Michael King was executed Tuesday evening at Florida State Prison for the 2008 murder of 21-year-old Denise Amber Lee, a North Port mother who was abducted from her home while her two sons were in their cribs. King received lethal injection at 6 p.m., becoming the third person executed in Florida this year after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed his death warrant in mid-February.
“Well, for sure, it’s just finally,” said Nathan Lee, Denise’s husband. “I think the family - 18 years is a really long time. Just relieved, happy, excited, and just ready for it to be over, to be honest. But yeah, we’re definitely excited that it’s finally happening.” The execution came nearly 18 years after King kidnapped Lee from her North Port home on Jan. 17, 2008, while her husband was at work and their sons, ages 2 years and 6 months, were alone in their cribs.
“We all could have gone down in a spiral and crashed out and let it consume us and ruin our lives - but we didn’t want to let him ruin her life and ours,” said Noah Lee, who was 2 years old when his mother was killed. Now nearly the same age his mother was when she died, Noah described the tragedy’s lasting impact. “I can’t imagine not living past this point in my life. There’s still so much to do, so many places to go, so much time left to live, and it’s tragic she wasn’t able to do that,” he said.
During the abduction, Lee made a chilling 6-minute 911 call from the backseat of King’s car after getting hold of his cellphone. “I just want to see my family,” she can be heard pleading on the call. “Please let me go, I just want to see my family again.” The call provided crucial evidence that helped convict King, as Lee gave the operator her full name and quietly asked King where they were going while pretending to speak with her captor.
“Everything she did to keep me and my brother safe. First and foremost, she locked us in our bedroom to make sure he [King] couldn’t get to us. She’s incredibly selfless,” Noah Lee said of his mother’s actions during the attack. Another 911 call came from a driver who witnessed Lee banging on King’s car windows and pleading for help at the Sarasota-Charlotte County line, though that call went to Charlotte County 911 instead of Sarasota County, which was conducting the search.
Lee’s body was found in a shallow grave near a canal in North Port two days after her abduction. She had been sexually assaulted and shot. Court testimony revealed King did not know Lee personally and had been driving around North Port at random, looking for a target. Prosecutors described it as a crime of opportunity rather than a planned attack against her specifically.
“Excitement to us because we’ve been waiting and waiting,” said Rick Goff, Lee’s father and a detective with more than 40 years of experience. However, Goff noted no punishment could compare to what his daughter endured. “He gets put to sleep,” Goff said of the lethal injection. “She went through hell that day, and all she wanted to do was get back and see her family.”
The case led to significant reforms in Florida’s 911 system. The Denise Amber Lee Act was passed unanimously by the Florida Legislature on April 24, 2008, just months after her murder. The legislation established new statewide standards for 911 operators and dispatchers, requiring more than 200 hours of training. “We all take 911 for granted,” Nathan Lee said. “We don’t ever think about it until we need to dial the number. And it’s a shame that the 911 industry seems to kind of sometimes be that forgotten part of public safety. They’re the first link in the chain. If they don’t work, nothing else does.”
Nathan Lee founded the Denise Amber Lee Foundation in June 2008 and has taken his wife’s story to agencies across the country and internationally, including in Canada and Mexico. “We see Denise in them every day,” Goff said, referring to his grandsons. “Every time I think about Denise, I literally just can’t help but smile,” Nathan Lee said. “She was an amazing person.” The foundation continues to advocate for mandatory training and certification for all 911 dispatchers nationwide, working to prevent similar communication failures that occurred during Lee’s abduction.