189: The Murder of Denise Lee

WEBVTT

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Southern for a true crime covers cases
that are not suitable for young listeners,

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and there may also be some explicit
language used. Today's episode is a case

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involving sexual assault. Listener discretion is
strongly advised. In nineteen sixty six,

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the National Academy of Sciences published Accidental
Death and Disability, The Neglected disease of

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Modern Society. It included a recommendation
for an active exploration of the feasibility of

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designating a single nationwide telephone number to
summon an ambulance. Two years later,

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the first nine one one call was
placed. By the late nineteen eighties,

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about fifty percent of American states had
adopted the nine one one call system.

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Canada recognized the advantages of a single
emergency number and chose to adopt nine one

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one rather than use a different thereby
unifying the concept and giving nine one one

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international stature. Today, the use
of nine to one one here and similar

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systems in other countries is virtually universal, but there is always room for improvement.

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The nine one one system must continue
to improve along with technological advances.

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In early two thousand and eight,
a case in Florida put this issue in

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the national spotlight. A woman named
Denise Lee was kidnapped and murdered despite five

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nine one one calls while she was
still alive and held captive. The breakdown

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and utter failure of the nine one
one system to work that day cost Denise

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her life, but her own heroism
and later activism by her family ensured that

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the nine one one system improved dramatically
and continues to grow along with modern technology.

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Welcome to Episode one eighty nine,
The Murder of Denise amber Lee.

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When twenty one year old Nathan Lee
woke up on the morning of Thursday,

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January seventeenth of two thousand and eight, he probably thought that this particular day

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was nothing special, and at the
beginning of this Thursday, he would have

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been right. Things started off pretty
normal that morning. Nate got dressed for

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work. It was too early for
his wife and sons to be up yet.

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Denise amber Lee was also twenty one
years old, and their eldest son

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was two and the youngest just a
baby of six months. Nate and Denise

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were high school sweethearts. Back then, Nate had been the popular athletic guy,

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while Denise was the quiet but sweet
bookworm. When Denise shyly asked Nate

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on a date their senior year.
He was impressed. He later told the

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Portland's son, she didn't think I
knew who she was, but I remember

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exactly what seat she sat in.
The young couple hit it off right away.

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Their first date was at an Appleby's
grill and bar Denise was so nervous

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she didn't need a thing, but
still the date was amazing. They both

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felt they had found something rare,
something special, and they were right By

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this specific Thursday in January two thousand
and eight, the young couple had been

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married for about three years, and
they had continued to fit together like puzzle

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pieces, complimenting each other perfectly.
Where Nate was outgoing and charming, Denise

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was self spoken and kind. Where
Nate was eager to work several jobs to

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keep his growing family financially afloat,
Denise was happy to stay home with their

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young sons. They were building something
good together, something great, a family,

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a community, a future. When
Nate opened the door to go to

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work on January seventeenth, he was
met with dreary weather. The skies were

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cloudy and sad. Rain threatened,
but it only ever drizzled. But this,

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like everything else that happened that Thursday
was normal. It was typical weather

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for a cool Florida winter in the
city of Northport. Nate always made a

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point to call Denise throughout his work
day. He liked checking in with her,

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making sure everything was okay with her
and the boys. At about eleven

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that morning, Nate used his cell
phone to call Denise and they spoke for

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about five minutes. He later told
NBC News, we were just talking about,

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you know, what we normally talk
about. I remember asking her that

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morning to make sure you open the
windows, you know, save some money.

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But Denise was ahead of Nate.
She had already opened the windows to

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make the most of the day's cool
weather. Then they hung up. Denise

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then went to the post office to
run an errand, and then she cut

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their two year old son's hair on
the back porch. A few hours later,

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at three o'clock in the afternoon,
Nate got off work and he called

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Denise like always, but strangely,
she didn't answer. And Denise always answered

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the phone a little worried but sure
everything was fine. Nate went straight home.

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The drive from work to home took
twenty five minutes, and in that

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twenty five minutes, Nate called Denise
somewhere around eight times. Later. He

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would explain to NBC News that despite
the repeated calls, he wasn't nervous until

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he turned onto their street. That's
when Nate saw that the houses windows,

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the same windows Denise said she had
opened, were closed. Nate unlocked the

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front door and rushed inside. His
two sons were napping together in a crib,

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and that was odd. They never
slept in the same crib together,

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and Denise was nowhere in the house. She was gone. Nate knew right

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away that something was wrong. Denise
would have never left their two young sons

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alone. And of course there were
the windows. If Denise had opened them,

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why were they shut? Had she
shut them? Had someone else?

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And if so, why Nate's mind
was racing. In an interview with Dateline,

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he explained that the windows weren't shut
and latched, they were just like

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pushed down, like someone pushed them
down in a hurry. As he frantically

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searched the house for any sign of
his wife, Nate noticed that Denise's car,

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keys, her credit cards, money, and cell phone were still in

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the house, and so at three
twenty five pm, Nate did exactly what

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he should have. He dialed nine
one one. Nate's called a nine one

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one would be one of many that
day, hundreds of thousands, but five

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of those many, many nine one
one phone calls would be directly related to

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the whereabouts of twenty one year old
Denise amber Lee. Now, maybe five

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doesn't sound like that many nine one
one phone calls to you, But in

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this type of case, where all
the nine one one calls were made mere

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hours after a woman mysteriously disappeared,
where the smallest bit of information could mean

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the difference between life and death,
five is a huge number of nine one

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one calls, and one of those
nine one one calls even came from Denise

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herself. But despite multiple opportunities for
someone, anyone, to save Denise from

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a horrific end, it didn't happen. I'm going to pause now for a

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short commercial break. Denise Amberghoff was
born on the sixth of Vague, nineteen

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eighty six, to parents Susan and
Rick. She was the eldest of three

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siblings, including one brother and one
sister. She spent most of her life

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in and around Inglewood, Florida.
She had a lot of history there and

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so did her family. According to
the Port Charlotte's son, Denise's father's family

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actually helped settle this area many many
years ago. Inglewood, if you don't

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know, is a census designated place
in the southwestern portion of Florida. Inglewood

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actually crosses two counties, Charlotte and
sarah Sota. Today, it has a

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population of about twenty thousand, and
it's predominantly a retirement destination. Almost two

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thirds of its population is over sixty
five years old, which makes sense.

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Inglewood is beautiful, right on the
beach, with plenty of golf courses and

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parasailing opportunities, the perfect place for
someone's golden years. Denise's family was well

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known and well respected at Englewood,
and Denise continued her family's legacy of excellence.

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She was a studious young woman with
a passion for books and math.

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Denise's high school history teacher described her
as whip smart and compassionate. The teacher

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said that Denise was the type of
person who made my teaching job easy and

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rewarding. When they began dating their
senior year of high school, Nate would

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often want to spend time with Denise, but she was too busy studying,

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Nate quickly learned that the fastest way
to Denise's heart was through study. Dates.

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Three weeks after Denise and Nate began
going steady, it was Valentine's Day.

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Nate told reporters from NBC News how
awkward it was. After all,

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he and Denise had just started hanging
out together. Now, all of a

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sudden, they were facing down the
immense romantic pressure of Hallmark cards and boxes

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of chocolate. But Nate played at
cool. He gave Denise a forty dollars

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ring with a heart on it,
and Denise absolutely loved it. From that

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day forward, she never removed her
beloved heart shaped ring, not even when

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Nate proposed and she began wearing her
engagement ring. In two thousand and four,

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Denise graduated magna cum laude from Lemon
Bay High School, and a bit

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over a year later, on August
twentieth of two thousand five, nineteen year

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old Denise Ambergoff married nineteen year old
Nathaniel Allen Lee at the First United Methodist

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Church in Ponta Gorda, Florida,
about twenty seven miles east of Englewood.

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After high school, Denise did intend
to go to college. But when she

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gave birth to her first son in
two thousand and six and her second son

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in two thousand and seven, she
felt her priorities shift. She found such

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joy and being a mother, and
she decided that's what she wanted to do

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in her life, to be a
mother first and everything else could come second.

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Denise's family supported that decision. Her
mother in law, Peggy, said

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that Denise was the perfect mom to
our lovely grandchildren, and Nate supported Denise's

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desire to be a stay at home
mom too, even if it meant he

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had to take on three jobs to
pay the bills. Nate told NBC News,

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we were going through what most people
would say are tough times. You

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know, we had two little kids, and we were young. Money wasn't

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necessarily on our side, but it
didn't face us. We knew we were

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going to be fine, and we
knew we were going to grow old together.

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At the end of the day.
The Leaves were not a rich family,

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but they were rich in love,
and that's all that mattered. As

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Nate and Denise began their lives together, they rented a small home in Northport,

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Florida. It was about eleven miles
northeast of Englewood, and it was

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a nice home, even if it
was a little too far away for Denise's

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parents comfort. Denise's father, Rick
explained to NBC News that both he and

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Denise's mom weren't big fans of where
their daughter's house was located. It felt

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like it was so far away out
in the Booney's, but Rick conceded the

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rent was cheap and the place was
really nice, brand new, three bedrooms

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and two bathrooms. It was,
according to Rick, the best that a

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young struggling couple like Nate and Denise
could afford. Funny enough, Nate and

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Denise actually loved that their home was
a little more rural. Maybe they even

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liked some space away from their parents
and childhood homes. That's natural for many

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of us. Denise's father, Rick
was a police sergeant at the Charlotte County

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Sheriff's Office. He worked in narcotics
for a long while before transferring to the

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Fugitive Apprehension unit. Based on Rick's
career in law orsemen, it wouldn't surprise

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me if Denise's father was a little
protective of his little girl growing up.

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And that's okay. He had a
right to be. On January seventeenth of

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two thousand and eight, Denise was
taking care of some errands. At around

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one forty five pm, she stopped
at the post office on US Highway forty

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one. She walked in carrying a
large package. A local resident, Chuck

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Briggs, opened the door for Denise
as she walked inside, and that same

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local Chuck also happened to notice a
man watching Denise as she stood in the

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post office line. The man was
standing four people behind her, and his

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demeanor was so off putting that Chuck
remembered him. Later he would tell the

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authorities that he believed this strange staring
man was thirty six year old Michael King.

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born in May of nineteen seventy one. He spent most of his life in

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suburban and rural areas of Michigan until
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year two thousand and two. That's
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and move across the country to Florida. There, Michael found work as a

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He just stopped showing up. But
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Michael. He had a hard time
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Michael had been fired from jobs for
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own employers. He was also reprimanded
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at least one occasion, Michael had
even exposed his genitals to a woman who

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was breastfeeding her newborn child. There
was even an allegation of rape against Michael,

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though the victim chose not to make
an official police report, which statistically

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isn't unusual. Studies show that only
sixteen to forty percent of rapes are actually

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reported to law enforcement, and of
those, the percentage that are actually prosecuted

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00:17:52.720 --> 00:17:59.440
as an abysmal four percent. But
back to Michael King. The people who

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interacted regularly with Michael knew he was
trouble. He spent too much time in

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strip clubs. His neighbors often called
the cops because he kept playing pranks on

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them. One woman accused Michael of
spiking her beer so he could have sex

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with her. An old co worker
of Michael's said that he had offered to

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kill his estranged wife multiple times.
That co worker turned Michael down. Michael's

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00:18:23.799 --> 00:18:29.440
own hairdresser, a woman named Patty
Paul, reported that he once showed up

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00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:33.559
for a haircut appointment with a young
woman on his arm. At first,

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Patty assumed the young woman was Michael's
niece or maybe even his daughter. That's

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how young she looked. So imagine
Patty's surprise when Michael and this young woman

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00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:48.960
began kissing. According to Patty,
Michael said this girl was fifteen years old,

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apparently he had met her on the
internet. Despite this incident an other

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alarming behavior, Michael managed to have
a girlfriend, but around December of two

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00:19:00.519 --> 00:19:04.680
thousand and seven, they broke up. At this time, he also faced

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00:19:04.720 --> 00:19:11.480
bankruptcy and lost his home. Michael's
friends and family said this caused him to

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00:19:11.480 --> 00:19:15.559
act oddly. He appeared dazed most
of the time. Sometimes he even looked

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00:19:15.599 --> 00:19:22.240
catatonic, and he was becoming increasingly
paranoid. His next girlfriend, whom he

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00:19:22.279 --> 00:19:26.480
started dating in early January of two
thousand and eight, said Michael was worried

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00:19:26.519 --> 00:19:32.279
that the neighbors were looking through his
windows, and that same girl friend reported

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00:19:32.319 --> 00:19:37.799
that on Thursday, January seventeenth,
Michael seemed fine. Not paranoid, not

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00:19:37.039 --> 00:19:45.119
catatonic, just fine. No one
is sure exactly how Michael Lee King ended

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00:19:45.200 --> 00:19:48.599
up in the vicinity of Denise Amber
Lee. To this day, it's uncertain,

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00:19:49.160 --> 00:19:52.720
and the name Lee appearing in both
of their names is just a coincidence.

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00:19:53.839 --> 00:19:59.200
We're pretty certain that Denise did not
know Michael. She wasn't a partier,

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00:19:59.319 --> 00:20:02.519
and it's not like she was meeting
all sorts of new people while raising

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00:20:02.519 --> 00:20:07.039
her babies at home, and Michael, as far as we know, did

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not know Denise. If Florida local
Chuck Briggs is right about seeing Michael behind

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00:20:11.640 --> 00:20:17.400
Denise at the post office off US
forty one, then Michael may have only

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00:20:17.480 --> 00:20:21.119
laid eyes on her for the first
time ever. As she waited in line

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00:20:21.119 --> 00:20:26.599
to mail her package. On that
day, January seventeenth, Michael went to

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his shooting range in Laurel, Florida. It's just outside of Northport, where

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he also lived, and he wasn't
alone. He had gone to the shooting

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00:20:34.559 --> 00:20:40.799
range with his friend Robert Salvador.
Robert was a handyman. They had met

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00:20:40.799 --> 00:20:45.799
through Michael's plumbing job before Michael stopped
going to work at all. When Michael

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00:20:45.839 --> 00:20:49.880
and Robert arrived at the range,
Michael reached under the passenger seat of his

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00:20:51.000 --> 00:20:55.960
nineteen ninety four Green Camaro. According
to Robert, Michael was getting his gun,

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00:20:56.480 --> 00:21:02.240
a nine millimeter semi automatic pistol.
Robert stopped Michael from going any further.

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00:21:03.319 --> 00:21:07.440
He explained that he couldn't simply take
the gun into the shooting range without

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00:21:07.440 --> 00:21:11.759
a case, but Robert had a
spare gun case for Michael to borrow.

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00:21:11.400 --> 00:21:15.039
So then, around noon, the
two men wrote their names on the gun

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00:21:15.200 --> 00:21:21.799
range of signin's sheet. After about
an hour, Robert and Michael parted ways.

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00:21:22.279 --> 00:21:26.000
It would have been around one o'clock
in the afternoon. At this time,

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Robert continued his day. He went
to see a customer, stopped by

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00:21:30.200 --> 00:21:34.680
home depot, went to a Checker's
grocery store and popped into a storage facility.

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He was home by around five forty
five PM. Where Michael went after

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00:21:40.880 --> 00:21:45.039
the gun range is unclear, but
it's likely that he stopped at the post

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office, saw Denise Lee and followed
her to her Northport, Florida home.

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And we know this because a woman
named Jennifer Eckhart, who was staying with

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some relatives that lived next door to
Denise, told the police the following In

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00:21:59.640 --> 00:22:04.000
the early afternoon, Jennifer was watching
television. From her position, she could

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00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:08.319
clearly see through a window towards the
street, and that's how Jennifer watched a

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00:22:08.359 --> 00:22:11.960
green Camaro, as she said,
creep up and down the road, going

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00:22:12.079 --> 00:22:18.720
very slow. Jennifer watched this green
Camaro circle the block four or five times.

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00:22:18.559 --> 00:22:22.440
Finally, at about two thirty pm, she went outside to investigate.

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She figured the Camaro driver was lost
and needed some help. But right then

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00:22:29.039 --> 00:22:33.240
the green Camaro pulled into Nate and
Denise's driveway. Jennifer made eye contact with

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the driver of the Camaro. She
didn't think much of it. It was

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00:22:37.240 --> 00:22:42.319
some guy she didn't know. Then
Jennifer went back inside. She thought that

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00:22:42.359 --> 00:22:47.200
the guy in the green Camaro had
found his destination, so he didn't need

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00:22:47.240 --> 00:22:52.079
her help. About fifteen minutes later, Jennifer watched the Camaro leave Nate and

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00:22:52.119 --> 00:22:57.119
Denise's home. This Camaro that Jennifer
saw it wasn't just any green Camaro,

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00:22:57.519 --> 00:23:04.759
although that's already pretty distinct vehicle.
This Camaro had a black carbra that's a

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00:23:04.839 --> 00:23:10.160
leather or vinyl casting across the front
of the car. People put them on

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00:23:10.240 --> 00:23:15.119
cars to protect them from small debris
like rocks or bugs, and because they

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00:23:15.119 --> 00:23:21.039
look cool. Michael's car was a
green Camaro with a black carbra. That's

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00:23:21.079 --> 00:23:26.880
too much of a coincidence. Considering
the evidence found later, it's very likely

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00:23:26.160 --> 00:23:33.079
that Jennifer witnessed Denise Lee's abduction.
We're not sure of the exact details surrounding

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00:23:33.119 --> 00:23:37.759
Denise's kidnapping. Some reports say that
she was cutting her two year old son's

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00:23:37.799 --> 00:23:42.400
hair on the back porch when Michael
drove up. Others indicate that she was

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00:23:42.480 --> 00:23:49.079
breastfeeding her six month old son.
Denise's husband, Nate speculated to NBC News

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00:23:49.119 --> 00:23:55.599
that perhaps Denise mistook Michael's nineteen ninety
four green Camaro for Nate's nineteen ninety five

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00:23:55.640 --> 00:24:00.480
Green Dodge Avenger. The cars do
look similar. Baby Denise unlocked the door

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00:24:00.519 --> 00:24:06.000
when she thought Nate had pulled in
the driveway, but then it wasn't Nate

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00:24:06.000 --> 00:24:10.680
who walked through the door. As
I mentioned earlier, Nate arrived home at

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00:24:10.720 --> 00:24:15.599
around three thirty PM. When he
realized Denise was missing, he called nine

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00:24:15.680 --> 00:24:18.640
one one. He told the operator, I just got home from work and

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00:24:18.759 --> 00:24:22.319
my wife. I can't find her. My kids were in the house and

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00:24:22.359 --> 00:24:27.079
I don't know where she is.
I've looked every place. Nate explained to

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00:24:27.079 --> 00:24:32.119
the nine one one operator that no
money was missing and there were no signs

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00:24:32.160 --> 00:24:37.400
of fourth Century. After ending the
call with nine one one, Nate reached

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00:24:37.440 --> 00:24:41.000
out to the one person he knew
would have the knowledge, resources, and

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00:24:41.079 --> 00:24:48.480
conviction to help find Denise. Denise's
father, police Sergeant Rick Goff. At

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00:24:48.519 --> 00:24:52.000
this time, Rick had worked in
the Charlotte County Sheriff's Department for about twenty

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00:24:52.039 --> 00:24:56.880
five years, and earlier that same
day, Rick had actually called his daughter.

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00:24:57.599 --> 00:25:00.799
He asked if Denise, n and
the kids wanted to come over for

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00:25:00.880 --> 00:25:06.400
dinner that night. When Rick answered
Nate's call, he thought Nate was just

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00:25:06.480 --> 00:25:11.160
calling back to confirm the dinner plans, but to Rick's horror, Nate explained

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00:25:11.200 --> 00:25:15.839
to him that Denise was missing.
Rick told NBC News, I go,

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00:25:15.559 --> 00:25:18.480
hey, you guys want to come
over and eat. That's the first thing

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00:25:18.480 --> 00:25:22.920
I asked him. As soon as
he called. He goes, I can't,

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00:25:22.039 --> 00:25:26.640
Denise is missing. And I go, Nate, You've got to explain

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00:25:26.680 --> 00:25:30.640
what you mean by that, and
he says, I'm telling you she's missing.

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00:25:30.960 --> 00:25:36.200
As a veteran police officer, Rick
knew that sometimes missing adult cases are

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00:25:36.240 --> 00:25:40.279
overlooked. The police could chalk them
up to a grown person leaving of their

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00:25:40.319 --> 00:25:45.200
own will and just not telling anyone. But Rick knew Denise would never do

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00:25:45.240 --> 00:25:49.640
that. She would never leave her
babies alone. Rick was certain something was

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00:25:49.799 --> 00:25:53.400
very, very wrong, and he
knew exactly who to call to get the

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00:25:53.400 --> 00:25:59.839
ball rolling on Denise's case. Rick
reached out to Sara Sota's sheriff's department,

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00:26:00.240 --> 00:26:03.279
which was the county Denise lived in, and he also called his own sheriff's

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00:26:03.279 --> 00:26:08.599
department, Charlotte County, and his
police chief. Rick contacted all state,

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00:26:08.680 --> 00:26:14.319
county, and municipal authorities he could
think of, and every single officer that

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00:26:14.400 --> 00:26:18.880
Rick spoke to was eager to provide
him with anything he needed. Within hours

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00:26:18.920 --> 00:26:23.160
after Denise went missing, the search
for her had begun. It was,

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00:26:23.319 --> 00:26:30.319
according to the Denise Amberley Foundation,
one of the most massive cooperative search efforts

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00:26:30.359 --> 00:26:33.799
in the history of the area.
Over three hundred officers helped in the search

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00:26:33.839 --> 00:26:41.359
for Denise. Charlotte County Sheriff Office
Major Mark Carrow told The Port Charlotte's Son

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00:26:41.720 --> 00:26:45.440
the vast majority were there on their
time off, where all someone's child or

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00:26:45.519 --> 00:26:51.480
someone's parent. The police arrived to
speak with Nate at his house by three

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00:26:51.599 --> 00:26:56.839
forty four p m. Fifteen minutes
after his initial call. Right away they

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00:26:56.880 --> 00:27:02.000
began canvassing the neighborhood, which is
when they spoke with Jennifer Eckhart, and

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00:27:02.119 --> 00:27:08.160
law enforcement immediately put out a request
for both helicopter support and bloodhounds. At

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00:27:08.200 --> 00:27:14.759
about four pm, detectives of the
Northport Police Department were notified that Denise was

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00:27:14.799 --> 00:27:18.920
missing. By five o two pm, the Northport law enforcement officials had issued

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00:27:18.960 --> 00:27:22.880
a be on the lookout, also
known as a BOLO for Denise and the

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00:27:22.920 --> 00:27:29.960
Green Camaro. I'm going to pause
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pm and six pm that day,
Michael King unexpectedly showed up at his cousin's

350
00:29:52.640 --> 00:29:57.160
house. The cousin was forty five
year old Harold Muxlow. Michael told Harold

351
00:29:57.480 --> 00:30:02.359
that his lawnmower was stuck in front
yard, and he asked to borrow some

352
00:30:02.440 --> 00:30:07.400
supplies, presumably to unstick the lawnmower. He needed a flashlight, a gas

353
00:30:07.480 --> 00:30:12.680
can, and a shovel. Harold
invited Michael inside and made small talk for

354
00:30:12.720 --> 00:30:18.359
a while. Then, being a
helpful cousin, he gave Harold the flashlight,

355
00:30:18.440 --> 00:30:22.920
gas can, and shovel to Michael
without a second thought. Harold told

356
00:30:22.920 --> 00:30:26.599
the port Charlotte's son that once Michael
had the items he needed, he was

357
00:30:26.680 --> 00:30:32.319
suddenly in a hurry. Michael frantically
put his borrowed items in the front passenger

358
00:30:32.400 --> 00:30:36.039
seat of his car. Harold figured
it was because Michael was running out of

359
00:30:36.119 --> 00:30:41.440
daylight and needed to mow his lawn. And then Harold heard a female voice

360
00:30:41.480 --> 00:30:47.240
yield from Michael's Camaro call the cops. We now know that this was Denise

361
00:30:47.799 --> 00:30:52.359
doing her damnedest to save herself,
but at the time Harold had no clue

362
00:30:52.400 --> 00:30:57.880
who the yelling woman was. At
Denise's screams, Harold walked toward Michael and

363
00:30:57.960 --> 00:31:03.720
the Camaro he asked him what was
going on. Michael, who was beside

364
00:31:03.720 --> 00:31:07.119
the passenger side of the car,
said nothing, don't worry about it,

365
00:31:07.000 --> 00:31:14.720
and so Harold turned around and left. If you're horrified at Harold's actions,

366
00:31:14.960 --> 00:31:19.519
you're not alone. His decision here
may have sealed Denise's fate, and according

367
00:31:19.559 --> 00:31:23.799
to early reporting and NBC News,
it might be worse than we imagined.

368
00:31:25.599 --> 00:31:29.839
Denise might have briefly exited Michael's Camaro
as she screamed to Harold for help,

369
00:31:30.640 --> 00:31:37.000
which means that Harold saw Denise and
still chose to ignore her. But Harold

370
00:31:37.079 --> 00:31:41.079
denied seeing Denise. He said he
only heard a woman's screams, but according

371
00:31:41.119 --> 00:31:45.759
to court documents, Harold saw an
unknown person lying prone in the back seat.

372
00:31:47.880 --> 00:31:52.279
These court documents reported that Harold watched
Michael crawl over the Camaro's console to

373
00:31:52.359 --> 00:31:59.319
push this unknown person's head down,
and Harold also saw this unknown person's knee

374
00:31:59.400 --> 00:32:04.880
rise up from where they were lying
down. It's hard not to judge Harold

375
00:32:04.920 --> 00:32:08.319
here. Why would this have been
acceptable to him even if he didn't know

376
00:32:08.359 --> 00:32:13.480
Denise was kidnapped? Why didn't he
just walk over to the Camaro and ask

377
00:32:13.559 --> 00:32:17.599
if she was okay? When Harold's
role in Denise's case was revealed to the

378
00:32:17.640 --> 00:32:23.359
media, the public was absolutely livid, But according to Harold, the whole

379
00:32:23.440 --> 00:32:30.160
situation was far more complicated than it
seemed. Harold explained that Michael was known

380
00:32:30.200 --> 00:32:36.400
for having crazy relationships with women.
He told reporters, I was used to

381
00:32:36.440 --> 00:32:40.640
my cousin having wacky girlfriends and telling
tall tales, so at the time I

382
00:32:40.680 --> 00:32:45.079
thought this was a spat between the
two. My mother had told me things

383
00:32:45.160 --> 00:32:50.720
his mom had said about him and
his psycho girlfriends. He was just a

384
00:32:50.720 --> 00:32:54.400
bad judge of women he dated,
and as Harold explained to the port Charlotte's

385
00:32:54.440 --> 00:32:59.160
son, he didn't want to cause
family drama by calling the cops on his

386
00:32:59.240 --> 00:33:05.759
cousin over a small relationship tiff.
However, in the aftermath, Harold understood

387
00:33:05.759 --> 00:33:09.960
that a different choice could have made
all the difference. He explained, I

388
00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:15.119
have not slept. I keep going
over this in my head. I'm having

389
00:33:15.160 --> 00:33:21.440
trouble focusing at work. It just
haunts me. Denise's father, Rick,

390
00:33:21.920 --> 00:33:27.960
understandably didn't give a shit about Harold's
excuses. He told NBC News, I

391
00:33:27.960 --> 00:33:30.519
don't know how he did what he
did, knowing he's got a young daughter

392
00:33:30.640 --> 00:33:35.519
himself. What if it was her
in the car. He needs to think

393
00:33:35.559 --> 00:33:37.640
of that, you know, could
have been his daughter in that car.

394
00:33:38.519 --> 00:33:43.920
And it's true. Harold did have
a daughter. She was seventeen years old

395
00:33:43.960 --> 00:33:47.240
at the time, and her name
is Sabrina. After Michael drove away with

396
00:33:47.279 --> 00:33:52.319
Harold's shovel and other items, Harold
actually called Sabrina to tell her about it.

397
00:33:53.680 --> 00:33:59.519
When Harold explained what happened, Sabrina
immediately understood what he did not.

398
00:34:00.359 --> 00:34:04.559
A woman was in danger. She
called nine one one as soon as she

399
00:34:04.599 --> 00:34:07.719
got off the phone with her dad. It was six twenty three pm,

400
00:34:07.760 --> 00:34:13.800
about four hours after Denise had been
kidnapped. Sabrina relayed almost all of the

401
00:34:13.920 --> 00:34:19.360
information her father told her to the
nine one one operators that a woman was

402
00:34:19.440 --> 00:34:23.559
being held captive in her father's cousin's
car. At this news, the nine

403
00:34:23.639 --> 00:34:29.159
one one operator wanted to know the
location of Harold's house. At first,

404
00:34:29.440 --> 00:34:34.280
Sabrina was hesitant to provide the operator
with her dad's address. She knew Harold

405
00:34:34.280 --> 00:34:37.519
would want to be anonymous, but
finally she told the nine one one operator

406
00:34:37.559 --> 00:34:43.719
where Harold lived. The nine one
one operator also asked Sabrina for the name

407
00:34:43.760 --> 00:34:49.559
of her father's cousin. Sabrina mistakenly
told the operator that Harold's cousin's name was

408
00:34:49.639 --> 00:34:54.199
Gary King. After a bit more
discussion, she suddenly and thankfully remembered that

409
00:34:54.239 --> 00:35:00.079
it wasn't Gary King, it was
Mikey King, as in Michael. Later

410
00:35:00.519 --> 00:35:06.360
talking to the press, Sabrina explained
how she didn't think. She just called

411
00:35:06.480 --> 00:35:12.519
nine one one quote it's common sense. She needed help. She was yelling

412
00:35:12.599 --> 00:35:15.800
help. If somebody needs help,
then you get help. You don't stop

413
00:35:15.840 --> 00:35:22.199
and think about it. Slowly but
surely, the emergency responders were putting together

414
00:35:22.239 --> 00:35:28.360
the pieces of who had abducted Denise
Lee, and between Sabrina's phone call and

415
00:35:28.480 --> 00:35:31.559
another recent nine one one phone call, they had almost everything they needed.

416
00:35:32.519 --> 00:35:37.320
And that most recent nine one one
call, well, it was made only

417
00:35:37.400 --> 00:35:44.159
nine minutes before Sabrina's call at six
fourteen pm, and it came from Denise

418
00:35:44.199 --> 00:35:49.840
herself. When Michael was distracted by
talking with Harold. Denise was bound in

419
00:35:49.880 --> 00:35:54.119
the Green Camaro. There she somehow
got a hold of Michael's cell phone and

420
00:35:54.199 --> 00:36:00.679
she successfully called nine one one.
Denise must have only barely to hold nine

421
00:36:00.760 --> 00:36:05.639
one one before Michael returned to the
car after visiting with Harold. When the

422
00:36:05.760 --> 00:36:09.760
nine one one dispatcher started asking Denise
questions, she couldn't answer her directly.

423
00:36:12.039 --> 00:36:15.000
She had to explain to them as
if she was talking to Michael. It's

424
00:36:15.039 --> 00:36:21.920
incredibly clever and a little hard to
explain. I'm going to play you Denise's

425
00:36:22.000 --> 00:36:24.760
call. I've only used a nine
one one call one other time before,

426
00:36:24.840 --> 00:36:30.119
when it was also critical to the
story. You need to hear not only

427
00:36:30.199 --> 00:36:34.639
how smart Denise was, but the
desperation in her voice as she struggled to

428
00:36:34.679 --> 00:36:58.159
control her emotions and was doing everything
she could to relay every detail she could

429
00:36:52.280 --> 00:37:16.079
he Uh, Hello, Hello,
Hello, let me house you let me

430
00:37:22.519 --> 00:37:44.880
okay? Hello, Hello, what
are you doing? You're called Carol?

431
00:37:45.679 --> 00:37:54.400
Hello? Hell you let me all
play on your Hello? Help me?

432
00:37:55.559 --> 00:38:10.760
What the what's the adam that you're
a going for? What is the address?

433
00:38:10.760 --> 00:38:22.960
The chance held on? Ma'am?
There are because give you for fall

434
00:38:24.199 --> 00:38:37.199
home? What's your name? Hello? What's your name? Please? Favorite?

435
00:38:40.320 --> 00:38:44.519
I just want to see my kids
again. Your name is Denise.

436
00:38:52.599 --> 00:39:14.519
Thank you, thank you? You
on I seventy times P. Please where

437
00:39:14.559 --> 00:39:19.719
are you at? Can you talk? You're on I seventy five I don't

438
00:39:19.800 --> 00:39:31.639
know. I know this time?
Can you just tell me where we are?

439
00:39:32.519 --> 00:39:35.800
If you're are you blind? Hold
it? If you have, but

440
00:39:36.639 --> 00:39:53.519
I don't have on your phone?
I don't know. Do you know this

441
00:39:53.719 --> 00:40:02.119
guy? I don't. I don't
know. Denise? Do you know this

442
00:40:02.239 --> 00:40:06.840
guy? You might have the phone? Legain, I'm not here thing.

443
00:40:06.880 --> 00:40:14.119
I'm playing him too. You can
playing up polish? You say how far?

444
00:40:16.719 --> 00:40:37.840
I mean? Well, go Denise? How long have you been gone

445
00:40:37.880 --> 00:40:50.880
from your house? How do you
know how long you've been gone from your

446
00:40:50.920 --> 00:41:06.159
house? What's your last name?
Me? Do you know what's your name

447
00:41:06.199 --> 00:41:16.559
is? Denise Lee? Can you
tell it all? What straight you're on?

448
00:41:19.639 --> 00:41:24.079
Can you know this guy? That's
what you No, you don't bet

449
00:41:24.159 --> 00:41:32.760
a lamb from anywhere? What's your
head dress? What's your own? My

450
00:41:32.800 --> 00:41:52.920
address? You know what? You? Can you see? Or? Do

451
00:41:52.960 --> 00:42:06.960
you have a blind? Father?
Can? Can they turn off the radio

452
00:42:07.000 --> 00:42:30.880
or turn it down? Hello?
Are you then? The call ended?

453
00:42:31.960 --> 00:42:37.400
I know that not only was that
difficult to listen to emotionally, but hard

454
00:42:37.480 --> 00:42:40.880
to understand. I'll put the full
transcript on my website, which will be

455
00:42:40.960 --> 00:42:45.920
linked to in today's show notes.
The transcript clarifies most of what we can't

456
00:42:46.039 --> 00:42:51.159
hear. A lot of it is
what Michael was saying to her, which

457
00:42:51.280 --> 00:42:55.079
is grim. What is important is
even though it's frustrating to hear the nine

458
00:42:55.159 --> 00:43:00.519
one one operators say hello over and
over again, she does begin to understand

459
00:43:00.679 --> 00:43:07.559
and is also relaying information to her
supervisor. Also, apparently Denise's abduction had

460
00:43:07.559 --> 00:43:12.119
already been in the media, so
nine one one was wary of hoaxes.

461
00:43:13.559 --> 00:43:17.079
The operator says the call is coming
off the Northport tower and also points out

462
00:43:17.119 --> 00:43:22.400
that Denise may have laid the phone
down and can't hear her questions. But

463
00:43:22.559 --> 00:43:25.880
you can tell Denise can hear her
despite the loud music, and is doing

464
00:43:25.920 --> 00:43:30.960
her best to answer the questions.
But still I would be lying if I

465
00:43:31.000 --> 00:43:35.920
said it wasn't extremely frustrating to hear
how long it took nine to one one

466
00:43:36.000 --> 00:43:40.599
to catch on and ask the right
questions. And yet Denise answers every question

467
00:43:42.199 --> 00:43:45.840
at great risk, like when she
says Lee after she has asked her last

468
00:43:45.920 --> 00:43:49.840
name, and when she has repeatedly
asked the address where she is, she

469
00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:52.880
figures out a way to answer by
asking Michael where they are going. He

470
00:43:53.039 --> 00:43:59.199
answers for no. Five streets from
her house, When the operator keeps asking

471
00:43:59.280 --> 00:44:02.960
her address, Denise begins pleading to
take her back home, back to Latour,

472
00:44:04.360 --> 00:44:08.719
which is the street she lived on. She conveyed so much crucial information,

473
00:44:09.280 --> 00:44:14.079
her full name, the street she
lived on. She answers yes and

474
00:44:14.199 --> 00:44:17.800
no questions as best she could.
It is truly remarkable how much she is

475
00:44:17.840 --> 00:44:23.119
able to do while managing to keep
Michael's phone. Now, the people involved

476
00:44:23.159 --> 00:44:28.239
in Denise's case had some hope.
Denise's father, Rick, listened to the

477
00:44:28.320 --> 00:44:34.000
call and verified that it was his
daughter's voice. Between Denise and Sabrina's ninety

478
00:44:34.039 --> 00:44:37.840
one one calls, it seemed like
the authorities could close it on Michael find

479
00:44:37.960 --> 00:44:43.480
him. Nate told NBC News,
I was one hundred percent sure they were

480
00:44:43.599 --> 00:44:45.639
going to get her, and I'm
thinking, you know, a cell phone,

481
00:44:45.840 --> 00:44:51.599
while they can track her, they
can figure this out. But unfortunately

482
00:44:51.760 --> 00:44:55.679
Michael was using a cheap throwaway phone
so it had no GPS. All the

483
00:44:55.760 --> 00:45:00.960
police could do was see which cell
phone towers lit up. The phoneless dialed

484
00:45:00.480 --> 00:45:07.440
the pings. But still now Denise's
captor had a name, Michael Lee King.

485
00:45:07.559 --> 00:45:14.519
With this new information, law enforcement
officers immediately swarmed Michael's residence in Northport,

486
00:45:14.559 --> 00:45:19.639
Florida. They forcibly entered the premises, but Michael and Denise were not

487
00:45:19.800 --> 00:45:24.039
there. At nearly the same time, between six and seven PM, Michael's

488
00:45:24.119 --> 00:45:30.760
cousin, Harold Muxlow, had gone
to Michael's home. Following the suspicious interaction

489
00:45:30.880 --> 00:45:35.760
with his cousin, Harold wanted to
see if Michael's lawnmower was actually stuck in

490
00:45:35.880 --> 00:45:40.760
his front lawn. Upon seeing that
there was no stuck lawnmower and no Michael,

491
00:45:42.320 --> 00:45:45.960
Harold began to worry. He called
nine one one anonymously from a convenience

492
00:45:46.000 --> 00:45:51.199
store, and he explained that a
woman was being held against her will and

493
00:45:51.360 --> 00:45:57.320
Michael's car. This was the fourth
nine one one call. Meanwhile, at

494
00:45:57.400 --> 00:46:00.599
the same time all this was going
down, yet another woman called nine one

495
00:46:00.719 --> 00:46:07.000
one. This caller's name was Jane
Kowalski. But the four other nine one

496
00:46:07.119 --> 00:46:12.400
one calls I've mentioned from Nate,
Denise, Sabrina, and Harold were connected

497
00:46:12.440 --> 00:46:16.320
to the Sarasota County call center.
But this nine one one call from Jane,

498
00:46:16.760 --> 00:46:21.719
perhaps the most important one, was
picked up by the Charlotte County call

499
00:46:21.840 --> 00:46:27.599
Center. Jane was barely over the
Sarasota County line, so she wasn't talking

500
00:46:27.679 --> 00:46:32.480
to Sarasota County emergency responders anymore.
And honestly, this detail shouldn't have mattered

501
00:46:32.519 --> 00:46:37.199
to Denise's case. You should be
able to report an emergency from any county

502
00:46:37.639 --> 00:46:43.760
and expect that information to be relayed
to the correct county officers. But tragically,

503
00:46:44.320 --> 00:46:49.320
this became one of the most important
details of Denise's case. At six

504
00:46:49.440 --> 00:46:52.719
thirty pm, Jane was stopped at
a traffic light on US Highway thirty one.

505
00:46:53.480 --> 00:46:58.199
Michael was stuck in traffic in the
lane next to Jane. That's when

506
00:46:58.320 --> 00:47:01.679
Jane heard Denise screaming and making other
loud noises from where she was bound in

507
00:47:01.800 --> 00:47:09.280
Michael's camaro. Jane told NBC News
that she heard complete, just terrifying screaming

508
00:47:09.639 --> 00:47:14.760
loud. I mean, I've never
heard anything like that. So I looked

509
00:47:14.840 --> 00:47:16.960
over at him, and I saw
the man, and I sort of gave

510
00:47:17.039 --> 00:47:22.400
him a look, like, what's
going on in your car. Jane watched

511
00:47:22.480 --> 00:47:27.320
Michael push something down in the back
seat, probably Denise's head, and as

512
00:47:27.400 --> 00:47:30.920
Michael turned back to the road,
Jane saw a hand rise up from the

513
00:47:30.960 --> 00:47:36.960
back seat and bang loudly on the
passenger side window. Michael and Jane locked

514
00:47:37.000 --> 00:47:42.239
eyes. He knew Jane could hear
Denise. Immediately, Jane tried to get

515
00:47:42.320 --> 00:47:46.440
Michael's license plate number. As their
triffuck light turned green and other cars began

516
00:47:46.519 --> 00:47:52.440
moving along the highway. Jane drove
incredibly slow, trying to get behind Michael,

517
00:47:52.000 --> 00:47:57.199
but Michael slowed down too. He
changed lane's so that he was behind

518
00:47:57.320 --> 00:48:01.280
Jane, making it impossible for her
to get his license plate. During all

519
00:48:01.360 --> 00:48:06.400
of this, Jane called nine one
one. She gave the operator real time

520
00:48:06.480 --> 00:48:09.480
directions to Michael. He's on the
road this time. I have eyes on

521
00:48:09.639 --> 00:48:15.800
him. He's turning here. But
the operator who responded to the call sounded

522
00:48:15.880 --> 00:48:19.960
distracted. They were speaking to someone
else, asking Jane to hold on for

523
00:48:20.039 --> 00:48:22.880
a moment. It wasn't like the
operator was chit chatting on the job.

524
00:48:23.480 --> 00:48:28.400
Rather, it was as if the
operator knew exactly how important this information was,

525
00:48:29.159 --> 00:48:34.400
but the chaos of the call center
was clearly overwhelming. While on the

526
00:48:34.440 --> 00:48:37.719
phone with nine one one, Jane
watched Michael make another lane change and take

527
00:48:37.760 --> 00:48:44.880
a sharp left onto Toledo Blade Boulevard, going towards I seventy five, but

528
00:48:45.039 --> 00:48:50.639
she couldn't follow Michael because the traffic
had become too dense. The information that

529
00:48:50.760 --> 00:48:54.960
Jane provided to the Charlotte County nine
one one call center was huge, Michael

530
00:48:55.079 --> 00:49:00.760
King's exact location with a very alive, very ski aired Denise Lee and his

531
00:49:00.920 --> 00:49:07.159
Camaro. But Jane's intel never made
it to any officer, not Charlotte County

532
00:49:07.239 --> 00:49:14.519
officers, not Sara Sota County,
and not Northport. Only minutes after Jane

533
00:49:14.599 --> 00:49:17.519
called, the only people who knew
where Denise Lee were or the nine one

534
00:49:17.639 --> 00:49:22.480
one operators who had taken the call. And that is because of a simple

535
00:49:22.519 --> 00:49:28.960
miscommunication. It's tragic how simple it
was. When Jane called nine one one

536
00:49:29.079 --> 00:49:32.519
at six thirty pm, a nine
one one call taker picked up as soon

537
00:49:32.599 --> 00:49:37.519
as Jane mentioned there was a woman
being abused in the backseat of a camaro.

538
00:49:37.039 --> 00:49:42.239
This call taker realized that this might
be connected to Denise Lee's case,

539
00:49:43.039 --> 00:49:45.639
so the call taker stood up and
yelled across the aisle to the dispatchers to

540
00:49:45.719 --> 00:49:51.679
get their attention. Then the nine
one one call taker shared what Jane was

541
00:49:51.760 --> 00:49:57.119
telling her. Next, the call
taker wrote the information Jane provided on a

542
00:49:57.159 --> 00:50:01.800
piece of paper. She handed it
to Dispatcher A, but Dispatcher a's shift

543
00:50:01.960 --> 00:50:07.760
was just ending, so Dispatcher A
handed the paper to Dispatcher B, who

544
00:50:07.840 --> 00:50:12.880
shift was just starting. But for
some reason, another woman, dispatcher C,

545
00:50:13.599 --> 00:50:19.320
intercepted this crucial piece of paper.
At this moment, Michael evaded Jane

546
00:50:19.360 --> 00:50:22.639
by exiting US Highway thirty one.
She could no longer see his green Camaro.

547
00:50:23.480 --> 00:50:28.519
All the while, the original nine
one one call taker logged Jane's call

548
00:50:28.639 --> 00:50:35.039
information into the wrong database, and
the paper with all of Jane's provided information

549
00:50:35.840 --> 00:50:40.280
it was forgotten. In response to
Jane's nine one one phone call, no

550
00:50:40.599 --> 00:50:46.000
officers were dispatched. I don't understand
this. Even if they had not connected

551
00:50:46.039 --> 00:50:51.880
the call to Denise's abduction, this
call alone should have warranted a major dispatch.

552
00:50:52.440 --> 00:50:55.280
A woman called and was adamant that
she heard a woman screaming and saw

553
00:50:55.360 --> 00:51:00.480
her banging on the back window of
a car. How could they not dispatch?

554
00:51:01.519 --> 00:51:07.079
Later investigators would realize that there were
multiple patrol cars on US Highway thirty

555
00:51:07.119 --> 00:51:12.360
one at the time, the same
road Jane and Michael were on. One

556
00:51:12.440 --> 00:51:16.000
deputy even said that he was on
Toledo Blade Boulevard at six thirty five pm

557
00:51:16.719 --> 00:51:21.519
he was stopping at a gas station
to fill up. It's likely that Michael

558
00:51:21.599 --> 00:51:25.280
drove right past this deputy as he
fled down Toledo Blade Boulevard to escape Jane.

559
00:51:28.000 --> 00:51:30.599
In the weeks after this eventful night, the newspapers would catch wend of

560
00:51:30.679 --> 00:51:36.320
this egregious error by the Charlotte County
nine one one call center, and it

561
00:51:36.639 --> 00:51:39.880
was, to put it lightly,
a shit show. The female call center

562
00:51:39.960 --> 00:51:45.199
workers involved in the mistake were ordered
to do remedial training, put on disciplinary

563
00:51:45.320 --> 00:51:52.199
probation for six months, and suspended
for several days, but the public was

564
00:51:52.280 --> 00:51:57.119
not satisfied with this punishment. They
wanted someone to be fired, and even

565
00:51:57.159 --> 00:52:00.960
though obviously none of the nine one
one call center workers to trial in court,

566
00:52:00.679 --> 00:52:06.119
the court of public opinion was very
hard on them, and perhaps the

567
00:52:06.199 --> 00:52:10.119
public was right. Denise's husband,
Nate thought so. He was also upset

568
00:52:10.599 --> 00:52:15.480
that the one call taker and numerous
operators and dispatchers weren't fired. He told

569
00:52:15.559 --> 00:52:20.199
Dateline that it felt like a coin
flip as to whether or not they'd be

570
00:52:20.280 --> 00:52:23.679
able to help the next person who
called nine one one. Later, the

571
00:52:23.800 --> 00:52:29.960
call taker who was on the phone
with Jane voluntarily took an emotion and transferred

572
00:52:29.960 --> 00:52:34.760
to a different position. It's unclear
what became of the other dispatchers involved in

573
00:52:34.840 --> 00:52:40.400
this debacle. Charlotte County Sheriff John
Davenport stood by his call center workers.

574
00:52:42.559 --> 00:52:47.039
He claimed that the situation was chaotic
and stressful. Davenport argued that it was

575
00:52:47.119 --> 00:52:52.480
unlikely that Jane's call would have changed
Denise's fate. He had already had officers

576
00:52:52.519 --> 00:52:57.079
in that area looking for a green
Camaro, but no one had spotted it.

577
00:52:57.920 --> 00:53:01.840
Bob Carpenter, the spokesperson the Charlotte
County Sheriff's Department, said we don't

578
00:53:01.880 --> 00:53:07.519
feel we did anything wrong. But
Denise's father, Rick Goff, who worked

579
00:53:07.599 --> 00:53:13.559
for the Charlotte Sheriff's Department, had
a differing opinion. He told NBC News

580
00:53:13.679 --> 00:53:16.840
quote, she was beating on the
window so hard and screaming, trying to

581
00:53:16.920 --> 00:53:21.639
get help, which is the smart
thing to do because by that time she

582
00:53:21.800 --> 00:53:25.679
knows she probably wasn't coming back.
As far as I'm concerned, we blew

583
00:53:25.719 --> 00:53:31.400
it. And I say we because
I'm part of that sheriff's office. I'm

584
00:53:31.440 --> 00:53:42.599
going to pause now for a short
commercial break. Okay, back to the

585
00:53:42.719 --> 00:53:46.760
night of Thursday, January seventeenth,
two thousand and eight. Denise Lee was

586
00:53:46.840 --> 00:53:52.920
being held in Michael King's green Camaro, along with Michael's broad's shovel, gas

587
00:53:52.079 --> 00:53:58.920
can, and flashlight. The last
person to see Denise alive was Jane Kowalski

588
00:53:59.159 --> 00:54:06.159
at about six By seven PM,
the police had instituted mandatory checkpoints at all

589
00:54:06.239 --> 00:54:10.599
Northport, Florida interstate exits. They
began searching almost every single car in an

590
00:54:10.639 --> 00:54:16.119
effort to capture Michael and save Denise. A helicopter flew in the air searching

591
00:54:16.199 --> 00:54:22.360
for a green Camaro. Near this
time, other officers were speaking to Harold

592
00:54:22.480 --> 00:54:27.159
Muxlow at his home. Detectives were
obtaining a search warrant for Michael's house.

593
00:54:28.119 --> 00:54:31.480
For hours, every officer in this
section of Florida was on high alert.

594
00:54:32.239 --> 00:54:37.719
They had Michael's Camaro's description and license
plate number, as well as the driver's

595
00:54:37.800 --> 00:54:44.800
license photos of both Michael and Denise. Deputy Christian Wimer and State Trooper Edward

596
00:54:44.840 --> 00:54:50.599
Pope were stationed at Toledo Blade Boulevard
near I sent five at about nine ten

597
00:54:50.719 --> 00:54:54.840
pm. They identified Michael's green Camaro
right away. The two officers followed the

598
00:54:54.920 --> 00:55:01.159
Camaro and eventually he stopped Withdrew his
weapon. As he approached the Camaro,

599
00:55:02.320 --> 00:55:07.320
he commanded the driver to exit the
vehicle multiple times. As Pope shouted the

600
00:55:07.360 --> 00:55:12.199
demand for a fifth time, he
explained that if the driver, which was

601
00:55:12.280 --> 00:55:16.280
Michael, did not comply, he
would begin shooting into the vehicle. Only

602
00:55:16.360 --> 00:55:22.480
then did Michael get out of his
car. Immediately, Pope noticed that Michael's

603
00:55:22.519 --> 00:55:25.599
clothes were wet from the waist down, and he saw that Michael's shoes were

604
00:55:25.639 --> 00:55:30.159
covered in mud. Pope also saw
that on the bra of the green Camaro

605
00:55:30.639 --> 00:55:37.480
there were multiple hair strands and also
an unknown saplike substance. There was also

606
00:55:37.639 --> 00:55:43.639
hair on the Camaro's spoiler, along
with some blood spatter. Pope searched Michael's

607
00:55:43.719 --> 00:55:46.239
car, but there was no sign
of Denise. By nine thirty PM,

608
00:55:46.719 --> 00:55:52.199
Michael was in the Florida Highway Patrol's
custody. To everyone's dismay, Michael would

609
00:55:52.239 --> 00:55:57.880
not tell the officers where Denise was. Instead, he fed them some bullshit

610
00:55:58.000 --> 00:56:02.679
story. The details of Michael's lives
were poorly reported, probably in part because

611
00:56:02.719 --> 00:56:08.039
everyone knew Michael was lying. The
police conducted a clever ruse to try to

612
00:56:08.079 --> 00:56:13.840
get Michael to tell the truth.
The officers allowed Harold into the room where

613
00:56:13.880 --> 00:56:19.280
Michael was being held. Then the
officers used video surveillance to record the conversation

614
00:56:19.920 --> 00:56:23.760
between Harold and Michael. Still,
Michael didn't tell the truth. Instead,

615
00:56:24.239 --> 00:56:28.679
he said that he and Denise were
kidnapped together. He said that he was

616
00:56:28.760 --> 00:56:32.280
blindfolded and that's why he had no
idea where the kidnapper had put Denise.

617
00:56:34.880 --> 00:56:38.159
At eleven pm, Michael led the
police to a wooded area near Balllsey Street

618
00:56:38.199 --> 00:56:43.199
in Northport. He tried to convince
the authorities that this is where he and

619
00:56:43.280 --> 00:56:47.800
Denise were kidnapped. Even though the
investigators didn't believe him, they dutifully searched

620
00:56:47.840 --> 00:56:52.239
the area for Denise. They looked
until two am, but they didn't find

621
00:56:52.320 --> 00:56:58.679
her. At about eight am the
next day, Friday, January eighteenth,

622
00:56:59.320 --> 00:57:02.280
Michael Lee King was arrested on the
charge of kidnapping, to commit or to

623
00:57:02.400 --> 00:57:07.679
facilitate commission of a felony. He
was held in the South County Jail without

624
00:57:07.760 --> 00:57:13.280
bond. At noon that day,
the police provided the public with a news

625
00:57:13.360 --> 00:57:17.079
update, and that evening they expended
their search for Denise to include nearby cities.

626
00:57:19.079 --> 00:57:23.079
Meanwhile, Michael's green Camaro was towed
to the Northport Police Department. There,

627
00:57:23.760 --> 00:57:29.360
detectives found a dirt covered shovel in
the back seat. Later, Harold

628
00:57:29.440 --> 00:57:32.639
confirmed that this was the same shovel
he had given to Michael the day before.

629
00:57:35.239 --> 00:57:38.559
Forensic experts also found Denise Lee's palm
print on the driver's side window,

630
00:57:39.159 --> 00:57:45.159
along with the hair strands and the
heart shaped ring that Denise had purposefully planted

631
00:57:45.239 --> 00:57:52.280
in the back seat. DNA testing
also confirmed that the hair, blood,

632
00:57:52.360 --> 00:57:55.800
and sap like substance found on the
outside of the Camaro belonged to Denise.

633
00:57:58.000 --> 00:58:02.000
In Michael's home, crime scene chnicians
discovered what would later be described as a

634
00:58:02.119 --> 00:58:07.800
rape room. The specific details of
this room weren't released, so I'm not

635
00:58:07.920 --> 00:58:10.920
sure what that means, but the
authorities did release that they found new and

636
00:58:12.280 --> 00:58:17.280
used duct tape rolls in several rooms
throughout Michael's house. There were also wads

637
00:58:17.320 --> 00:58:21.960
of duct tape with hair strands stuck
to them. Some of the hair was

638
00:58:22.039 --> 00:58:28.000
Denise's and some was Michael's. Law
enforcement also recovered a Winnie the Poo blanket

639
00:58:28.079 --> 00:58:34.599
from Michael's home. It was stained
with Denise's blood and Michael seaman. The

640
00:58:34.719 --> 00:58:39.519
search for Denise was extensive on Friday, January eighteenth. The local officials used

641
00:58:39.559 --> 00:58:45.159
helicopters, horses, and all terrain
vehicles to find her. They searched from

642
00:58:45.199 --> 00:58:50.880
daylight to dusk. They began the
process again on Saturday, January nineteenth.

643
00:58:51.559 --> 00:58:55.159
All the while, many of the
searching officers and Denise's family had hope.

644
00:58:55.800 --> 00:59:00.639
They prayed that Denise was alive.
The Charlotte County Chief Deputy Bill Cameron said,

645
00:59:01.079 --> 00:59:07.280
we are treating this as a rescue
mission, But that Saturday, the

646
00:59:07.400 --> 00:59:12.679
canine unit discovered Denise. She was
buried in a shallow grave in a wet

647
00:59:12.760 --> 00:59:17.239
marshy field. The location was next
to an abandoned construction site, about a

648
00:59:17.320 --> 00:59:22.719
half mile away from where Michael had
been arrested. The officer and his police

649
00:59:22.760 --> 00:59:29.239
dog who found her had followed some
footprints leading that direction. The police had

650
00:59:29.280 --> 00:59:34.679
to dig about three feet down before
they found Denise. Denise was nude and

651
00:59:34.840 --> 00:59:37.800
curled in a fetal position, and
she had suffered a gunshot wound to the

652
00:59:37.880 --> 00:59:44.199
front of her head. Later medical
examiners would confirm that this was Denise's cause

653
00:59:44.239 --> 00:59:49.760
of death. This next part is
explicit and hard to hear. Please fast

654
00:59:49.840 --> 00:59:52.599
forward about a minute and fifteen seconds
if you don't want to hear the details.

655
00:59:54.599 --> 00:59:59.679
Based on the location of the bullet's
entry wound right above Denise's eye,

656
01:00:00.159 --> 01:00:04.840
she probably wasn't blindfolded when she was
shot. If she was awake, she

657
01:00:04.920 --> 01:00:09.199
would have seen everything as had happened. And Denise's eye probably exploded at the

658
01:00:09.280 --> 01:00:15.360
impact of the bullet. That's what
the experts believed was the saplike substance on

659
01:00:15.480 --> 01:00:22.199
Michael's car. It was Denise's ocular
fluid. The medical examiner also found blood

660
01:00:22.239 --> 01:00:27.480
in Denise's lungs that suggested that Denise
had been alive for a period of time

661
01:00:27.559 --> 01:00:31.760
after she was shot. Additionally,
two pieces of duct tape were found in

662
01:00:31.840 --> 01:00:37.559
Denise's hair. Her wrists were bruised
from her restraints, and medical experts found

663
01:00:37.639 --> 01:00:45.239
that Denise had also sustained vaginal bruising
and anal tearing, both caused by sexual

664
01:00:45.280 --> 01:00:51.320
assault, which medical experts believe happened
before Denise died, and the seamen discovered

665
01:00:51.360 --> 01:00:59.079
in Denise's vagina matched Michael's DNA profile. Denise's body was released to her family

666
01:00:59.239 --> 01:01:04.159
on Monday, January twenty first.
Her funeral services were held at one pm

667
01:01:04.320 --> 01:01:07.480
on Wednesday, the twenty third of
January two thousand and eight at the First

668
01:01:07.599 --> 01:01:13.280
United Methodist Church in Ponta Gorda,
Florida, the same church where she and

669
01:01:13.400 --> 01:01:17.599
Nate had been married four years earlier. It was the most well attended funeral

670
01:01:17.719 --> 01:01:24.000
that area had ever seen. Hundreds
of police officers attended in support of Denise

671
01:01:24.159 --> 01:01:30.920
and her father. Her funeral procession
was thirty miles long. Students from local

672
01:01:31.039 --> 01:01:37.280
schools stood outside and watched as the
procession went by, and people stopped working

673
01:01:37.559 --> 01:01:43.519
to salute the hearse Denise was buried
in Gulf Pines Memorial Park in Inglewood,

674
01:01:43.559 --> 01:01:47.800
Florida, and lieu of flowers.
Denise's family asked for donations to be made

675
01:01:47.840 --> 01:01:55.280
to the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office courtesy
of the Denise Amberley Memorial Fund. Following

676
01:01:55.360 --> 01:02:00.679
the discovery of Denise's body, investigators
continued searching that wooded area for more clues

677
01:02:01.239 --> 01:02:06.320
that would help convict Michael of his
crimes. They didn't want to leave any

678
01:02:06.400 --> 01:02:10.000
element of Michael's trial to chance.
They wanted a conviction, and they weren't

679
01:02:10.039 --> 01:02:15.599
messing around to get it. During
the ensuing investigation, a nine millimeter shell

680
01:02:15.719 --> 01:02:22.400
casing was found near the shallow grave
King had dug for Denise. However,

681
01:02:22.840 --> 01:02:25.800
the bullet that killed Denise was never
located, and neither was the murder weapon.

682
01:02:27.719 --> 01:02:30.119
But a few hundred yards away from
the burial site, a crime scene

683
01:02:30.119 --> 01:02:36.320
technician found a pair of boxer shorts
belonging to Denise's husband, Nate. Denise

684
01:02:36.480 --> 01:02:38.920
was known to wear them, so
she was probably wearing them when she was

685
01:02:39.000 --> 01:02:45.679
abducted. Michael Seaman was found on
the boxer shorts, and near the original

686
01:02:45.760 --> 01:02:52.320
location of the boxer shorts was Denise's
shirt. For two days after Denise's body

687
01:02:52.440 --> 01:02:57.760
was recovered, Jane Kowalski called the
Northport police officials. It seemed like no

688
01:02:57.880 --> 01:03:02.679
one had heard of her or her
nine related to Denise's case. Finally,

689
01:03:02.880 --> 01:03:08.519
someone put two and two together and
Jane's information was recorded. This time it

690
01:03:08.679 --> 01:03:15.480
was put into the correct database.
I'm going to pause now for a final

691
01:03:15.599 --> 01:03:27.280
commercial break. Michael Lee King's trial
began in late August of two thousand and

692
01:03:27.360 --> 01:03:31.480
nine. It was very high profile. Dateline had covered Denise's case a while

693
01:03:31.559 --> 01:03:37.239
ago and was reshowing their episode around
the time of the trial, and Court

694
01:03:37.320 --> 01:03:43.400
TV broadcasted live coverage. King pled
guilty to all charges, though at one

695
01:03:43.480 --> 01:03:46.719
point He claimed that Denise was shot
from a helicopter while he and her were

696
01:03:46.760 --> 01:03:52.639
having consensual sex, but that story
didn't make it to trial because, of

697
01:03:52.719 --> 01:03:55.679
course, no defense lawyer in their
right mind would have let Michael King take

698
01:03:55.719 --> 01:04:01.719
the stand. The prosecution asserted that
on the day of January seventeenth, two

699
01:04:01.760 --> 01:04:06.519
thousand and eight, King probably held
Denise at gunpoint with a nine millimeter gun,

700
01:04:08.440 --> 01:04:12.880
probably the same gun he had used
at the shooting range earlier. Then,

701
01:04:13.079 --> 01:04:15.679
through an unknown series of events,
Denise put her two sons in a

702
01:04:15.719 --> 01:04:21.760
crib together and someone shut the Lee's
houses windows. Maybe it was Denise wanting

703
01:04:21.800 --> 01:04:27.400
to make sure her toddler couldn't wander
off, or maybe it was Michael worried

704
01:04:27.480 --> 01:04:30.639
that people would hear Denise cry out
for help, or worried the neighbors would

705
01:04:30.639 --> 01:04:35.559
hear those babies crying after being left
alone. Then he forced Denise into his

706
01:04:35.679 --> 01:04:41.119
green Camaro's back seat. To some
this might have felt like the end,

707
01:04:41.760 --> 01:04:45.159
but Denise knew that she had a
chance. She was an extraordinarily brave woman

708
01:04:45.360 --> 01:04:49.719
and the daughter of a cop.
Plus, according to Nate, Denise was

709
01:04:49.800 --> 01:04:54.920
a big fan of crime shows like
Law and Order. Equipped with her knowledge

710
01:04:54.920 --> 01:04:59.280
of crime. Denise ripped out strands
of her own hair. She made sure

711
01:04:59.320 --> 01:05:01.239
to get the fallo, which is
the part of your hair that holds the

712
01:05:01.280 --> 01:05:06.800
most DNA. Denise knew that her
DNA and Michael's car would help implicate him

713
01:05:06.880 --> 01:05:13.000
later on. Then Denise took off
her heart shaped ring and dropped it into

714
01:05:13.039 --> 01:05:16.079
Michael's back seat. This was the
same heart shaped ring that Nate had given

715
01:05:16.159 --> 01:05:21.559
her back in two thousand and four. Nate told NBC News the ring didn't

716
01:05:21.639 --> 01:05:26.079
necessarily come off very easily, so
it's not like it just fell off.

717
01:05:26.719 --> 01:05:29.960
I know she placed it there,
and it's the only ring I know she

718
01:05:30.039 --> 01:05:34.719
would have been one sure I would
have been able to identify. Anyone in

719
01:05:34.800 --> 01:05:40.679
Denise's life would have immediately recognized the
ring for what it was, a cherished

720
01:05:40.760 --> 01:05:45.599
gift from Nate and evidence that Denise
had been trapped in Michael's car. After

721
01:05:45.719 --> 01:05:50.360
Michael kidnapped Denise, he transported her
to his house, where she was bound

722
01:05:50.400 --> 01:05:58.039
with duct tape and sexually assaulted for
approximately four hours. Then Michael borrowed his

723
01:05:58.159 --> 01:06:02.199
cousin's shovel, drove Denise to an
abandoned construction site, and shot her in

724
01:06:02.239 --> 01:06:08.280
the head. In trial, the
state played all of the recorded nine one

725
01:06:08.400 --> 01:06:13.920
one calls made in relation to Denise's
abduction, including the one she made herself.

726
01:06:14.880 --> 01:06:17.559
I can only imagine how emotionally jarring
that would have been for jurors.

727
01:06:18.719 --> 01:06:23.960
In fact, the trial court noted
the following, it is most extraordinary and

728
01:06:24.079 --> 01:06:28.519
extremely rare that one can actually hear
the emotions in the voice of an innocent

729
01:06:28.639 --> 01:06:31.840
victim who was doomed to be murdered. The nine one one recording of the

730
01:06:31.960 --> 01:06:38.119
victim tragically reveals her fear, mental
state, her terror, and her emotional

731
01:06:38.239 --> 01:06:42.880
strain. One need only listened to
portions of this call to comprehend her mental

732
01:06:42.960 --> 01:06:46.480
state. The court acknowledges that although
it quotes from the nine one one call,

733
01:06:46.960 --> 01:06:53.000
it cannot by any means convey the
fear and terror clearly heard in Denise

734
01:06:53.119 --> 01:07:00.440
Lee's voice and that recording. During
the trial, the DNA matching both Denise

735
01:07:00.559 --> 01:07:04.519
and Michael Kane was explained to the
jury and over forty witnesses were prepared to

736
01:07:04.599 --> 01:07:10.719
testify on behalf of the state.
Needless to say, the prosecution was ready,

737
01:07:11.760 --> 01:07:15.559
and unsurprisingly, Michael's defense team did
not have much to say. In

738
01:07:15.679 --> 01:07:19.440
response. They pointed out that no
one had actually seen Michael killed Denise,

739
01:07:19.960 --> 01:07:25.280
and that the murder weapon was never
found. They tried to play some blame

740
01:07:25.320 --> 01:07:29.119
on Robert Salvador, Michael's work friend, who had gone to the shooting range

741
01:07:29.159 --> 01:07:33.519
with him on the morning of January
seventeen, but Robert had cooperated with the

742
01:07:33.599 --> 01:07:38.480
police fully, even giving them the
guns he had used at the shooting range

743
01:07:38.519 --> 01:07:42.679
that day, and no, Michael
did not give the police the gun he

744
01:07:42.920 --> 01:07:47.599
used at the shooting range that day
or any other gun. On August twenty

745
01:07:47.639 --> 01:07:51.519
eighth, two thousand and nine,
after two hours and four minutes of deliberation,

746
01:07:53.079 --> 01:07:56.519
the jury found thirty eight year old
Michael Lee King guilty of kidnapping,

747
01:07:57.000 --> 01:08:01.199
raping, and murdering twenty one year
old Denise and Lee. Upon hearing the

748
01:08:01.320 --> 01:08:06.920
verdict, Michael King was emotionless.
Denise's father, Rick said at a press

749
01:08:06.960 --> 01:08:12.599
conference she was a strong lady who
made sure that her children were safe even

750
01:08:12.639 --> 01:08:15.520
though she was faced with adversity.
Because of her ability to think on her

751
01:08:15.600 --> 01:08:20.239
feet, she was able to provide
information to investigators that will help convict the

752
01:08:20.319 --> 01:08:24.720
perpetrator who did this to her.
Her sons will know that she is a

753
01:08:24.840 --> 01:08:30.800
hero in saving their lives. Next
came the penalty phase of Michael's trial,

754
01:08:30.239 --> 01:08:34.359
where they would decide if he would
face the death penalty. His defense attorneys

755
01:08:34.439 --> 01:08:39.560
argued that Michael should not receive the
death penalty because he had suffered a severe

756
01:08:39.640 --> 01:08:44.760
injury as a child. To that
end, a doctor testified that when Michael

757
01:08:44.840 --> 01:08:47.560
was six years old, he was
injured in the head during a sledding accident.

758
01:08:48.279 --> 01:08:56.159
Afterward, his siblings said Michael's behavior
changed significantly. In court, the

759
01:08:56.239 --> 01:09:00.359
doctor said that frontal lobe injuries made
people more likely to have poor judgment,

760
01:09:00.800 --> 01:09:06.119
exhibit blunted effect, take excessive risks, have difficulty regulating impulses such as aggression,

761
01:09:06.520 --> 01:09:12.920
and have difficulties separating fantasy from reality. And when that doctor did a

762
01:09:12.960 --> 01:09:16.359
pet scan of Michael, he found
abnormal activity in his frontal lobe, which

763
01:09:16.399 --> 01:09:23.119
could have been caused by the sledding
accident. Later, when Michael appealed on

764
01:09:23.159 --> 01:09:28.840
the grounds of ineffective counsel, his
own lawyers would reveal that this sledding accident

765
01:09:29.039 --> 01:09:34.359
argument was a hard sell. One
lawyer said she was grasping at straws when

766
01:09:34.359 --> 01:09:39.600
it came to finding a medical expert
witness who would support Michael on this front.

767
01:09:40.600 --> 01:09:45.359
That lawyer contacted eight different neuropsychology and
mental health experts, and almost all

768
01:09:45.439 --> 01:09:50.479
of them thought Michael was a pathological
liar who was pretending his head injury was

769
01:09:50.560 --> 01:09:56.720
worse than it actually was. They
didn't even trust Michael's IQ tests, which

770
01:09:56.800 --> 01:10:00.359
indicated that he was on the border
of having a learning disability. These experts

771
01:10:00.439 --> 01:10:04.439
knew that Michael would be motivated to
fail the IQ tests to stay alive.

772
01:10:05.680 --> 01:10:11.359
Plus, there was no proof that
this sledding accident had caused any brain damage,

773
01:10:11.760 --> 01:10:15.479
personality changes, or intellectual disabilities,
just the word of a doctor who

774
01:10:15.520 --> 01:10:20.560
said the accident could have caused those
things, and the anecdotal reports of Michael's

775
01:10:20.600 --> 01:10:26.920
family. From the very beginning of
the trial, Denise's father and many others

776
01:10:27.000 --> 01:10:30.319
were hoping that Michael would be sentenced
to death. Rick told the port Charlotte's

777
01:10:30.359 --> 01:10:33.279
son, I will go to watch
them put the needle in his arm.

778
01:10:33.680 --> 01:10:39.720
They can't send him there fast enough. On December fourth, two thousand and

779
01:10:39.800 --> 01:10:44.279
nine, Michael Lee King was sentenced
to death for kidnapping and first degree murder.

780
01:10:44.960 --> 01:10:48.840
He received thirty years for sexual battery. It was a unanimous decision by

781
01:10:48.880 --> 01:10:56.680
the jury Immediately following this decision,
a spencer hearing was held. These always

782
01:10:56.720 --> 01:11:00.159
happen when a jury recommends the death
penalty in Florida. It's the last chance

783
01:11:00.239 --> 01:11:04.920
for a defendant's lawyer to offer additional
evidence before the judge enters the sentence.

784
01:11:08.039 --> 01:11:13.960
In this case, Michael's defense team
explained about Michael's bankruptcy, divorce, school

785
01:11:14.039 --> 01:11:17.359
history, jail records, and work
history. They claimed that these were mitigating

786
01:11:17.399 --> 01:11:21.680
factors that should allow him to escape
the death penalty in exchange for life in

787
01:11:21.760 --> 01:11:28.079
prison, but the judge agreed with
the jury. Michael was sentenced to death.

788
01:11:28.960 --> 01:11:32.239
Later in twenty seventeen, the Supreme
Court of Florida denied his appeal.

789
01:11:33.479 --> 01:11:38.800
Even after the trial, it was
unclear how Michael found and targeted Denise.

790
01:11:39.560 --> 01:11:43.560
Some suspected that perhaps he had done
some plumbing work for Denise and Nate,

791
01:11:44.000 --> 01:11:47.319
but that was never confirmed, and
neither Nate nor any of Denise's other family

792
01:11:47.399 --> 01:11:54.000
members recognized Michael King. Nate told
NBC News, I've tried to look at

793
01:11:54.039 --> 01:11:58.640
this from every possible scenario and answer
every single question and dug as deep as

794
01:11:58.680 --> 01:12:01.399
I could possibly dig, and I
had never ever been in contact with this

795
01:12:01.600 --> 01:12:05.840
person. Ever, and I know
Denise had never been in contact with that

796
01:12:05.960 --> 01:12:11.760
person. Ever, It's just scary
to think that something that random somebody could

797
01:12:11.800 --> 01:12:16.319
have been following her for weeks months. Today, fifty two year old Michael

798
01:12:16.399 --> 01:12:21.119
Lee King is awaiting his death sentence
in the Union Correctional Institute in Florida.

799
01:12:23.439 --> 01:12:27.319
If she had survived, Denise would
have been about thirty seven years old today.

800
01:12:28.319 --> 01:12:31.920
Her children are about seventeen and fifteen
years old. Nate, of course

801
01:12:32.239 --> 01:12:38.479
raised them both. In the wake
of Denise's death, Nate formed the Denise

802
01:12:38.560 --> 01:12:43.560
Amberley Foundation. He said, the
foundation is there so no other person,

803
01:12:43.680 --> 01:12:47.000
family, or community has to endure
the pure hell of a similar event.

804
01:12:47.880 --> 01:12:53.119
We envision a time when a citizen's
first call for help will be answered by

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01:12:53.159 --> 01:12:57.399
a state of the art nine one
one call center staffed with dedicated and highly

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01:12:57.479 --> 01:13:03.359
trained professionals, a time when one
will fail no one. As an advocate

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01:13:03.439 --> 01:13:09.319
for standardized nine one one operator training, Nate traveled across the United States.

808
01:13:10.000 --> 01:13:15.840
He spoke on the Today's show,
Doctor Phil twenty twenty and more. Today.

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01:13:15.920 --> 01:13:19.640
The Denise Amberley Foundation is still active. If you're interested, you can

810
01:13:19.760 --> 01:13:26.960
find out more at Denise Amberlee dot
org. Her father, Rick also decided

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01:13:27.000 --> 01:13:31.239
to make an impact after Denise's death. He pushed for politicians to reform Florida's

812
01:13:31.279 --> 01:13:38.880
nine one one system through a new
law dubbed the Denise Amberley Act. Rather

813
01:13:39.000 --> 01:13:44.479
than having nine one one operator policies
and procedures be designed within each separate county,

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01:13:44.960 --> 01:13:47.880
this law would make the training the
same across the state. On October

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01:13:48.000 --> 01:13:56.840
first, twenty ten, the Denise
Amberley Act passed unanimously. Speaking of his

816
01:13:57.000 --> 01:14:00.439
late daughter's heroism in the face of
such terror, Rick said, if I

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01:14:00.600 --> 01:14:03.720
was in that situation, I don't
know what I would have done. She

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01:14:03.880 --> 01:14:09.119
did everything she could. Denise did
everything in her power to save her life.

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01:14:11.359 --> 01:14:15.399
This has been one of the hardest
episodes I've ever recorded. It is

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01:14:15.439 --> 01:14:19.039
difficult to think of the harror Denise
faced and not feel anger towards the nine

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01:14:19.119 --> 01:14:25.279
one one personnel in this case.
Unfortunately, that is a useless emotion.

822
01:14:25.399 --> 01:14:30.079
At this point, we can take
solace that Denise did not suffer and die

823
01:14:30.159 --> 01:14:33.119
in vain. Her case made major
changes to the nine one one system in

824
01:14:33.199 --> 01:14:41.239
Florida and brought awareness nationwide. Despite
the sorrow I feel, I also can't

825
01:14:41.279 --> 01:14:45.359
help but think Denise Lee was a
total badass. First, she saved her

826
01:14:45.439 --> 01:14:50.239
son's lives, making sure they were
safe. Then she knew exactly what to

827
01:14:50.359 --> 01:14:55.520
do, not only in trying to
save her own life, but leaving evidence

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01:14:55.560 --> 01:14:59.800
to make sure that bastard Michael King
will never see the light of day again.

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01:15:00.359 --> 01:15:04.199
We can hope and pray that she
can somehow see the good that came

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01:15:04.239 --> 01:15:11.239
of her heroism that horrible day and
know that her actions affected real change that

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01:15:11.560 --> 01:15:19.880
is saving lives. Southern Fried Truecrime
is hosted and produced by me Erica Kelly.

832
01:15:20.279 --> 01:15:25.920
Today's episode was researched and written by
Andrea Marshbank, with additional research and

833
01:15:26.000 --> 01:15:30.159
writing by myself, and of course, all editorial opinions are my own.

834
01:15:30.159 --> 01:15:34.399
Southern Fred's original music is by Rob
Harrison of Gamma Radio and the original graphic

835
01:15:34.520 --> 01:15:39.720
art is by Coolie Horner. Today's
episode was edited and mixed by Brendan shack

836
01:15:39.760 --> 01:15:43.920
Snyder of Southern Gothic and Erica Kelly. If you have any case suggestions,

837
01:15:44.039 --> 01:15:47.760
please go to my website and click
on the listener suggestion tab or email SFTC

838
01:15:47.960 --> 01:15:54.560
Research at gmail dot com. Please
remember that I do not accept suggestions on

839
01:15:54.640 --> 01:15:59.880
social media private messages. The research
tab on Southern Fried Truecrime dot Com is

840
01:16:00.199 --> 01:16:02.560
the best way for me to get
those little known cases you'll always send me.

841
01:16:03.279 --> 01:16:08.039
But please come join our Facebook group, Southern Fried True Crime Fans Discussion

842
01:16:08.079 --> 01:16:11.760
Group, where we swap recipes,
worship Dolly Parton, and share memes.

843
01:16:12.199 --> 01:16:15.680
I much prefer spending my social media
time and our lovely group. We do,

844
01:16:15.840 --> 01:16:18.800
of course discuss true crime, not
just Southern Fried but all kids,

845
01:16:19.159 --> 01:16:23.880
but it is still very much a
Southern lifestyle group. Our group is a

846
01:16:23.920 --> 01:16:26.159
safe and fun corner of Facebook,
and by god, we you mean it

847
01:16:26.239 --> 01:16:28.960
when we say no shit ass is
allowed. It's not just a motto,

848
01:16:29.119 --> 01:16:32.560
it is how we run the group. If you enjoy today's show, don't

849
01:16:32.640 --> 01:16:36.880
forget to subscribe and please tell a
friend or rate and review on iTunes.

850
01:16:38.319 --> 01:16:42.760
I'm also on all large platforms like
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851
01:16:42.880 --> 01:16:47.279
and YouTube. Until next time,
thanks so much for listening, y'all. Take care