Case file 0029
Denise Amber Lee: A Call for Help and a Campaign to Improve 911
Her family’s work continued after the prosecution and the 2026 execution of her killer.
Denise Amber Lee was abducted from her North Port, Florida home on January 17, 2008. Her two young children were left there. During her captivity, she obtained her captor's phone and called 911. A witness also reported screams coming from a green Camaro; officers later stopped Michael King in the described car. [S1]
The evidence and the verdict
The Florida Supreme Court's account describes Denise's belongings and forensic evidence recovered from the vehicle and King's home. Her body was found two days after the abduction. A jury convicted King of first-degree murder, kidnapping and sexual battery and unanimously recommended a death sentence. The court affirmed the conviction and sentence on direct appeal. [S1]
The 911 calls are part of that evidentiary history, but they are also central to the family's account of a system that failed to deliver help in time.
The family's response
The Denise Amber Lee Foundation says that at least four other calls accompanied Denise's own plea for help. It attributes the failed response to communication and operational problems. Her husband, Nathan Lee, created the foundation to improve emergency communications, training and accountability. [S2]
That is the foundation's account and mission. It should be attributed as such, rather than treated as a separate judicial finding about each call-handler's responsibility.
The 2026 outcome
On March 10, 2026, Florida's Supreme Court rejected King's latest postconviction appeal and denied a stay. AP subsequently reported his execution on March 17. [S1] [S3]
The execution ended that phase of the criminal case. The foundation's work addresses a different question: how the response to a call for help can become more reliable before another family experiences a similar loss.