Life On The Line

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We may have been missed amazing, beautiful husband, and then I just want to see my kids again.

Was there any sign of forced entry or a struggle?

No.

No arrived.

None.

Nothing.

Nothing.

So it looked like a woman just sounded vanished.

Yep, with leaving her two precious babies behind.

All he kept saying to me, I'll never forget this.

Chief, something's terribly wrong.

My daughter is gone.

Her car's at her house.

Her phone's at her house.

Her purse is at her house.

Her kids are at her house.

And she's not.

Ready, Daddy?

I'm ready.

Oh my goodness.

What can we do?

What can we do?

What can we help?

Where can we go?

There's no way she would go off and leave them kids at home like this.

I know 100% there's something wrong.

I could see through my blinds the green Camaro going up and down the road.

She's with her abductor and managing to make a 911 call.

Hands coming up and just hitting that window.

Wow.

Child in the car and it was banging on the window and crying and screaming like, get me out of here, scream.

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

No.

And you're witnessing a kidnapping.

Let me know.

I've been telling this story all over the country.

I've probably told it hundreds, if not thousands of times over the years.

It started just like every other day.

That turned out to be literally the worst day of my life.

You know what?

I know.

I don't know where mommy is.

Northport emergency.

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

She's never done this before?

No, no, no, no, no.

A Northport man came home and found his two young children, both both under the age of three, home alone and his wife missing.

Denise Lee's husband reported her missing and the massive search was underway.

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

Denise Amber Lee disappeared from her home around 3.30 in the afternoon on January 17th.

Authorities are still calling it an act of investigation.

It's incredibly painful to dive into the story over and over again,

but it's something I have to continue to do.

You know, make a positive difference, have an impact impact on somebody's life.

Good morning, everyone.

My name is Nathan Lee.

Take me back to that day.

What do you remember about getting up and getting going that morning?

Typically in the morning, I would try to be as quiet and, you know, ninja-like as possible, you know, getting ready for work and leaving because denise as soon as she would wake up she'd be awake i was working a bunch of different jobs and just trying to make sure that she could stay home with the boys started my shift 7 a.m to 11 a.m and the brief conversation i'll remember it like it was yesterday a nice cold front came through florida in january so it got down to like the low 70s and so i'm like open up the house turn off the ac so we can save money and she's like okay i'll do that

i was gonna invite him over to eat maybe once a week we would try to do that.

And I remember trying to call her, just say, hey, we guys want to come over, and never got an answer.

My shift ended at 3 o'clock.

I had a 25-minute drive home, and I called her a total of seven times, and she didn't answer.

Was that unusual?

That was weird.

I started getting a little nervous that something wasn't right.

I pulled to the driveway, but the windows were shut.

I opened the door and the first thing I noticed was how hot it was in the house.

I walked in the front door, put my phone and keys down on the chair, and noticed her cell phone sitting on the top of the couch.

The AC was off, and so I turned that on and I noticed her purse and keys sitting on the counter.

But no sign of Denise.

No sign of Denise.

Everything looked normal.

And that's when I heard Noah starting to wake up from a nap, but it was coming out of Adam's bedroom.

And so I walked in there and they were both in the same crib.

Is that typical?

That was not normal.

Pick up Noah and he's immediately asking me, where's mommy?

Where's mom?

Where's mom?

I literally walked in every room of the house and she wasn't anywhere.

I didn't know what else to do.

And I called 911.

Northport Police Emergency.

We all know those critical three digits to dial in an emergency, 911.

And when Denise Lee, a young mom of two, suddenly vanishes from her West Florida home, there are a series of those calls captured in real time.

And each can be the difference between life and death.

Northport emergency?

Yes, I'm at Latora Avenue.

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

My kids were in the house and I don't know where she is.

I've looked every single place and I don't know.

How old are your kids, sir?

My oldest is two and my youngest is six months.

No, I know.

I don't know where mommy is.

Her vehicle is in the driveway?

Yes.

Does she have any medical conditions?

No.

Her purse is here.

I don't.

Her cell phone is here.

I don't.

I don't know.

I don't know.

Okay, what is your name?

Denise.

There's little video clips of her at the park with the push in Noah and the swing, her giggling laugh.

That was her.

You know, that was Denise all the time with the kids.

I got you.

You ready daddy?

I'm ready.

You ready?

She was a stay-at-home mom.

She was like all about her boys and her family.

Noah you ready?

Whoa!

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

Selfless is the number one word.

She put them first for everything.

Patience.

I don't think I ever heard her raise her voice at them.

One not.

One no smile.

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

Denise was pretty young, 21-year-old, young mom.

Tell me about her life at that point.

Oh, she loved being a mom.

You know, her family meant everything to her.

She was so proud of her kids and, you know, Nathan.

They were her life.

She looks so happy.

Yeah, that's her with Noah and Adam.

They look like they're about the same size.

They're about the the same size.

They're 18 months apart.

They look like the happy family right here.

Take me back to the time when you met those teen years.

She was a senior in high school.

I was a sophomore technically in college.

She was super crazy smart and was taking college courses already.

She was a brainiac and it was very smart.

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

Rick Goff is a legend at the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office.

He's been here a long time.

I felt like I just had an instant friendship with Rick, kind of guys cut from the same cloth.

Cops, cops.

Is that Rick?

Yes.

Oh my goodness.

Yeah.

What was it about her that attracted you?

She was beautiful, funny, goofy.

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

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

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

Like it was weird.

I kind of already knew.

You already knew that age.

I think so.

So you started dating and pretty soon is February Valentine's Day.

How did you mark the occasion?

Yeah, it was pretty awkward.

You know, Valentine's Day was not even a month after our first date.

And so we went to the mall and we came up with this plan to knock over $40.

Like, that was our cap.

She found a ring.

Not even sure what, if it was silver or what it was.

It had a heart on it with a little stone in the middle.

That turned out to be the most special thing, her prized possession.

Soon you're talking marriage?

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

I remember finding out like she was pregnant and I was kind of shocked because she was like really young.

She was really happy that day.

I don't think she stopped smiling the whole day.

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

That's a quick family.

Yeah,

we didn't waste any time.

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

Then January 17th, 2008, everything changes.

Have you checked the residence?

Yes.

Every closet, every room, bathroom, everywhere.

It was like she evaporated.

She wouldn't have left them kids for nothing.

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

Northport is a great little town.

It's a beautiful city.

The neighborhood that Denise and her husband lived in was just a typical small-family Florida neighborhood.

You would feel safe living in that community.

How did they wind up moving to Northport?

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

And it was a brand new house.

Never been lived in a cheap, pretty cheap.

Back then, the recession was hitting and there was a ton of empty houses for rent.

And we found a three bedroom, two bath for like $500 a month.

And it was in a beautiful area, all pine trees, wooded area, very secluded, which we thought was a good thing.

Being in our own house was really special.

It was like, okay, we're a real family.

But we loved it.

We loved the house.

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

Have you checked the residence?

The entire residence?

The entire house, yes.

Every closet, every room, bathroom, everywhere.

Are the children okay?

Yes.

Well, my youngest one's crying, but they're okay.

Oh, my goodness.

All right, Nathan, I have an officer en route for you.

If she does return home by the time we get their calls back, let us know, okay?

Okay.

All right, thank you.

Thank you.

Bye-bye.

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

But at that time, you were...

At the time, I was a detective with the agency in the major crimes unit.

You get this call that Denise Lee is missing.

I got a notification from my sergeant and said, hey, I need you two to go out to Latour Avenue reference to a missing female.

10-4, thin-built.

Approximately 5'2 ⁇ , dirty blonde hair, blue eyes, 110 pounds.

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

Do you just wait for the police?

Do you call anybody else?

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

Who happens to be a detective?

Rick always, when he answers the phone, he just starts talking.

And the first thing Rick asked me, I'll never forget it.

I can't imagine what this must have felt like from his standpoint.

He asked me, do you guys want to come over for dinner tonight?

And I'm like, Rick, we can't.

I don't know where Denise is.

And he's like, what do you mean by that?

Did you immediately become concerned?

Yes.

Why?

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

Absolutely.

And then he went into cop mode.

Is there any signs of forced entry?

Is there blood anywhere?

You know, and I'm like, Rick, no, it's like she evaporated.

And I, I, I felt better after talking to him because I knew if anybody was going to find where Denise was, it was him.

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

I didn't know what to think.

I had no idea what could have happened.

So very quickly, Denise's mom arrives to take Noah and Adam home.

They had taped off the house, the crime scene was there.

I brought them home with me.

Adam was only six months old.

She was still nursing him.

I had a friend go to the store, get formula, because I knew it was going to be time for him to eat.

He was hungry they were my

focus

now when you first go out there i would imagine you've got to rule out the husband any investigator knows that when you have something of suspicion when it comes to a domestic a husband and wife that you're going to be on hypervigilant of wanting to focus on that person right

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

And I understand it.

You watch a lot of these types of shows and it's always the husband.

But luckily, Denise's dad arrived and that changed everything.

They respected his authority.

This was his daughter and this investigation ramps up very quickly.

First thing they go, well maybe she went with somebody else, you know, her and Nathan Haven't I go?

Absolutely not.

Nathan was her life.

There's no way she would go off.

and leave them kids at home like this.

I know 100% me there's something wrong.

Everything we have for random friends.

There are multiple law enforcement agencies involved.

Who's taking the lead?

Northport's taking the lead.

I don't think it's in their jurisdiction, but Detective Morales was the case agent.

Was there any sign of forced entry or a struggle?

No.

No.

None.

Nothing.

Nothing.

So it looked like a woman just sounded vanished.

Yep, with leaving her two precious babies behind.

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

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

He was distraught.

Yeah.

You're her father, but you're also in law enforcement.

So what goes on for you at this moment?

Me, I was,

hey, you know, you always hear postpartum depression maybe after a pregnancy, but it's been six months, so you kind of, well, maybe she's just lost in the woods out here because the whole house is surrounded by woods and stuff.

So I went to Chief Cameron.

I called him at the time, and he was the undersheriff, and I'd say, hey, can we get her helicopter up here?

Northport doesn't have a helicopter.

Can we get extra people?

Instantly, I felt the panic in his voice.

And all he kept saying to me, I'll never forget this.

Chief, something's wrong.

Chief, something's terribly wrong.

He goes, my daughter is gone.

Her car's at her house.

Her phone's at her house.

Her purse is at her house.

Her kids are at her house.

And she's not.

He said, Chief, she would never do that.

She would never leave her kids, Chief.

I said, I'm on the way, I'm bringing the cavalry.

We'll help you.

We're going to find it.

So you had law enforcement justice.

I was hearing it about a sergeant's daughter's missing.

They were just, they were coming, going, what can we do?

What can we do?

What can we help?

Where can we go?

I called the dispatchers and I said, anybody who's free, any detective, any officer, any motorcycle, doesn't matter what, send him to Northport.

You've got to go find Rick's daughter.

We were trying to figure out where is Denise.

So we started going door to door, talking to neighbors.

Around 2.30, the neighbor, a young female, had saw a green Camaro.

She said she saw a man in a green Camaro.

She made eye contact with him.

I could see through my blinds a green Camaro going up and down the road.

And I walked outside just as he was turning around.

I pulled into her driveway real quick and sat in the car.

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

And he sat there for, let's say, a good 15 minutes.

And so I went back inside, and then about 10 minutes later, he left.

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

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

Please let me know.

I just want to see my family again.

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Denise A.

Lee, Northport 118.

X107 at 80 Units I went to Kimmerson area.

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

We got the information from the neighbor of a green Camaro that was seen in her driveway around 2.30.

That was about an hour prior to Nathan getting home.

So we were on the questions with Nathan about do you have friends that have a Camaro, family members, someone at your work?

I do, actually.

I know a guy, I worked with a guy, drove a green Camaro, but it turned out it wasn't him.

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

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

We knew that someone had to have taken her.

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

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

Please let me go.

Please let me go.

I just want to see my family again.

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

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

What's your name, ma'am?

Denise, I made your beautiful husband, and then I just want to see my kids again.

She's with her abductor.

She's with her abductor.

And managing to make a 911 call.

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

That's pretty incredible.

It is absolutely incredible and very heroic.

She was very good at giving indicators to 911.

She didn't want to let him know that she was talking to somebody.

Do you know this guy that's with you?

No.

You don't know him from anywhere?

No, please.

Oh, God, help me.

What is the address of your ass?

Where are we going?

I got it all up in a mile now.

I'm literally where?

Because it's clouded.

Can you see that?

That's the way four streets call five streets over your house.

I cleaned it up.

I was.

Northport L9, Sarasota just had Denise A.

Lee on the phone, advised that she was taken by an unknown subject.

Chief Cameron came to me and said there was a 911 call, and they said, listen, there's a girl on the phone.

They think it's Denise.

I said, Rick, I have to have you listen to this recording.

And I played it for him.

Hello?

Please let me go, God, please.

He cried and he said, that's her.

That was horrible for me and horrible for Rick.

She was trying to save her life, get back to her kids.

You know, it's just tough.

It's

tough to deal with.

When you eventually heard that call,

that couldn't have been easy for you.

Yeah, that was tough.

What's your home address, do you know?

Oh, no, no.

Please just take me to my house.

Can you just take me home?

I'm looking, please.

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

She's just laying on top of the phone in the back seat, best we can figure, and answering dispatches questions and then trying to relay it secretly, talking to him.

Can they turn off the radio or turn it down?

I can't hear you.

I'm so loud.

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

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

At some point on that call, you can hear the kidnapper realizing his phone is missing and demanding it back.

I don't have your phone!

Let's please go!

I don't have it.

I'm sorry.

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

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

unbelievable.

She was doing everything in her power to be found.

Yes, absolutely.

Are you gonna hurt me?

Are you gonna let me out now?

Don't, don't.

I lost them.

Chris, I lost her.

The guy grabbed the phone from her.

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

The clock is ticking.

Are you hopeful?

When a non-long call came in, absolutely hopeful.

I was thankful that she was alive.

I thought it was only a matter of time before they found her.

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

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

And authorities are trying to pinpoint her location.

I assume she called 911, they know where she is.

That's what everybody thinks.

Turns out that's not how it works.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Had you ever heard of this man before?

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

Did his name ring a bell to you at all?

No, it did not.

Just completely a random guy.

Yes.

Usually there's a connection or a relationship or a motive, some tie-in between the parties involved in cases like this.

For the life of us, we couldn't figure this one out.

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

And so you knew right away that this is- This is our guy.

This is your guy.

This is our guy.

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

Police emergency operator Bono.

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

What's the problem?

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

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

She was tied up, and the girl came out of the car, got out of the car, and my dad's cousin went and put her back in the car.

And when she got out, okay, where's your dad's house?

It's in Northport.

Do you know the address of it?

He wants to be anonymous.

The guy his cousin left.

Okay, what's the cousin driving?

A green Camaro.

And what does he look like?

He's white.

Medium-sized, kind of chubby.

What's the cousin's name?

Oh, it's Mikey King.

Michael King?

Yeah.

Okay.

Sabrina's dad is Harold Muxlow.

A cousin of Michael King.

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

Are you sure you can't give me your dad's address?

He doesn't want nothing to do with it.

Like, he's afraid to call because it's his cousin.

I guess my mom says this guy's crazy.

Okay, so all you can tell me his name is Michael King.

He was just at your dad's house and he had a woman tied up and she tried to get out of the car and he put her back in the car, correct?

And her shoes yelling.

She was yelling out to Muxloe, call police, call the cops.

Just the idea that she was so actively, actively, you know, some people would have been subdued in the back.

Doing everything she could.

He heard a woman's voice.

He asked King what's going on.

King brushed him off and he let King drive away unimpeded.

Okay, we've been looking for this female.

Get out?

Yes.

We've got the helicopter up.

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

Okay?

Yeah.

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

I was very angry at him, you know, and he called his 17-year-old daughter to stick up for him.

Thank God she called 9112 and gave us the description of the car and stuff like that herself because

he was too much of a coward to do it himself.

He had a 17-year-old daughter, too, and he didn't want to help my daughter.

911, what's the location of your emergency?

I'm not sure exactly what the emergency is exactly.

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

I think there's somebody that's

taken without the

don't want to be where they need to be.

Uh-huh.

And they're in the 95 Green Camaro from Northport, somewhere.

Okay.

How do you know this?

I know.

Do you know who the guy is?

Uh, no.

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

Uh, no, sure don't.

Okay, do you know the last time you saw him?

Uh, about 15 minutes ago.

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

Now, where would he be going with this female?

Um,

he came over to my dad's house, borrowed a shovel, a gas tank, and found them out.

King came to him with some cock and ami story about King's lawnmower being broken down.

And so he asked his cousin Harold Muxlow for a shovel, a gas can, a flashlight.

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

Breaking news right now, Northport police are searching for a woman they say was kidnapped.

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

911, where's your emergency?

Well, I'm on 41 going south.

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

It's like a, I want to say like a Camaro type of car, and there's a kid in the back seat and screaming, and not a happy scream like, get me out of here, scream.

Do you want me to turn?

Try to follow him?

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It's a pretty busy road.

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

Jane Kowalski finds herself driving down this road in Northport, Florida, unaware that a young mom of two, Denise Lee, has been missing for three hours now.

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

What kind of screams?

Horrific.

Loud,

curdling, just horrific screams.

I looked over and I see the guy, it's clear as day, it's like from here to right there, but he kept turning and trying to push something down in his back seat.

And then a hand comes up and it was a Camaro, right?

And so it was like two doors, so there's a little window in the back and the hand's coming up and just hitting that window.

Give me a sense of how the hand was hitting the window.

Okay.

Wow.

What's your instinct telling you about what's happening?

Something's wrong.

Something's completely wrong.

Something's wrong.

Someone needs help.

So the light turns green and I hesitate because I want to get that license plate.

In Florida, you only have license plates on the back, but the light turns green and he hesitates.

We don't go.

Well, there's tons of cars behind us and they're start honking.

He knows that you see him.

Yeah, he knows because I looked at him and I'm because I sort of gave him the look like, what the hell?

You know, what's going on in your car?

And I finally go forward, thinking that he's going to go forward, but he pulls right behind me.

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

He's behind me.

And that's also sort of scary because I know that he saw me looking at him.

So I hang up with my sister, I call 911.

911, where's your emergency?

Well, I'm on 41 going south, and I was at a stoplight, and a man pulled up next to me, and there was a child screaming in the car.

What kind of vehicle is he in?

It's a blue Camaro, like a Camaro, like in the 90s or early 2000s or something.

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

The way 911 phone systems work is when you dial your phone, it will hit the closest tower to where you are at that moment in time.

But by the time this woman, when she makes the phone call, she's close to the Charlotte line.

The closest tower rings into our dispatch.

About how old is this child?

Can you see that?

I did see the child.

I'd say less than 10, definitely not an infant, old enough to bang on the window.

But of course, it's not a child at all.

It's Denise Lee, restrained, fighting to get anybody's attention for help.

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

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

And I turned to look at him, and he's a white male, sort of light-colored hair,

sort of plump.

He's behind me now, and I tried to slow down so he could pass me, and I could could read his license plate.

And he's going slower than I am, which is not right because we're holding up traffic and stuff.

But I think that he saw me look at him, and I'm not trying to be over dramatic here, but he's going even slower now.

She's making it very well known that Michael is aware that she sees him and she knows that something's not right there.

So, obviously, his speeds are reduced significantly.

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

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

And that's when I'm like, should I follow him?

But I'm over here.

All this traffic comes in and I can't make the turn.

And he's going to turn left on Toledo Blade.

He's turning left right now.

And I'm in the other lane.

He's turning left on Toledo Blade.

Do you want me to turn?

Try to follow him?

Or does he want her to follow him?

Okay, can you turn?

He just turned on Toledo Bright.

I don't know if I can catch up.

There's a bunch of traffic and I can't get over.

Oh, boy.

He was doing everything he can to avoid her.

It is clear that he changed course of direction because of Jane Kowalski.

He piled in the car and it was banging on the window and screaming.

And crying.

And screaming.

Like, screaming, screaming, screaming.

And not a happy scream like, get me out of here, scream.

The vehicle had a

white male white male driver blue or black camaro male had white hair and there was a child screaming in the car so

and banging on the window okay and banging on the window like that okay

i've got everybody hollering at me and

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

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

Okay.

I'm going to just pull over now.

Let me get her.

Yeah, that would be great.

I don't know if there's

an Amber alert out or something like that, but bear with me.

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

I did.

At one point, I was like, is there Amber out?

Yeah, again, I thought it was a child who had been abducted, and I didn't know what was going on.

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

No.

And you're witnessing a kidnapping.

I had no idea I was witnessing witnessing the kidnapping.

I didn't know what was going on in the car.

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

When the Camaro turns left here on Toledo Blade, Jane loses sight of it.

But with such a precise location and deputies nearby, could this be the moment Denise is finally found?

At that moment, at that time, when Jane Kowalski had called 911 to Charlotte County's dispatch center, there were officers, deputies,

special agents all in that area converging into the city.

I activated my lights and my sirens.

Central all units, drought for units, FHP has the vehicle stopped.

I yelled, driver, don't give me a reason to fire into your vehicle.

You know what?

I know, I don't know where I'm on me.

You get this call that Denise Lee is missing.

In my 40-year 40-year career, the Denise Amberly case was the worst weekend of my life.

The authorities say a woman's been kidnapped and they're caught on the trail.

FHP has the vehicle stopped at 178 southbound.

I yelled, driver, exit the vehicle.

Don't give me a reason to fire into your vehicle.

And I immediately said, where is the girl?

What does he say?

He says that he was kidnapped.

He tells you he was kidnapped?

Yes.

Right here.

Please remain fulfilled.

Let's have the real story.

There's something you're not telling.

She was dropping clues.

Yeah.

For you to find her.

Is this her ring?

Yes.

First ring I gave her.

First Valentine's Day.

Everything stopped at that point.

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

She sees this abduction in progress, and you're witnessing a kidnapping.

Northport emergency.

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

Her phone was there, purse, keys.

The boys are home by themselves.

It was like she just, poof, disappeared.

This is the kind of case that people have nightmares about.

A young woman abducted in broad daylight, taken away from her two little babies.

She wouldn't have left them kids for nothing.

I know 100% there's something wrong.

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

Her name is Denise Lee.

Three hours into the search, a chilling 911 call.

Please let me know.

There was a 911 phone call from Denise,

from the suspect's phone and she was talking to the dispatcher.

As police trace the phone, another call comes in.

They kept banging on the window and screaming, and not a happy scream like, get me out of here, scream.

He just turned on Toledo Blade.

I don't know if I can catch up.

There's a bunch of traffic and I can't get over.

Oh, boy.

And there's another 911 call.

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

He borrowed a shovel, a gas tank, and something else.

What's the cousin driving?

A green Camaro?

What's the cousin's name?

Mikey King.

Put out a bowl of FHP2, please, or a dark green Camaro.

Who's he saying is driving that Camaro?

Michael King.

So you know now who you're looking for.

100%.

And the key is now to track him down.

Find him and save her.

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

It was like very hysterical.

I heard about what happened to Denise.

I immediately called my parents and I was like, what is happening?

Like, what's going on?

What's going through your mind?

Just a lot of emotions, like a lot of worry.

You would never think ever that something like that would happen to you, especially with our dad being in law enforcement.

You're a detective with Charlotte County.

Yes.

You had worked undercover.

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

Absolutely.

That was the first thing that came up on everybody's radar thing.

And I worked some pretty big people in the day, so.

When you learned that police have zeroed in on a guy named michael king did his name ring a bell to you at all no it did not

with michael king identified as their prime suspect police race to his northport home so you're making your way to his home with the hope that you'll find her there this was the biggest lead um that we had

we have the house surrounded with the three units on scene two of us are in point close nobody's coming to the door they don't see any car there is a tv on and it sounds like voices in this home.

They got to go in.

If she's in there, go in.

Now kick the door in.

I want entry made on that house.

10th floor.

There's two marked officers at the front.

Make entry.

This is a uniformed officers.

Make entry.

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

Very dark and gloomy inside.

They found out that it was pretty much TV music.

And it was probably used to keep volume up high for what was probably occurring in the house.

There's indication that someone had been there.

Yes.

But no sign of Denise

or Michael King.

Correct.

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

There was obviously signs of someone being held against their will.

They saw a makeshift bed in the master bedroom go with a pool blanket.

Her hair tie was left on the floor.

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

Would you have duct tape watered up in a bedroom with long strands that looked like a lot of brown hair?

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

You had to know that that does not sound good.

Right.

Once we figured out they were no longer there, then we treated it as a crime scene.

But at this point, we're still just worried about finding Denise.

All of that's secondary.

The main thing is, is she still alive?

Where are they?

So you missed this moment and then what next?

Where are you hoping to find him?

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

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

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

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

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

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

The more worried I got,

the less hopeful I was.

The entire search now revolves around finding that one green Camaro.

Florida Highway Trooper Edward Pope is scouring I-75.

I end up making a U-turn right on the median.

Suddenly out of nowhere, a pair of headlights appeared and I realized that it was a green Camaro.

Get a green Camaro heading southbound.

I swung around on it, I'm trying to catch up here.

Immediately I saw the first three digits of the tag.

I knew knew at this point I had the right vehicle.

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

I yelled, Driver, don't give me a reason to fire into your vehicle.

New units responding to the interstate.

North for 232 DF traffic.

200724.

Anyone, any units that are on a perimeter need to stay there.

249 Central.

Well, what's that tag on our Camaro?

Why are the green Camaro with a black?

Hold on one second.

It's around 9 p.m.

Five hours since Denise vanished.

Trooper Edward Pope has spotted Michael King's green Camaro and is in hot pursuit.

I activated my lights and my sirens.

He was a little hesitant, but he finally pulled over.

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

It came over the radio.

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

You heard about a green Camaro that had been spotted.

Yes.

I was real hopeful on the radio because I heard him stop in the car.

We were hopeful that she was going to be found.

And I made several commands for the driver of the vehicle to exit.

So after about the fourth command, I noticed he was trying to move the rearview mirror in order to try to find my location.

I yelled, driver, exit the vehicle.

Don't give me a reason to fire into your vehicle.

And immediately there was a second pause.

The driver's side door swung open.

I identified who I was and I pulled him out of the vehicle at gunpoint.

And I immediately said, where is the girl?

And so I'm like waiting and waiting and waiting and come across radio again that she's not in the car.

Michael King is 10-12.

The female is not 10-12 with the vehicle.

Rick called me and said, hey, they found the guy, but she's not in the car.

What happened for you at that moment?

I was like, okay.

Like, what does that mean?

He's like, I don't know.

They're still looking.

I was able to go to the vehicle and what I could see was a gas can, a shovel that appeared to have been used somewhere.

He's standing there.

Concerning is...

He's soaking wet from his waist all the way down with water and mud and muck.

That's not good.

That's not good.

And you take him into custody.

Yep.

What does he say?

He says that he was kidnapped.

He was kidnapped with Denise.

He tells you he was kidnapped?

Yes.

And what do you make of this story?

So, obviously, it's not believable.

Obviously, you know he's lying.

Today, January 17, 2008, approximately 11.24 p.m., President Detective Morales, President Michael King.

You came to us and you told me that you were a hostage and you were a victim.

At that point, my focus was, okay, we need to find where she is, and we seem like you wanted to assist us.

We need to just find out what happened.

You understand?

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

Having these rights in mind, do you wish to talk to us here now?

No, I just want an attorney.

You want an attorney?

He didn't want to speak anything that could incriminate him, so he lawyers up.

So we went ahead and said, okay, tell us how you're a victim.

Tell us how you and Denise were kidnapped.

Police send in a detective who knows king offering pizza and water hoping to keep him talking i just asked him if i come here and talk to you yeah sitting in here by yourself i'm not i'm not i'm not a problem but yeah it's had a mess

they got bad luck

i ain't picking up nobody anymore

what'd you do i just picked up somebody they were on the side of the road and I didn't think nothing of it and I'm boom just grading right here screwing right on the floor.

That was it.

And he's like, Don't move.

And then he put something on my legs.

And Arn, I couldn't freaking move, man.

You're not hurting anywhere.

No.

No one can believe those stories.

And how they just turned him loose and out in the middle of nowhere and just made no sense whatsoever.

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

He agrees to talk to King.

We were hoping that Harold would open up the microphone saying, hey, it's done, it's over.

Just tell them where she is.

I'm going after the girl.

I see it where the girl King took off on her.

Or whatever he did.

I don't know.

It's crazy.

Can't they ask her or anything?

Did they let her go?

Do you know?

I mean, they could tell her.

Muxlow presses King on a crucial detail.

Earlier that day, his cousin had come to his house to borrow a shovel, a gas can, and a flashlight.

The same items found in King's car.

What do you need a flashlight for?

Told me

he said to get that and a shovel.

Why'd they let you go?

I don't know.

What's going on?

I don't know.

They should have let her go, too.

Oh, you're laughing with her.

I know I would, but it looked pretty bad on your side there.

You know, someone kidnapping my daughter, man,

I wouldn't be too happy.

I don't know.

I agree with you.

I'd be all over, too, man.

Investigators collect evidence, fibers, fingernail clippings, DNA swabs, then arrest King.

You're under arrest, Michael, for kidnapping.

All right now.

For right now.

With King clamming up, investigators turn to his cousin.

And I see him in there rustling with somebody, and I hear some girl say, Call the cops.

Did you see the person that was in the back?

No, very well.

But when they give him a polygraph, extreme deception indicated.

So let's have the real story.

There's something you're not telling.

John, a lot is changing by the moment here in Sarasota County.

We have heard that a suspect is in custody.

Just a short time ago, the Florida Highway Patrol arrested this man, 36-year-old Michael King.

They've also located that car, the Green Camaro, but they did not find Denise Lee in it.

Take these off the front and go on the back.

You're under arrest, Michael.

Get it this way, Mike.

This is only the beginning now.

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

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

Does he take you to a location?

He takes us to a couple locations, yes.

I need Tier 1 over in this area here.

He's led us to this.

Temple, L9, I need you to call me.

We're hopeful, and we tell all the rescuers we're still looking for a person, not a body.

I was getting information from all agencies and giving the updates.

I was 100% confident we'd find her.

I thought she was somewhere.

He must have just dropped her off in the woods somewhere, or you know, she's wandering on the side of a road and they would find her.

Take you back up, start looking for hot spots around that area where the Sussex 1715.

Templar.

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

With the search going on, questions are swirling around Michael King.

To his parents, the accusations are unbelievable.

We've never had a problem with Michael.

You know, it just don't seem like he would do something like this.

It's not in Michael.

This is the first time King's posed for a mugshot in Florida.

The unemployed plumber doesn't have a criminal record here.

Police visit King's ex-girlfriend who tells them she's equally stunned.

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

No, I want no.

Do you think he has a capability or something?

No.

King has an 11-year-old son whom he'd been raising on his own.

At the time, that boy was living with relatives in another state.

We learned that Michael King was going through foreclosure at the time and had broken up with his girlfriend.

Seemed like a person that was down on his luck.

Then his attitude changed toward the end of his

relationship.

He can't remember, yeah, he got a little depressed, you know, and I would talk to him because he lost a good paying job, he's worried about his health, you know, the payments on it and stuff.

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

There's a vehicle, he's parked across the road,

and

I see him in there wrestling with somebody, and I heard some girl say, call the cops.

And he goes, oh, don't worry about it.

And we took off.

Did you see the person that was in the back?

No, very well.

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

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

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

Why do you think you're in this room, Harold?

A little statement that my daughter made, probably.

Please remain still.

The test is about to begin.

Did you see that girl tied up?

No.

Did you see that girl get out of that car?

No.

Did you see that girl before you gave Mike that shovel?

No.

I'm going to hit the score button.

What's that say?

Extreme deception indicated.

Extreme deception indicated.

So let's have the real story, because I don't think I got it.

I don't know about him I can blame for

this thing.

We're not blaming him.

But we gotta move forward.

There's people out here that need answers.

They got a daughter that's gone.

Finally, Muxlow admits to what he saw.

I seen him russ in the front door with somebody on the other side of the car.

And he

put her in the car and I didn't see her tie it out.

I had seen him get out of the car.

It upset me.

Clamped it.

And I didn't do nothing.

Is that it?

That was it.

Are you sure?

That that is what was bothering you on that polygram.

Yeah.

But I didn't see her tie it out.

I think most people put themselves in Harold Muxlow's shoes and say, would I do that?

Or would I do something different?

Very disappointed in what he could have prevented and what he could have stopped.

I wish there was a law that could charge him and put him away, but unfortunately in the law, he has no duty to call or stop.

you know, someone for help.

During a search of Michael King's Camaro, police discover a heart-shaped ring in the rear passenger seat.

The only question is: does it belong to Denise?

Investigators bring her husband, Nathan, here to this interview room to see if he can identify it.

We have a piece of jewelry here that I want you to look at, okay?

Only you will be able to tell us if this is it or not.

We're not, well, we're not sure, okay?

Is this her ring?

Yes.

That was the first ring I gave her.

Prince Valentine's Day.

How confident are you that's her ring?

100%.

What happens for you at that moment?

Well,

I still was trying to keep hope,

but really struggle with

the reality that was starting to set in, that we weren't going to find her alive.

Now, authorities are still calling it an active investigation.

So, if you have any information about the suspect in custody, the Northport Police wants to hear from you.

Police press on, and then a new witness is brought into the interrogation room, a man who was with Michael King just hours before the abduction.

Why are you nervous, Tommy?

Why wouldn't you be nervous?

We started doing grid searches with hundreds of deputies and hundreds of special agents throughout the state state

from exactly where Michael King was stopped all the way down to the road where he had pulled out onto Tulio Blade.

When the search was underway for Denise Lee, this housing development didn't exist.

This was all woods.

And it was here that a searcher, along with her canine, noticed something unusual.

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

I was assigned this area with canine CQ.

I was at the command post and Tammy Treadway, who was the handler of CQ,

it was getting late in the day.

She said she's walking the sidewalk and her dog just took off into the woods.

I'm watching his body language and he's moving in and out of the brush, so I'm just looking around, trying to see if I see anything that's out of place.

I happened to notice that there was an area that was cleared.

There was grass pulled up and laid in an ice layer across the top of it.

And miraculously, that was it.

That was the site.

Very sad news at a North Port.

The search for a kidnapped woman has been suspended.

Michael King put a gun to Denise's forehead and pulled the trigger.

The hole that Denise was buried in was not shallow.

It was probably about four feet down.

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

It can't be easy hearing that she was sexually assaulted, that she was shot in the head.

How did you manage to handle that?

I had to come home and tell her and Nate

they found her and what happened.

He wanted me to hear from him, not

anyone else.

So that was, yeah, that was tough.

I remember him telling us that they found her

and she wasn't alive.

And just, everyone just broke down.

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

I am, by the way.

But anyway.

You are?

I was a big baby when that happened.

I can tell you, like being kicked in the groin or something, because it's like,

I'm not so tough after that.

She's my firstborn baby girl.

I was a

fell apart.

I just

thought about the boys, Noah and Adam.

That you know, they're

they're gonna have to grow up without their mother.

On behalf of my sons, Noah and Adam.

I'd like to thank everybody so much.

Denise is my soulmate.

I'm going to miss her so much.

I don't know how I'm going to go through the rest of my life without her.

Denise is thankful that all your efforts brought her home.

I'm sure

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

She wanted to save the boys and just make sure they were safe, so

she left with him.

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

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

He said he had a gun, it was a 9mm.

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

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

Why are you nervous, Tommy?

Scares me that I'm even associated with somebody that could have done something of that nature.

I actually, you know,

met with him that day.

I shot guns with the guy.

Every time I think about that woman's family, my God.

At the time, Robert Salvador was a person of interest, but he was able to dispel us with receipts and proof that during a time that Denise was abducted and was with Michael King, Robert Salvador was nowhere near him.

Her murder left family, friends, even law enforcement in shock and disbelief.

Tonight, Denise Lee got her final farewell.

I remember the line of cars.

It was amazing.

Gosh, the community carried us through it.

I think it was over 2,000 people at the funeral.

And I promise her that those kids will

know exactly who their mother was.

In the midst of the grief Denise's family and the community are feeling,

news breaks about a possible missed opportunity to rescue her.

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

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

That woman is Jane Kowalski.

Remember, her 911 call went to neighboring Charlotte County, not Sarasota County, where all the previous 911 calls had come in.

Incredibly, it turns out her call was never dispatched to the deputies searching for Denise.

That never got dispatched over the air, which was just a terrible mistake.

The call staker

should have

typed into the system what she's being told by the caller.

She wrote it on a piece of paper and handed it to the dispatcher, which would not be the way it should have been done.

Jane Kowalski gives them details.

She sees this abduction in progress.

She was giving cross streets, telling police, I see this happening.

There's a person, child, whoever, screaming in the car.

That should have been the moment she should have been saved.

That was a major screw-up.

When I say major, I mean, it could have saved her life.

Was that hard for you?

That's your department.

Oh, absolutely.

That you say screwed up.

Absolutely.

He just said,

Chief, that was our last chance to get her.

In his gut, in his heart, his family let him down.

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

The assumption is that Charlotte County screwed up and could have saved this girl's life.

And I'm telling you that until the facts come out here,

that's the wrong assumption to make.

The sheriff also said that you gave inaccurate information.

You had the color of the car wrong.

You said it was a child screaming.

My answer to that is this.

So what?

You're not going to go after someone if I think there's a child that's been adopted, right?

They should have still sent a car.

They would have pulled him over.

She would have still been in the car.

It would have been a,

you know, a completely different turnout.

I don't think it would have changed the outcome one bit, simply because we had people in the area looking for the exact vehicle.

The sheriff at the time, Sheriff Davenport, said it would not have made a difference.

Oh, he's 100% wrong.

I have faith in the people I work with.

I've been by that sheriff's office 41 years now.

There's no doubt in my mind she would have been rescued.

She could have been saved, and the system failed her.

An internal investigation found the dispatchers did receive information about Jane's call, but violated procedure by not immediately dispatching it, and were disciplined.

One of them suspended for 60 hours, another 36 hours, both assigned a day of remedial training and given six months probation.

Was that sufficient, Sue?

No.

And now you have to get through a trial.

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

This case was one of the worst of the worst and that warranted the death penalty.

We had an abundance of evidence, and a lot of that was from Denise herself.

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

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

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

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The murder trial for the man accused of kidnapping and killing Denise Amber Lee began in Sarasota County today.

King faces either life in prison or the death penalty.

Nearly two years after Denise Lee's death, her family and friends pour into a Sarasota courtroom.

They've come to see the man accused of killing her, Michael King, face a jury.

What was that like for you seeing Michael King in court?

It was

sickening.

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

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

I'm sorry.

I just want to go.

I just want to see my family.

Those are the last words that Denise Lee said that anybody other than Michael King heard on January 17, 2008.

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

State Call Jane Kowalski.

We wanted to transport the jury to

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

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

Were you able to show the jury?

But

Even louder than that.

I mean, it was very loud.

Defense lawyers push back.

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

I cannot.

The jury is taken to one of the crime scenes, the Camaro itself.

We wanted them to understand that that car was almost as important as the role that Michael King played.

It took her from her home to Michael King's home, to Harold Muxlow's home, to the place where her life eventually ended.

Prosecutors present what they believe to be indisputable evidence that Denise was in King's car.

What is that a picture of?

That is

her ring.

It was clever.

She hid her ring in the back seat because she knew she wasn't going to be found, probably.

She pulled hair out by the roots and stuck them under the back seats.

She knew about DNA, had to have the roots and stuff.

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

No nine millimeter handgun was found out on Plantation Boulevard.

That is correct, sir.

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

That was a big hole.

The state called Robert Southworth.

Without a murder weapon, prosecutors turned to ballistics.

and the man who went shooting with Michael King just hours before the murder.

At some point, did you meet the police at the gun range?

Yes.

What did you assist them with at the gun range?

They wanted whatever 9mm shells we could find.

We didn't have the actual gun.

We had the shell casing at the scene of Denise's murder that matched the shell casings where he was shooting earlier with Rob Salvador.

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

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

No, sir.

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

No, sir.

And Mr.

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

Absolutely not.

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

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

We objected and we went up to the bench to talk to the judge.

The judge agreed with us.

Because you can't just say things like that if you have no evidence.

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

The defense rests without calling a single witness.

Their argument: the prosecution has failed to prove that Michael King was the one who pulled the trigger.

What you have received is an invitation to guess.

Your reply to his invitation

must be no.

Thank you.

All right.

Thank you, Lacey.

You may retire to consider your verdict.

Thank you.

It is such a serious decision that you're making, and I'm sure everyone wanted to make sure that they could live with it.

You have to live with this.

Just over two hours after they begin deliberations, the jury is back with a verdict.

We, the jury, find as follows as to count one of the indictment.

The defendant is guilty of murder in the first degree as charged.

What was that like when you heard guilty?

Amazing.

I knew, okay, you know, Denise won.

You know, Denise won.

She's an absolute hero.

She took this murderer off the street and made sure we had plenty of evidence.

There's no doubt in anybody's mind that he's a killer.

The jury that took just two hours to convict Michael King of first-degree murder took nearly three to recommend he be sentenced to death.

He was

just

straight-faced, no emotion, nothing.

I don't think he's capable of feeling emotion.

But even with King headed to death row, Denise's family feels they still had some unfinished business.

You didn't take this all quietly.

I wanted people that made mistakes to be held accountable.

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

It is the sheriff's responsibility to provide the best public safety that they possibly can to their citizens.

And

Denise wasn't given the best public safety to their citizens.

The two sides reach a settlement.

The sheriff's office admits no fault, but agrees to pay $1.2 million to the family.

I just thought

the boys needed

something.

They had to grow up without a mother.

Today, those two little boys Denise fought so hard to get home to are all grown up and speaking out publicly for the very first time.

It's been 16 years since a jury recommended Michael King be put to death.

Today, he remains on death row, his appeals exhausted.

Denise isn't here, so why should he be?

The pain and the suffering, the horror he put her through,

he should not be here.

But that's not how the system works.

It's not a quick process.

Are you prepared for execution?

Can't wait.

I'll be the first ones on the bus going there and first in line.

Is there anything you want to say to him?

I would just like to know why.

You know, why her.

In the years following Denise's death, her younger sister Amanda decides to join the very system many say failed Denise.

And then you became a 911 dispatcher yourself.

Why?

You're on the phone with people on the worst days of their lives going through tragedies and I think it helped give me the passion to be there for those people and help them.

Is it a tribute in some way to your sister?

Yeah.

I wanted to help make a difference in people's lives.

All right, good morning, everyone.

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

I started the foundation back in June of 2008 after this happened to my beautiful wife, Denise.

And since then, I've made it my life's mission to travel all over the country to help you.

I want to see Denise continue to matter.

Don't forget why you do this, okay?

And joining Nathan in this mission is Jane Kowalski, that woman who did everything she could to try to help a stranger.

You eventually met Nathan.

Yes.

What did you say to him?

What did you want him to know?

Well, I mean, there's how sorry I am that my call did not get help to Denise.

I mean, it's just a total letdown.

While Nathan has moved forward, having a daughter and finding love again, he recently got back a piece of his past, that heart-shaped ring.

Now that all of King's appeals are done and everything is over, we don't need this evidence anymore.

And I was very happy to be able to release that to him.

There it is.

This is the ring that she had.

Yeah, it's special.

I'm really glad I got this back and you know I was really excited to show it to the boys and that was the first thing they said was like wow she had really small fingers.

Those boys Noah and Adam now 19 and 18.

Every milestone there is you know something missing and it was our mom.

Our first day of school, our last day of school, first football game, baseball game, our mom was always missing.

That was always felt like a rock in my chest.

I always write her name in the clay before every epit, just to like

know that she's there with me.

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

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

We came first.

Your dad spoke with us 2008 after everything had happened.

Here's what he said.

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

What is that like?

I can see you get emotional just seeing that.

What do you feel?

Proud.

I feel proud of him.

All the time I have people tell me that I was raised right and

I mean it's all a credit to him.

Why'd you want to speak out finally?

I'm doing it for her and for my dad because we're a part of her and I feel like people

hearing from us can kind of

see how important she was, how amazing she was.

Kind of big of a hole that is left because she's not here.

Denise's family channeling their grief into purpose, helping to pass the Denise Amber Lee Act, which sets new standards in Florida to improve 911 response systems.

As for Michael King, he remains on Florida's death row.

And as of now, no execution date has been set.

That is our program for tonight.

Thanks for watching.

I'm David Muir.

And I'm Deborah Roberts from All of Us here at 2020 and ABC News.

Good night.

I'm John Quinonez.

Vanessa Guillen, a 20-year-old soldier, vanishes while on duty at an Army base in Texas.

Her family demands answers.

How can she go missing on a military base?

That's ridiculous.

The search goes on for months.

And a dark story starts to unfold.

She told her family that she was being sexually harassed and wasn't reporting it out of fear of retribution and retaliation.

What investigators finally uncover is horrifying.

Find out how one soldier, a beloved sister and daughter, ignited a movement and sparked a reckoning in the U.S.

military.

Listen to Vanished: What happened to Vanessa, a new series from ABC Audio in 2020.

Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.