scene.

You heard about a green Camaro that had been spotted.

Yes. I was real hopeful on the radio until I heard him stop in the car. We were hopeful that she was going to be found.

I made several commands for the driver of the vehicle to exit. So after about the fourth command, I noticed he was trying to move the rearview mirror in order to try to find my location. I yell, "Driver, exit the vehicle. Don't give me a reason to fire into your vehicle." And immediately there was a second pause. The driver's side door swung open. I identified who I was, and I pulled him out of the vehicle at gunpoint.

And I immediately said, "Where is the girl?" And so I'm like waiting for the command and waiting and waiting, and then they come across radio again that she's not in the car.

Michael King is 10-12. The female is not 10-12 with the vehicle.

Rick called me and said, "Hey, they found the guy, but she's not in the car." What happened for you at that moment? I was like, "Okay, like, what do you— what does that mean?" He's like, "I don't know.

We're—

they're still looking." I was able to go to the vehicle, and what I could see was a gas can, a shovel that appeared to have been used somewhere.

He's standing there. Concerning is he's soaking wet from his waist all the way down with water and mud and muck.

That's not good.

That's not good.

And you take him into custody.

Yep.

What does he say?

He says that he was kidnapped. He was kidnapped with Denise.

He tells you he was kidnapped?

Yes.

And what do you make of this story?

So obviously it's not believable. Obviously we know he's lying.

Today is January 17th, 2008, approximately 11:24 PM. Present Detective Morales, present Michael King. You came to us and you told me that you were a hostage and you were a victim. So at that point my focus was, okay, we need to find where she is, and you seem like you wanted to assist us. We need to just find out what happened. You understand?

But before Detective Morales can really begin questioning King, he needs to read him his rights.

Having these rights in mind, do you wish to talk to us here now? No, I just want an attorney. You want an attorney?

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

He didn't want to speak about anything that can incriminate him, so he lawyers up. So we went ahead and said, "Okay, tell us how you're a victim." Tell us how you and Denise were kidnapped.

Police send in a detective who knows King, offering pizza and water, hoping to keep him talking.

I just asked him if I could come here and talk to you. Yeah, I know. You sitting in here by yourself. I know, I know. No problem. But yeah, I think I have bad luck.

You think?

Picking up nobody anymore. What'd you do? I just picked up somebody. They were on the side of the road and I didn't think nothing of it. And boom, he just grabbed me right here and threw me right on the floor. That was it. And he was like, "Don't move." And then put something on my legs and arm. I couldn't even freaking move, man. You're not hurt or anything, right? No.

No one can believe those stories and how they just turned him loose and out in the middle of nowhere and just made no sense why. Whatsoever.

Running out of options and time, police now bring in King's cousin Harold Muxlow, who says he saw a woman with King hours after Denise Lee was abducted. He agrees to talk to King.

We were hoping that Harold would open up to Michael and saying, hey, it's done, it's over, just tell them where she is.

[SPEAKING NATIVE LANGUAGE] He took off with her or whatever he did. I don't know. It's crazy. Can't they ask her or anything? Can't they just— did they let her go? What do you know? I don't even think they found her.

Muxlow presses King on a crucial detail. Earlier that day, his cousin had come to his house to borrow a shovel, a gas can, and a flashlight, the same items found in King's car.

What'd you need a flashlight for? He told me, huh, he said to get that and a shovel. That was it. Why'd they let you go and not her? I don't know, you know, I don't know what's going on, man. I don't know. They should have let her go too. You know you're laughing with her. I know I did, but I mean, it was pretty bad on your side there. If someone kidnapped my daughter, man, I wouldn't be too happy about it. No, no, I agree with you. I'd be all over it too, man.

Investigators collected fingernail clippings, DNA swabs off of Michael King's body before ultimately arresting him.

You're under arrest, Michael.

Okay, now.

All right, now. All right, now.

With King clamming up, investigators turned to his cousin.

And I see him in there wrestling with somebody, and I heard some girls say, call the cops. Did you see the person that was in the back? Not very well.

But when they give him a polygraph—

Extreme deception indicated. So let's have the real story. There's something you're not telling me.

John, a lot is changing by the moment here in Sarasota County. We have heard that a suspect is in custody. Just a short time ago, the Florida Highway Patrol arrested this man, 36-year-old Michael King. They've also located that car, the green Camaro, but they did not find Denise Lee in it.

Take these off the floor. Hands in front, they're going on the back. You're under arrest, Michael. Give it this way, Mike. This is only the beginning now.

With Michael King now in custody, police continue talking to him, treating him as a potential victim.

At that time, if he wants to say he's kidnapped, we were going to talk to him and hopefully him lead us to where she may be.

Does he take you to a location?

He takes us to a couple locations, yes.

I need Air One over in this area here. He's led us to this. 10-4. L-9, I need you to call me.

We're hopeful, and we tell all the rescuers we're still looking for a person, not a body. I was getting information from all agencies and given the updates.

I was 100% confident we'd find her. I thought she was somewhere. He must have just dropped her off in the woods somewhere, or, you know, she's wandering on the side of a road and they would find her.

Okay, get them back up. Start looking for hot spots around that area where the subject went 10-15.

10-4.

Meanwhile, we're learning more about the man in custody in connection with Lee's kidnapping.

With the search going on, questions are swirling around Michael King. To his parents, the accusations are unbelievable.

We've never had a problem with Michael. You know, it just don't seem like he would do something like this. It's not— not in Michael.

This is the first time King's posed for a mugshot in Florida. The unemployed plumber doesn't have a criminal record here. Police visit King's ex-girlfriend, who tells them she's equally stunned.

Do you, in your opinion, think that Michael would ever do something like this?

No, I don't want to.

Do you think he has the capability to do so?

No.

King has an 11-year-old son whom he'd been raising on his own. At the time, that boy was living with relatives in another state.

We learned that Michael King was going through foreclosure at the time and had broken up with his girlfriend. Seemed like a person that was down on his luck.

Did his attitude change toward the end of the relationship?

Yeah, he got a little depressed, you know, and I would talk to him because he lost a good-paying job. He's worried about his house, you know, the payments on it and stuff.

Police turned to King's cousin to try to get some answers.

There was a vehicle parked across the road, and I see him in there wrestling with somebody, and I heard some girl say, "Call the cops." And he goes, "Oh, don't worry about it," and took off. Did you see the person that was in the back? Not very well.

But the story he's telling now doesn't match what his daughter Sabrina says he told her.

I just got a call from my dad, and his cousin came over his house with a girl in the car, and she was tied up.

Faced with this contradictory account, investigators bring Muxlow in. For a polygraph exam.

Why do you think you're in this room, Harold? For the statement that my daughter made, probably. Please remain still. The test is about to begin. Did you see that girl tied up?

No.

Did you see that girl get out of that car?

No.

Did you see that girl before you gave Mike that shovel? No. We're gonna hit the score button. What's that say? Extreme deception indicated. Extreme deception indicated. So let's have the real story because I don't think I got it. I know, but I don't want to get blamed for— for this thing. We're not blaming you, but we got to move forward. There's people out here that need answers. They got a daughter that's gone.

Finally, Muxlow admits to what he saw.

I seen him wrestling by the front door with somebody on the other side of the car.

Mm-hmm.

And then he put her in the car. I didn't see her tied up. I didn't see no one get out of the car. It upset me quite a bit. I didn't do nothing. Is that it? That was it. Are you sure? That's— that is what was bothering you on that polygraph? Yeah. But I didn't see her tied up.

I think most people put themselves in Harold Muxlow's shoes and say, "Would I do that, or would I do something different?" Very disappointed in him.

In what he could have prevented and what he could have stopped. I wish there was a law that could charge him and put him away. But unfortunately, in the law, there— he has no duty to call or stop, you know, someone for— for help.

While searching Michael King's car, investigators find a silver ring in the backseat. Had a small little heart on it. And they bring Nathan in, and they asked him if he could identify it. This ring.

We have a piece of jewelry here I want you to look at, okay? Only you will be able to tell us if this is it or not. We're not— we're not sure, okay?

So, are you ready?

I'm ready. Is this her ring? Yes. That's the first ring I gave her. How confident are you that it's her ring? 100%.

What happens for you at that moment?

Well, I still was trying to keep hope, but really struggle. With the reality that was starting to set in, that we weren't going to find her alive.

Now, authorities are still calling it an active investigation.

So if you have any information about the suspect in custody, the Northport Police wants to hear from you. Police press on, and then a new witness is brought into the interrogation room, a man who was with Michael King just hours before the abduction.

Why are you nervous?

Tell me.

Why would you be nervous? You know, it scares me that I actually, you know, met with him that day.

We started doing grid searches with hundreds of deputies and hundreds of special agents throughout the state, from exactly where Michael King was stopped all the way down to the road where he had pulled out onto Tulalip Lake.

When the search was underway for Denise Lee, this housing development didn't exist. This was all woods. And it was It was here that a searcher, along with her canine, noticed something unusual.

I was a canine handler for Sarasota Canine Search and Rescue.

I was assigned this area with canine CQ.

I was at the command post, and Tammy Treadway, who was the handler of CQ, it was getting late in the day. She said she was walking the sidewalk and her dog took off into the woods.

I'm watching his body language and he's moving in and out of the brush, so I'm just looking around trying to see if I see anything that's out of place. I happened to notice that there was an area that was cleared. There was grass pulled up and laid in a nice layer across the top of it.

And miraculously, that was it. That was the site.

Very sad news out of Northport. The search for a kidnapped woman has been suspended.

Michael King put a gun to Denise's forehead and pulled the trigger. The hole that Denise was buried in was not shallow. It was probably about 4 feet down.

King's DNA was found on Denise Lee's body.

It can't be easy. Hearing that she was sexually assaulted, that she was shot in the head. How did you manage to handle that?

I had to come home and tell her and Nate they found her and what happened.

He wanted me to hear from him, not anyone else. So yeah, that was tough.

I remember him telling us that they found her. And she wasn't alive. And just, everyone just broke down.

Rick, you have always sort of portrayed yourself as a tough cop, but how did you manage this?

I am, by the way. But anyway.

You are?

I was a big baby when that happened. I can tell you. Like being kicked in the groin or something, because it's like, I'm not so tough. It was really tough after that. She was my firstborn baby girl. I was a—

fell apart.

I just thought about the boys, Noah and Adam, that, you know, they're going to have to grow up without their mother.

On behalf of my sons Noah and Adam, I would like to thank everybody so much.

Denise was my soulmate. I'm going to miss her so much. I don't know how I'm gonna go through the rest of my life without her.

Denise is thankful that all your efforts brought her home.

I'm sure the boys, that's the reason she left with Michael King.

Right now, we believe it's an absolute random act of incredible evil.

Investigators can't locate the murder weapon, but they learned that just hours before Denise's kidnapping, Michael King had been at a local gun range with this man, Robert Salvador, someone King had met while working on plumbing jobs.

He said he had a gun. It was a 9mm. He said he didn't have any ammunition. Ammunition, and I said, you don't have to worry about that because I had a 9mm and I said I have ammunition.

The shell casings found at the gun range were a match to the casing found at the scene.

Why are you nervous, Tommy? It scares me that I'm even associated with somebody that could have done something of that nature. That, uh, I actually, you know, met with him that day. I shot guns with the guy. Every time I think about that woman's family, my God.

At the time, Robert Salvador was a person of interest, but he was able to dispel us with receipts and proof that during the time that Denise was abducted and was with Michael King, Robert Salvador was nowhere near him. Her murder left family, friends, even law enforcement in shock and disbelief. Tonight, Denise Lee got her final farewell.

Farewell.

I remember the line of cars. It was amazing.

Gosh, the community carried us through it. I think there was over 2,000 people at the funeral.

And I promise her that those kids will—

will know exactly who their mother was.

As this family is going through the most unimaginable loss that anybody could ever go through, new information then comes out that there might have been an opportunity to save Denise.

Could a 911 call have saved a kidnapped woman's life?

A woman called 911 to say she heard screaming inside a car at a stoplight.

That woman is Jane Kowalski. Remember, her 911 call went to neighboring Charlotte County, not Sarasota County where all the previous 911 calls had come in. Incredibly, it turns out Her call was never dispatched to the deputies searching for Denise.

That never got dispatched over the air, which was just a terrible mistake. The call taker should have typed into the system what she's being told by the caller. She wrote it on a piece of paper and handed it to the dispatcher, which would not be the way it should have been done.

Jane Kowalski gives them details. She sees this abduction in progress.

She was giving cross streets, telling police, "I see this happening. There's a person, child, whoever screaming in the car." That should have been the moment she should have been saved.

It was a major screw-up. When I say major, I mean it could have saved her life.

Was that hard for you? That's your department—

Oh, absolutely.

—that you say screwed up. Absolutely.

He just said, "Chief, that was our last chance to get her." In his gut, in his heart, his family let him down.

Officials are defending themselves after some claim that a murdered mother could have been saved if 911 workers had been communicating better.

The assumption is that Charlotte County screwed up and could have saved this girl's life. And I'm telling you that until the facts come out here, that's the wrong assumption. —wrong assumption to make. The sheriff also said that you gave inaccurate information. You had the color of the car wrong. You said it was a child screaming.

My answer to that is this: So what? You're not going to go after someone if I think there's a child that's been abducted? Right? They should have still sent a car.

They would have pulled him over. She would have still been in the car. It would have been a— you know, a complete it would have been a completely different turnout.

I don't think it would have changed the outcome one bit, simply because we had people in the area looking for the exact vehicle. The sheriff at the time, Sheriff Davenport, said it would not have made a difference.

Oh, he's 100% wrong. I have faith in the people I work with. I've been with that sheriff's office 41 years now. There's no doubt in my mind she would have been rescued.

She could have been saved. And the system failed her.

An internal investigation found the dispatchers did receive information about Jane's call, but violated procedure by not immediately dispatching it, and were disciplined. One of them suspended for 60 hours, another 36 hours, both assigned a day of remedial training and given 6 months probation. Was that sufficient, Sue?

No.

And now you have to get through a trial.

King is accused of killing 21-year-old Denise Amber Lee.

This case was one of the worst of the worst and that warranted the death penalty. We had an abundance of evidence, and a lot of that was from Denise herself.

But at trial, Michael King's attorneys make a jaw-dropping claim. Name, insisting he's not the man responsible for Denise's murder.

Didn't you fire the shot that killed Denise Lee?

All three of us looked at each other like, what did he just say?

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I'm Harvey Guillén, and this is Killer Stories. Every Monday, I'm cutting the lights and telling you a bedtime story. Except these stories are all real. We're talking brazen heists, devastating cons, serial murders, and cases that defy tidy categories. So join me for new episodes of Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén every Monday.

The murder trial for the man accused of kidnapping and killing Denise Amber Lee began in Sarasota County, Florida, King faces either life in prison or the death penalty.

Nearly 2 years after Denise Lee's death, her family and friends pour into a Sarasota courtroom. They've come to see the man accused of killing her, Michael King, face a jury. What was that like for you, seeing Michael King in court? It was—

Sickening.

I try to keep telling myself that you're sitting here, and you're gonna get what you deserve.

Prosecutor Lon Aaron begins by reading Denise's harrowing 911 call.

I'm sorry.

I just wanna go. I just wanna see my family. Those are the last words that Denise Lee said that anybody other than Michael King heard on January 17th.

July 17th, 2008.

The prosecution builds its case by calling eyewitnesses to place Michael King with Denise in her final hours.

State called Jane Kowalski.

We wanted to transport the jury to being with Denise and the defendant, so much so that they could actually live and breathe what Denise was going through.

A hand came up from the back seat and was banging on the window very loudly.

Are you able to show the jury?

But— [NOISE] Even louder than that. I mean, it was very loud.

Defense lawyers push back.

You can't identify who the person was in the vehicle, can you?

I cannot. Jurors were actually able to go see the green Camaro themselves. In person.

We wanted them to understand that that car was almost as important as the role that Michael King played. It took her from her home to Michael King's home to Harold Muxlow's home to the place where her life eventually ended.

Prosecutors present what they believe to be indisputable evidence that Denise was in King's car. What is that a picture of?

That is a ring.

It was clever. She hid her ring in the backseat because she knew she wasn't gonna be found, probably. She pulled hair out by the roots and stuck them under the backseat. She knew about DNA, had to have the roots and stuff.

When there's overwhelming evidence, the defense tries to poke holes in the state's case.

No 9mm handgun. No gun was found out on Plantation Boulevard.

That is correct, sir.

Because we didn't have a gun, that was a hole.

That was a big hole.

State called Robert Southworth.

Without a murder weapon, prosecutors turned to ballistics and the man who went shooting with Michael King just hours before the murder. At some point, did you meet the police at the gun range?

Yes.

What did you assist them with at the gun range?

They wanted whatever 9mm shells we could find.

We didn't have the actual gun. We had the shell casing at the scene of Denise's murder that matched the shell casings where he was shooting earlier with Rob Salvador.

But on cross-examination, the defense's line of questioning catches just about everybody in the courtroom off guard.

At the gun range, before you parted ways with Michael King, you arranged to meet him him later that day, didn't you?

No, sir.

And didn't you meet him out during the evening hours of January 17th, 2008?

No, sir.

And Mr. Salvador, didn't you fire the shot that killed and took the life of Denise Lee?

Absolutely not.

All three of us looked at each other like, what did he just say?

Judge, I have great concerns at this point over the behavior that took place in this courtroom.

We objected, and we went up to the bench to talk to the judge, and the judge agreed with us because you can't just say things like that if you have no evidence.

And I'm asking you to disregard such, ladies and gentlemen, because there is no basis in fact from the evidence.

The defense rests without calling a single witness. Their argument? The prosecution has failed to prove that Michael King was the one who pulled the trigger.

What you have received is an invitation to guess. Your reply to his invitation must be no. Thank you.

All right, thank you, ladies and gentlemen. You may retire to consider your verdict.

Thank you.

It is such a serious decision that you're making, and I'm sure everyone wanted to make sure that they could live with it. You have to live with this. Just over 2 hours 2 hours after they begin deliberations, the jury is back with a verdict. We the jury find as follows as to count 1 of the indictment. The defendant is guilty of murder in the first degree as charged. What was that like when you heard guilty?

Amazing. I knew, okay, you know, Denise won.

You know, Denise won. She's an absolute hero. Took this murderer off the street and made sure we had plenty of evidence. And there's no doubt in anybody's mind that he's a killer.

The jury reaches a guilty verdict, but that doesn't change the reality for Nathan Lee and now being a single father. He's got two young kids at home with the rest of his life ahead of him. Without his wife. Noah, you ready?

Whoa! Oh my goodness. Do you see Denise in your boys?

You know— sorry.

It's okay.

Oh. I definitely do. Um, certain facial expressions. I still— I see her, you know?

I'm like, "Wow, you look just like your mom right now." Today, those two little boys Denise fought so hard to get home to are all grown up. You know the man who killed your mom is in prison. Did you ever feel there was anything you wanted to say to him? The jury that took just 2 hours to convict Michael King of first-degree murder took nearly 3 to recommend he be sentenced to death. I believe this is what the death penalty is all about for somebody that did the things that he did.

To such an innocent person, if you can do that, you do not deserve to live among us.

He was just straight-faced, no emotion, nothing. I don't think he's capable of feeling emotion.

But even with King headed to death row, Denise's family family feels they still had some unfinished business. You didn't take this all quietly.

I wanted people that made mistakes to be held accountable.

In 2009, Nathan files a wrongful death lawsuit against the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office, alleging negligence in the handling of Jane Kowalski's 911 call cost Denise her life.

It is— It's the sheriff's responsibility to provide the best public safety that they possibly can to their citizens, and Denise wasn't given the best public safety to their citizens.

The two sides reach a settlement. The sheriff's office admits no fault but agrees to pay $1.2 million to the family.

I just thought, The boys needed something. They had to grow up without a mother.

Those boys, Noah and Adam, are now 20 and 18.

Every milestone, there is, you know, something missing, and it was our mom. Our first day of school, our last day of school, first football game, baseball game, our mom was always missing. That was always— felt like the like a rock in my chest.

I always write her name in the clay before every at-bat, just to like know that she's there with me.

Noah was 2. He remembered Denise and he missed her. He used to ask questions all the time. Adam was too young. He was only 6 months. We tried as much as we could to be there for him.

My grandpa was, he coached me in baseball for quite a few years, which was always nice.

Tough, tough coach?

Yeah, he was definitely a tough coach.

Every other weekend we were gone somewhere playing. And I know when he started hitting like the 10 or 11-year-old age, a lot of the kids say, "Where's your mom?

How come your mom's not here?" Growing up without your mom in your life, what was that like? Because I'm sure that there were times where other kids asked.

Yeah, I mean, it's always difficult. I would kind of try to just keep it to myself and not really let it show.

There was always a sense of almost jealousy. And I always preached to my friends, just, you know, appreciate what you have. Because some of us don't have that as much as we wish we did.

Dad spoke with us 2008 after everything had happened. Here's what he said.

I want to make sure that my kids know that their mom is the most amazing person in the world and have her in them. And so they're destined to be good kids.

What is that like? I can see you get emotional just seeing that. What do you feel?

Proud. I feel proud of him.

All the time, I have people tell me that I was raised right, and I mean, it's all a credit to him.

Some people have called your mom a hero, that she protected you too.

I always say she sacrificed herself to make sure we were safe. We came first.

She was selfless. She didn't deserve it.

The man who killed your mom is in prison, going to be put to death. Did you ever feel there was anything you wanted to say to him?

If I were to talk to him, it would be to make sure that he feels 200% worse about what he did and make sure he truly knows the extent and the damage that he's done.

Are you prepared for execution?

Can't wait. Be the first one on the bus going there and first in line.

Denise isn't here, so why should he be? The pain and the suffering, the horror he put her through, he should not, he should not be here. But that's not how the system works.

It's not a quick process.

Nearly 20 years since the murder of Denise Amber Lee, her convicted killer will be put to death —tomorrow evening.

Michael King next on the list to die by lethal injection.

I would just like to know why. You know, why her?

When they opened the curtain, King is strapped on the gurney, and he's— I was not prepared for hearing his voice.

I don't think anybody was expecting what he ultimately had to say.

I've been telling this story all over the country. It's very painful to go back to that day over and over again, but I know what I'm doing is important. You know, I know the dispatchers need to hear it, so I'm gonna keep doing it as long as I have breath in my lungs. Hi, good morning, everyone. My name is Nathan Lee.

Denise's husband Nathan is carrying his late wife's legacy in his own way, telling her story to 911 employees all over the country as a powerful reminder of their life-saving work.

I started the foundation back in June of 2008 after this happened to my beautiful wife Denise. And since then, I've made it my life's mission to travel all over the country to help you. I want to see Denise continue to matter. Don't forget why you do this.

In the years following Denise's death, her younger sister Amanda decides to join the very system many say failed Denise. You became a 911 dispatcher yourself.

Yeah.

Is it a tribute in some way to your sister?

Yeah, I didn't start out college wanting to do that at all, and then that happened, and I was more passionate about wanting to do something that would help others.

Richard, good morning. Welcome. Glad to have you here.

I'm a 25-year law enforcement veteran with the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office and the father of Denise Amber Lee.

You turned your pain into service. Purpose and passion to try to change laws.

We found out there was no mandatory training for communication officers, so we're gonna— let's make this bill.

In 2010, the Denise Amber Lee Bill was actually passed, which sets the standard for 911 dispatchers to have a certain amount of hours in terms of training so that they are able to come to their job fully equipped to help anybody that That might be in Denise's situation.

So you changed the law.

Yes. Well, Denise changed the law.

The thing I've been most blessed with is just to see Denise matter and to see Denise make a difference. That means that Denise's death wasn't totally in vain.

18 years after a local woman was kidnapped and murdered, her killer finally facing justice.

We're getting ready to arrive about 5 hours up to Stark, to the Florida State Prison, and I am ready for this to be over.

Michael King had been sitting on death row for nearly 2 decades, and then in early 2026, Governor Ron DeSantis signed the warrant for him to be executed.

The man convicted convicted of killing a Suncoast woman set to die at 6 PM tonight.

One of the things I wanted to make sure I brought with me was, uh, you know, kind of really the only piece I have left of Denise, which is, uh, which is her ring. So I'm gonna have that with me when we go in, and, uh, you know, I'll have it with me the whole time.

In just 1 hour, Michael King will become the 4th person executed in the state of Florida this year.

We sent a crew to the prison. Our Ellie Davis will be witnessing the event from inside. You could hear a pin drop in the execution room. You had family members in the first row, family members in the second, wearing her favorite color, pink, to represent her. And then they ask if Michael King has any last words.

I was not prepared for hearing his voice because listening to him talk, he mentioned Denise's name. He mentioned Denise's family was something. I don't remember what he said, but the fact that Denise came out of his mouth was kind of— didn't sit well with me.

He mentioned how he had found Jesus in the prison, but I think to everyone's surprise, there was no mention of any remorse or why he did this.

I had Denise's ring on my pinky finger. I was— I almost wore a ring hole on my finger from spinning it around so many times. It was just tense, and then once it was done, I felt like everybody just had this weight lifted off their shoulders, you know, and at least that's how I felt.

The sentence of the State of Florida versus Michael Lee King was carried out at 6:13 PM on March 17th, 2026. Well, thank you all for being here.

Um, finally it's over. Um, this chapter's closed.

My dad said that he got the opportunity to know her and marry her, and I unfortunately didn't get the opportunity to know her and be raised by her. Because I know he picked a great mom, and Michael had other plans.

I don't feel like I need to come here to talk to her. I see her every day when I see Noah and Adam. Her picture still looks good. It doesn't look terribly faded.

I don't talk when I come here. Just look back and realize that I'm strong and I can get through whatever's going on.

No matter what life throws at him or Adam, they can power through because they got their mom in them, and that gives me a lot of comfort.

We're a part of her, and I feel like people hearing from us can see how important she was, how amazing she was. Kind of big of a hole. That is left because she's not here.

Despite her not being here, she still impacted me tremendously. I always try to dedicate a part of my success to her. Without her, you know, what would I be?

And that is our program for tonight.

Thanks so much for watching.

I'm David Muir.

And I'm Deborah Roberts. From all of us here at 20/20, For "Washington Week 2020" and ABC News, good night.

Good night.

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