The execution of Michael Lee King took place on March 17, 2026, at Florida State Prison near Starke, where the 54-year-old was put to death by lethal injection for the 2008 kidnapping, rape, and murder of 21-year-old Denise Amber Lee in North Port, Florida. He was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m. The case became one of the most closely watched in Florida not only for the brutality of the crime but for the 911 dispatcher failures that allowed it to end the way it did, failures that later produced statewide reforms.
The Abduction and Murder of Denise Amber Lee
On January 17, 2008, Denise Amber Lee was taken from her home on Latour Avenue in North Port. Her husband, Nathan Lee, came home from work around 3:30 p.m. and found their two young sons, two-year-old Noah and six-month-old Adam, alone in a crib. Denise was gone. Neighbors had noticed a green Camaro moving slowly along the street earlier that day. The car belonged to King, a 38-year-old unemployed plumber who lived nearby. Investigators found no prior connection between the two beyond the proximity of their homes.1Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Relationship Trouble Stands Out in King’s Life
That evening King went to his cousin Harold Muxlow’s house asking to borrow a shovel, a gas can, and a flashlight, claiming his lawnmower was stuck. As Muxlow walked back to the house, he heard a woman inside the Camaro yell, “Call the cops.” He approached and saw King crawling over the center console, pushing down the head of someone with shoulder-length hair in the backseat. King sped off. Muxlow drove to King’s home, saw no lawnmower and no Camaro, and made an anonymous 911 call reporting that a woman might be held against her will.2FindLaw. King v. State3Naples Daily News. Prosecutor: Denise Amber Lee Was Tied to Headboard in King’s Car
King was arrested that night in a felony traffic stop on an I-75 on-ramp. Two days later, Lee’s nude body was found in a shallow grave near Plantation Boulevard, buried about three feet deep. She had been killed by a single gunshot to the head, with the muzzle pressed against her skin, and had been sexually assaulted before her death. DNA recovered from Lee matched King’s profile.4Florida State University College of Law. King v. State, No. SC09-2421
The 911 Calls That Didn’t Save Her
Denise Lee called 911 herself during the abduction, and a second witness did the same. Neither call saved her.
At 6:14 p.m. on January 17, Lee secretly used King’s cell phone from the backseat and reached the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office. For more than six minutes she could be heard sobbing and pleading for her life, giving the operator her name, her husband’s name, and telling the dispatcher she wanted to see her children again. King’s voice was audible in the background demanding the phone. The dispatcher repeated “Hello” thirteen times, asked for information Lee had already provided, and at one point asked her to have her captor turn down the radio. The trial court later said the recording’s transcript “cannot, by any means, convey the fear and terror clearly heard in Denise Lee’s voice.”5USA Today. Denise Amber Lee, Michael King Florida Execution4Florida State University College of Law. King v. State, No. SC09-2421
About fifteen minutes later, a driver named Jane Kowalski called 911 from U.S. 41 in Charlotte County. She reported a man hitting something in the backseat of a green Camaro and screaming so loud that her sister, on another line, thought someone was striking Kowalski’s own car. Kowalski stayed on the phone for nine minutes, pacing the vehicle and giving cross-streets. Her call was routed to Charlotte County dispatch, not Sarasota, and it was logged in a running computer file rather than entered as a new call for dispatch. Four deputies were nearby. None were sent. When Kowalski heard nothing back, she called the North Port police tip line three days later; investigators had never received her information.6Sarasota Herald-Tribune. 911 Caller Drawn Into Debate7Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Victim’s Kin Plans to Sue Charlotte
Denise’s father, Rick Goff, a detective himself, called it a “major screw-up” that “could have saved her life.”8ABC News. Woman’s Desperate Final Acts Changed 911 Forever in Florida An internal review by the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the breakdowns, and four employees were disciplined with suspensions, remedial training, and six months of probation.7Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Victim’s Kin Plans to Sue Charlotte
Conviction and Death Sentence
King was indicted for first-degree murder on February 6, 2008, and also charged with kidnapping and sexual battery. The trial took place in August 2009 in Sarasota County Circuit Court. Jurors heard from Muxlow, Kowalski, and other witnesses who had seen the Camaro during the abduction. The prosecution played Lee’s 911 call. Forensic evidence tied King to the crime through DNA on vaginal swabs, boxer shorts, and items from his car, and a firearms examiner linked 47 cartridge cases from a gun range King had used to the same nine-millimeter weapon that produced a shell casing found at the burial site. The gun itself was never recovered.4Florida State University College of Law. King v. State, No. SC09-2421
Prosecutors also emphasized that Lee had left evidence for investigators inside the Camaro, hiding hair samples, her ring, and handprints in the car. Her father later said she “outsmarted him” and “did everything in her power to save her life.”9MySuncoast. Michael King Execution: Florida Set to Put Man to Death for 2008 Kidnapping, Murder of Denise Amber Lee
The jury convicted King on all three counts in less than two hours.10ABC News. Family of Woman Kidnapped, Murdered Speak After Killer’s Execution During the penalty phase, the defense presented mitigation focused on a traumatic brain injury King suffered at age six in a sledding accident, testimony from his brothers about hallucinations and paranoia in the years that followed, and IQ testing that placed him in the borderline intellectual range. The trial court gave the brain injury moderate weight but found it outweighed by four aggravating factors: that the murder was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel; that it was cold, calculated, and premeditated; that it was committed to avoid arrest; and that it occurred during a sexual battery and kidnapping.4Florida State University College of Law. King v. State, No. SC09-2421
On September 4, 2009, the jury unanimously recommended death. Judge Deno Economou formally sentenced King on December 4, 2009, to death for the murder, life for kidnapping, and thirty years for sexual battery.4Florida State University College of Law. King v. State, No. SC09-2421
Final Appeals
The Florida Supreme Court affirmed King’s convictions and death sentence on February 9, 2012, and the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari that October, making the sentence final.4Florida State University College of Law. King v. State, No. SC09-2421 Later post-conviction filings raised the potential retroactive application of Hurst v. Florida, the 2016 U.S. Supreme Court decision that found Florida’s death-sentencing scheme unconstitutional. The State argued Hurst did not apply retroactively to a case final in 2012 and that any error would have been harmless because the jury’s recommendation had been unanimous.11Florida State University College of Law. King v. State, No. SC14-1949
Governor Ron DeSantis signed King’s death warrant on February 13, 2026, setting execution for March 17. King’s attorneys filed a last application with the U.S. Supreme Court arguing that Florida’s lethal injection protocol violated the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments, citing what they described as irregularities in two prior executions. The State called the claim “layered conjecture” and noted Florida had carried out thirty-five executions under its current protocol without reported problems.12U.S. Supreme Court. King v. Florida, No. 25A1000 – Response to Application for Stay On March 16, one day before the scheduled execution, the Supreme Court denied both the stay and certiorari.13SCOTUSblog. King v. Florida
Inside the Execution Chamber
The execution chamber curtain opened at 6:00 p.m. on March 17, 2026. King read a prepared statement: “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 all my being, and to love my neighbor — to include everyone — my family, Denise Lee’s family, everyone in the gallery.” He did not apologize or acknowledge the crime. After the three-drug protocol was administered, he exhibited heavy breathing, shaking, and twitching before going still. A warden confirmed no response, and a medic pronounced him dead at 6:13 p.m.14WCTV. Florida Man Executed for Killing Young Mom Who Had Frantically Called 911 Seeking Help
King was the fourth person Florida executed in 2026, following nineteen executions in 2025.15The Independent Florida Alligator. Florida Man Executed for 2008 Sarasota Rape, Murder
The Lee Family’s Response
Outside the prison afterward, Nathan Lee said: “Finally, it’s over, this chapter’s closed. I’m glad this day is done and now we can focus on what we’ve been focusing on for the last 18 years. That is moving forward and trying to bring positive change to the 911 system.”16WFLA. Family of Denise Amber Lee Speaks After Her Killer Is Executed
Noah Lee, two years old when his mother was killed and now twenty, was there too. “It’s been a long time coming and I’m just happy to have this closure,” he said. “My dad said that he got the opportunity to know her and marry her, but unfortunately I didn’t get the opportunity to know her and be raised by her.” Of King’s final statement, he said: “He didn’t apologize for killing my mother. He didn’t admit to it either. I would have rather heard nothing.”10ABC News. Family of Woman Kidnapped, Murdered Speak After Killer’s Execution
Rick Goff was unmoved by King’s religious remarks: “He chose to kidnap Denise and do what he did to her, so watching this little speech didn’t impress me at all because it was a written speech that he didn’t even write.”16WFLA. Family of Denise Amber Lee Speaks After Her Killer Is Executed
The Denise Amber Lee Act
Before the abduction, Florida’s 911 centers were essentially unregulated. Each set its own standards, and there was no statewide certification requirement for dispatchers.17Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Denise Lee 911 Bill About to Become Law Rick Goff testified before the Florida Legislature, and in 2008 lawmakers unanimously passed the Denise Amber Lee Act, codified as Florida Statute 401.465. Governor Charlie Crist signed it into law on May 28, 2008.18Florida Legislature. Chapter 2008-51, Laws of Florida
The law requires all 911 public safety telecommunicators in Florida to obtain state certification through the Department of Health. Certification requires a training program of at least 232 hours and passage of a competency exam, and must be renewed every two years with 20 hours of continuing education. Telecommunicators handling emergency medical calls must also complete CPR training every two years. The certification requirement took full effect on October 1, 2012, and the statute has been amended several times since, most recently in 2023.19Florida Senate. Section 401.465, Florida Statutes
Nathan Lee also founded the Denise Amber Lee Foundation, which provides 911 training, quality assurance consulting, and advocacy to emergency agencies nationwide.20Denise Amber Lee Foundation. Denise’s Story