(Michael Lee King. Picture credit: Leg.State)
*Please be aware that the details shared in this post will be very disturbing. I have tried to, as always, to share the details of the case in a sensitive manner without taking away from the facts. If you would like to discuss this post or any of the cases I have shared on this blog. Please email me in confidence at jocaledoniankitty@gmail.com*
By the time you read this post, the demon pictured above, Michael Lee King, will no longer be of this world. After 18 long years, this monster will have faced the lethal injection....finally. After years of appeals and trying to get his own way in the system, it's time for this monster to go straight to hell where he belongs. Michael Lee King (current age, 54) was sentenced to die by lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke on the 17th of March 2026 (St Patrick's Day) for the horrific abduction, brutal r*pe and murder of a young mother back in January of 2008 in North Port, Florida.
Denise Amber Lee was just 21 years old when this monster forced himself into her family home whilst her devoted husband was at work. It was the 17th of January 2008, Denise was at home looking after her two young boys, Noah (2) and Adam (6 months old) whilst her husband Nathan was out working one of his three jobs. Nathan worked the three jobs so that the family could be properly provided for and so that Denise could concentrate on looking after the boys full time. She had put her own career and aspirations on hold but motherhood was something she always dreamed about so everyone was happy with that arrangement.
The young couple, who met in high school, lived in a quiet and decent neighbourhood. They married young and both of their families were close. Denise and Nathan were completely devoted to each other and were like soulmates, they always said they were going to be together forever. It was a beautiful marriage and although they did have their usual stresses just like everyone else (money could be tight at times) it never dulled their love for each other and together they created this beautiful little family and home. It really was the stuff of dreams and the future looked bright for the Lee family.
On Thursday the 17th of January 2008, the day started out the same as usual. Nathan kissed his beautiful wife and children before he walked out of the door to go to work. Denise planned to run some usual errands that day, taking care of the boys and the house, making plans to cut the children's hair too, the everyday mommy duties that she always loved to do. There was never any doubt that Denise absolutely loved being with the boys and Nathan, despite the boys being so young the family had made so many memories and had so many experiences together than when the cruel circumstances that was to come later, had happened, people close to the Lee family held in their minds that Denise, Nathan and the boys really did it all together with what little time they had. They really did make the most of their time together and that gave some sort of comfort to all who knew Denise and her family.
(Denise with the loves of her life. Her Incredible husband Nathan and their two boys, Noah and Adam. Picture credit: ABC News)
That morning around 11 am, Nathan called Denise just to check in with her and the boys as he would usually do. They talked about going to Denise's Dad's house for dinner that night (Denise's father was a Sheriff) and Nathan reminded Denise to open the windows to let some of the air in. The pair said their goodbyes expecting to see each other in a matter of hours, not knowing that it was to be their last phone call together.
When Denise had gotten off the phone with Nathan, she went about her business, sorting out the boys, doing their hair and organising lunch. Unknown to her, there was a suspicious car driving around the neighbourhood. The green 1994 Chevy Camaro was driving very slowly outside and Denise's neighbour noticed what looked like a guy either lost or looking for an address. The neighbour didn't know what to make of it at first but noticed that the next time she looked out of her window a few minutes later, the exact same car was now in the Lee family driveway. A white male was just sat in the vehicle staring at the house and was there for about 15 minutes. The neighbour thought this was odd but her attention was drawn elsewhere, when she approached the window again, she noticed that the car had gone.
At 3 pm, Nathan had finished his shift for the day and called Denise to let her know that he was on his way home. She didn't answer and that was not unusual for her not to answer straight away, he assumed that she was just busy with the boys so he kept trying. Throughout the journey home, Nathan tried to call his wife around 8 times and there was no response, this was concerning, Denise would always answer the phone or at least call back. When he pulled up to the driveway, he noticed that all of the windows were shut which further puzzled him. As he ventured into the house he noticed that Denise's phone, keys, bag etc were all there, the house was in order, no sign of disturbance but frighteningly still, the boys were in the house alone, confused and wondering where Mommy was. Nathan knew his wife inside out and automatically knew something was wrong, there was no way she would leave the boys alone. Without missing a beat he got straight on to the police as well as informing family members. Nobody wasted any time, everyone knew Denise and this was completely out of character for her.
As Nathan and the rest of the family were frantic, wondering where Denise was, the truth of where she actually was, was far worse than anyone could have imagined. 36 year old Michael Lee King was outside of the Lee family home earlier that day as seen by the neighbour. When the neighbour moved away from the window to do other things she didn't see the terrifying moment when Michael walked straight into the Lee family home and dragged the terrified and shocked 21 year old mother out of her own home in broad daylight in front of her two babies.
Michael had kidnapped Denise and drove her to his home where he subjected her to hours of horrendous hell. She was bound and her mouth and face was covered in duct tape. Denise and Michael had no prior history together, neither of them knew each other before this horrific day. The bedroom where he had taken Denise was later described as r*pe and torture room. Denise was beaten, sodomiz*d and vaginally r*ped. After this horrific ordeal, this piece of filth ripped off some of the duct tape that was around Denise's face (this duct tape with Denise's hair and blood was later found by investigators) and ordered her to put her clothes back on, he then bound her again and dragged her out to his car where he placed her in the back seat.
To even begin to try and think of what Denise was going through in those moments, those hours, the never-ending hell. It's something that you just can't imagine or even want to imagine. It's just so heartbreaking and disturbing. I think of Denise waking up that very morning next to the love of her life, drinking her morning coffee, planning her day with her sons....never in a million years I'm sure did it ever cross her mind that her life was going to come to an abrupt and evil halt that very day. It is so very unfair and it makes me angry as I'm sure it does to you reading this.
That monster (and I'm being kind just calling him a monster) drove Denise to his cousin's house to pick up a shovel, torch (gaslight) and petrol can (gas). So basically this monster was going to kill Denise and dispose of her body and these were the tools he was going to use. He told his cousin that he had a problem with his lawnmower and that's why he needed the items. During the conversation, Michael's cousin noticed some noise coming from the car and saw what looked like a woman in the backseat shouting for him to call the police. Michael got into the car and pushed the woman's head down and told his cousin that it was nothing to worry about. Michael's cousin then contacted his daughter and told her what he had seen, she decided to contact the police.
Whilst Michael was out of the car, despite being bound, Denise had managed to get hold of his pay-as-you-go mobile phone and called 911. This was also the start of a nightmare where the police were concerned because they were utterly lazy, incompetent and useless. Denise, who was incredibly brave even attempting to do this and being able to still try to physically function, especially after being brutally beaten and sexually assaulted by this monster. She was just incredible and she did all that she could to save herself, the operator was heartless and uneducated. It was like they just hired someone off of the street who had no training. I understand that these calls have to be handled in a very matter-of-fact way but there's a difference between that and being absolutely heartless when you have a young woman who's been kidnapped and terrified out of her wits begging for your help. Not only that but the minute Michael got back into the car, Denise still had the phone and the operator on the line, she did her best to be as discreet as possible. The operator just carried on being cold and was actually risking putting Denise in more danger by asking her straight-out questions about whether she knew this guy and where exactly she was. Denise was trying to answer questions in a way as not to alert him but he soon noticed that his phone was missing.
The call was several minutes long and when Michael discovered that Denise had his phone, he ordered her to give it to him, shouting abuse at her and remaining cold when she begged him to let her go. She told him that she wanted to see her husband and children again, she begged for her life 17 times and he didn't care one bit, an absolute monster. The call cut off and it wasn't the only call made that day. As I mentioned earlier, his cousin's daughter called the police, giving a description of the car and Michael. Michael had a history of very unsettling behaviour towards women and other incidences as a teenager where he had become obsessed with the movie 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'. Apparently he watched the film over and over again and liked to chase his family around pretending to be Leatherface. They noted that he had a very cold, almost trance-like look on his face when he was doing this. On another occasion, he watched a cartoon that featured a bow and arrow, after seeing this he tried to shoot his own brother with one of them. His family made excuses for him and put this disturbing behaviour down to an accident that he had when he was a young child. He had reportedly been on a sled when he suffered a horrific head injury which wasn't properly treated. People made excuses that this somehow impaired his ability to think right from wrong, I personally, think that is just a cop-out. He had many health issues as a child and wasn't academically gifted. His job was mostly working as a plumber but he was unemployed for several months at the time of kidnapping Denise.
Michael had also moved from Michigan to Florida after a bad break-up with his partner. He also had a 12 year old son who didn't live with him. Depending on who you speak to, some people said his behaviour was always weird and this carried on right up until what happened with Denise, other people said that he was his usual quiet self and there was nothing untoward. Not to sound too judgemental but it sounded to me that Michael wasn't the only one in his family with unsavory behaviour, for example who witnesses a man pushing a woman's head down in the backseat of a car (who has been screaming and begging for them to call the police) and just walks away without calling the police? It's a good job his daughter had the heart to say something and contact the police.
In the car, when Michael had his phone back from Denise and the tools he had borrowed from his cousin, he had plans to take her to a specific location. He knew from the very beginning that he was going to murder her. He had planned everything before he had even walked into the Lee family home. He set out that day to find a female victim, he had duct tape, a gun, his horrific bedroom all set up for what he wanted to do and he carried it out to the letter. Whilst on this disturbing drive to the location where he would murder Denise, Denise was not about to give up fighting for her life. She screamed and banged on the windows and this caught the attention of an amazing woman by the name of Jane Kowalski. Jane was incredible and very much the good Samaritan. Straight away she could tell that all was not right with the strange guy in the car beside her who was dripping with sweat, looking sheepish and when she saw the hand go up at the window, she became even more alarmed. Jane contacted the police straight away and gave them a complete description of everything she could, she gave details about the car, what she saw, what she heard, what was going on in that exact moment, the description of Michael Lee King. She even gave the exact location, names of road signs, everything......and what did the cops do? Not a damn thing! STILL nobody was sent out despite the fact that there was patrol cars near that area.
It beggars belief that so much information was given to the police and nothing was done, there was every opportunity to rescue Denise, she would still be with us today if these people had actually done their jobs properly. Another missed opportunity to catch this monster and save this beautiful young mother's life.
Jane was so kind in what she tried to do to help Denise, it must be hard for her to this day to know that this lovely young woman with everything to live for, was in the back of that car and that she was right, something was very wrong. The fact that she must have felt frustrated because she wanted the cops to hurry up and get there, she really did all that she could. It must also be disturbing to the people who witnessed Michael Lee King that day and looked at his evil face, to find out later what that monster had done, it must be very difficult and so unbelievable.
After the phone call from Denise, the police finally decided to take things seriously but it was way too late. They managed to track Michael's mobile phone. They say the reason they had difficulties with this to begin with was because the phone was a pay-as-you-go mobile. They sent cops over to his house where he was nowhere to be seen unsurprisingly. They did however, find his disgusting room of horrors and it was there that they found the duct tape with Denise's hair, her blood, DNA all over the place. Whilst all of this was going on Denise had been driven to a remote location described as a misused construction site. It is not known for sure if she knew that this was to be the end but at some point, Denise had taken off the heart ring that Nathan had given to her and placed it on the backseat as if to leave evidence that she had been there. When they finally arrived at this chosen location, she had been subjected to another sexual assault, stripped naked and no doubt she begged him again to let her live but the monster with no heart was never going to let this young woman go. He pointed a gun just above her right eyebrow and pulled the trigger at close-range. A horrific detail of this story (and I'm telling you this because you need to know how evil this monster is and why the death penalty is deserved for proven demons like him) was that her eyeball exploded and some of the matter landed on the front of his car. Her autopsy also stated that she had still been alive for some time after this and had suffered greatly. He then threw Denise's body into a shallow grave, threw some dirt over her and discarded her clothing/underwear (which was covered in his semen) a few feet away.
He then drove off covered in mud and soaking wet with Denise's DNA still all over the backseat of the car and the matter was still on the front of the vehicle.When they arrested him, the muddy shovel was still in the car, he refused to cooperate with the police. The evidence against him was overwhelming and he was found guilty and sentenced to die by lethal injection. As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, it's been 18 years (at the time of writing this post: March 2026) and by the time you read this, he'll be gone.
He didn't help the police find Denise, they ended up finding her themselves, two days later along with the discarded clothing which contained Denise's blood and his semen. There was semen everywhere, it was horrendous, on Denise's clothing, in her person, the backseat of the car and in that horrible room in his house. It is too sickening for words and there's no doubt about it in my mind, this monster deserved the death penalty and it should have been done long ago, preferably with a more painful method. I know others would disagree with me but after what he did to this beautiful young mother, how could anyone think of that thing as an actual human being?
Denise will never be able to return to her family physically but spiritually I believe she is still around and she would be incredibly proud of her husband, her boys and her family for everything they have done. These incredible people have spent all of these years keeping Denise's memory and legacy alive, they have established the incredible Denise Amber Lee Foundation and have spent tireless hours helping educate and train 911 operators on how to deal with calls. What they have done is remarkable and such a beautiful tribute to Denise. Another lovely fact is that the very heart ring that Nathan had given to Denise so many years ago, the ring that helped bring her killer to justice and the ring that she treasured every day and refused to take off....is in a special case that sits in Nathan's office.
RIP beautiful Denise, you will never be forgotten and your legacy lives on. My heart goes out to the Lee family and all those connected to Denise, I admire your strength, determination and all that you have built and achieved in the loving memory of Denise.
UPDATE: Michael Lee King (54) was pronounced deceased at exactly 6:13 pm on Tuesday the 17th of March 2026. His final words were: ''Since finding Jesus in prison. I have tried to live as his disciple obeying the two great commandments: To love God with all my heart, my mind and my being, and to love my neighbour to include everyone - my family, Denise Lee's family, everyone in the gallery. As well as Catholic volunteers who visit the prison and those on the team to end my life.''
There was no apologies given to Denise's husband, her boys or family. There was no expression of remorse for what he had done. To me, it sounded like another selfish display of everything being all about him.
Michael Lee King's execution was the fourth to take place in Florida this year. More executions are scheduled to take place in the coming months.
Further Reading & Sources:
This case was another really difficult one to research and write about. I had sadly never heard of this case until I received an email from an activist group who are against the death penalty (I know it sounds crazy), they wanted me to sign a petition in support of getting a stay of execution for Michael Lee King. The email was basically a glowing review of him and not much about what he actually did. I had to do my own research to find out the truth and when I did, I was horrified and it made me feel like I should write about this case and help share Denise's story. I hope that more people elsewhere in the world will check out the foundation and think of Denise how she was, as the beautiful, bright and amazing mother and wife that she was. There's more to Denise than what happened to her, as evil and horrible as it was and it should never, ever have happened. Through this horrific case we saw the incredible bravery of a young woman who never gave up and how loved and valued she was and always will be. Because of Denise, her incredible husband Nathan and family, other people will get the help they deserve and improvements in how the police deal with such circumstances will continue to be improved.
Thank you again for joining me in another difficult post and I welcome your thoughts and comments below or by email.
Please stay safe as always, until next time, take care and I hope to see you on my Socials as well as here every Sunday evening for my latest posts x
