Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the death warrant for Michael King, 54, who was convicted of the kidnap, rape and murder of 21-year-old Denise Amber Lee in North Port. King is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at 6 p.m. on March 17 at Florida State Prison near Starke. The execution will mark the fourth in Florida for 2026, nearly 18 years after the crime that shocked the North Port community.
King, an unemployed plumber, abducted Lee from her home on January 17, 2008, while her two sons, ages 6 months and 2 years, were left abandoned in a crib together. According to court documents, King took Lee to his house, duct-taped her wrists and raped her, then put her in the backseat of his car before driving to his cousin’s house to borrow a flashlight, shovel and gas can. From the back seat, Lee was able to get King’s cell phone and call 911 herself, with the death warrant stating “Ms. Lee is heard crying and begging to be saved so that she could see her husband and children again.”
At least 3 other people also called 911, including King’s cousin Harold Muxlow and another driver who witnessed Lee’s desperate attempts to escape. Muxlow heard a female voice from King’s vehicle say “Call the cops” when King arrived asking for tools. Jane Kowalski was at a traffic light when she heard screaming from King’s green Camaro that sounded “Horrific, terrified. I’ve never ever heard anything like that in my life.” Despite multiple 911 calls and an ongoing search for Lee, no officers were sent to help due to communication failures between dispatch centers.
Lee’s husband Nathan found their North Port home locked with her keys, phone and purse still inside after she failed to return. A neighbor reported seeing a green Camaro slowly driving up the street, pulling into Lee’s driveway and leaving within 15 minutes. King was arrested about three hours later with soaking wet pants covered with mud and no one else in the car. Lee’s body was found two days later in a shallow grave six miles from her home, with blood, semen, hair and duct tape collected from King’s green Camaro and home linking him to the crime.
In 2012, the Florida Supreme Court upheld King’s murder conviction and death sentence, calling his acts “unquestionably cold and cruel.” The U.S. Supreme Court denied his petition for writ of certiorari the same year, and multiple appeals have failed in the years since. Lee’s case led to the “Denise Amber Lee Act” that standardized training for 911 dispatchers across Florida, addressing the communication breakdowns that prevented her rescue despite her own 911 call and multiple witness reports.
King pleaded not guilty but a jury convicted him of first-degree murder after evidence showed he shot Lee in the face and buried her in a remote area. Experts linked a shell casing found in the woods to King’s gun, and his DNA was positively matched to evidence collected from the crime scene. Barring further successful appeals, King will be put to death by lethal injection starting at 6 p.m. on March 17 at Florida State Prison.