THE ALMOST UNBELIEVABLE STORY OF DENISE AMBER LEE. (PHOTO).

The almost unbelievable story of Denise Amber Lee.

The most disturbing true crime case I've ever heard about and watched her killer's full trial. It's stuck with me because this could have seriously happened to anyone, myself and you included.

This is the story of Denise Amber Lee, a 21-year-old Florida woman that was kidnapped but never once gave up her fight for life. Although she lost the fight for her life she did something amazing right before her death.

On January 17, 2008, Denise had spoken to her husband, Nathan Lee, a little at 11:09 a.m. The loving couple spoke for 5 minutes. Nathan regularly called his wife Denise from work when he got the chance.

 The two were high school sweethearts and married after graduating. In fact, for their first Valentine's Day together as a couple, Nathan bought her a heart ring that Denise treasured. She literally never took it off. She adored it.

During their brief phone call, Nathan asked her to turn off their central air since it was unseasonably warm that January 17th in North Port, Florida where the married couple resided.

Denise informed her husband that she had already turned off the air conditioner and opened all the windows. 

Later that afternoon, sometime before 2:30 p.m., Denise was sitting with her 6 month old baby Noah, and her 2-year-old son Adam. Sometime after 2:00 p.m. a 36-year-old man with horrible intentions entered through the unlocked front door.

Her husband Nathan arrived home early from work that day at 3:25 p.m. He found the house empty, and was shocked to see the windows all shut but not latched. He was also surprised to find his front door locked. Most surprisingly, both of his children were in the same crib sleeping which is something Denise never did. Nathan called Denise's father who just happened to be a Charlotte County Sheriff's Department detective. Her father, Rick, told everyone he knew to look for his daughter. He had a helicopter in the sky scouring the neighborhood as well as patrolmen asking neighbors if they saw anything within 30 minutes of receiving the call from Nathan.

Denise was forcefully removed from her home, she wasn't allowed to grab her purse or her phone. Denise was being held at gunpoint officials believe. She laid, fully blind folded, and terrified in the back of her kidnappers vehicle. She did something unbelievable. Denise Amber Lee was able to grab her attacker's cell phone without him noticing while she was blindfolded and bound with duct tape during a struggle.

She was able to do this after her kidnapper went to his cousin's house to borrow a gas can, a shovel, and a flashlight. Denise, blindfolded and duct taped, and injured, burst out of the car and screamed at Harold Muxlow whom was the kidnapper's cousin, to call 911 immediately. This pissed off her kidnapper so much that he physically grabbed her and shoved her back in the car in front of his cousin. During this scuffle, Denise was able to grab the kidnapper's cell phone.

Denise made a frantic 911 call at 6:14 p.m. at first the 911 operator seems confused and just keeps repeating the word "hello." During the 911 call, young Denise is screaming, "please protect me", "I don't know where I am at" also, she said the word "please" to her kidnapper and the 911 operator, 17 times in less than 5 minutes.

This young woman was smart. She pretended to have a conversation with her kidnapper so she could answer the 911 dispatchers questions without getting caught. At one point the dispatcher asks Denise if she is on i-75. Denise is then heard screaming at her kidnapper, "Where are we? I want to see my kids again!" The kidnapper cusses at her and tells her to be quiet so Denise responds in a very calculated way, "I don't know where.........my phone is." Somehow the 911 dispatcher understood exactly what she meant and said, "Are you blindfolded? If so, push a button." Denise made sure to yell that she did not have her kidnappers phone as he was accusing her of having it. She also yelled "it's so loud in here I can't hear anything", because the dispatcher had stated that maybe Denise could not hear her because she simply had the phone laying near her.

The 911 call is heartbreaking. Miraculously Denise was able to let the 911 operator know in less than 5 minutes the make and model of the car she was kidnapped in, she was able to let the operator know her name and address as well as letting the operator know she did not know her kidnapper at all.

They heard the kidnapper saying in the background of the 911 call that he would release Denise if she gave the phone back to which she repeatedly replied "will you protect me", or she would say she "didn't know where the phone was." The 911 dispatcher heard the kidnapper claiming he would have let Denise go but she messed up at his cousin's house.

Denise was horribly s****** assaulted before and after this 911 call.

You may be curious what the kidnappers cousin did after seeing a 21-year-old woman bursting out of the vehicle begging for help. Harold called his 17 year old daughter and told her what he had just witnessed. His daughter Sabrina called 911 at 6:19 p.m. and told police everything her father, Harold, had told her.

At the trial, Harold claimed that he was used to his cousin being in domestic violent situation so he thought that was the worst that was happening. He believed his cousin when he said he got a lawnmower stuck in the mud and that is why he needed the shovel, flashlight and gas can. Harold drove to his cousin's home and saw there was no "stuck" lawn mower. He went to a pay phone and anonymously called 911 just 9 minutes after his daughter hung up with them.

When the 911 operator asked him if he thought the girl was in trouble, he stated, ".....She did not look like she wanted to be there."

Around the same time Harold called, a woman named Jane Kowalski called 911. She stated she was traveling on US 41. Jane was stopped at a stop light next to what she perceived to be a bluish Camaro where she heard screaming from what she believed to be a child. As she was making eye contact with the kidnapper, she suddenly saw a palm start beating on the window of the Camaro. As more screams continued, Jane witnessed the man shoving the girl down frantically.

Jane tried to follow the man so she could get his license plate number. However, the kidnapper made sure to get behind Jane quickly and abruptly make a left turn. Jane was asking the 911 operator if she should follow him but it was found the 911 operator was slow to respond and seemed distracted.

Sadly, sometime shortly after Jane saw Denise banging on the car window, Denise was shot at point blank range by her kidnapper above her right eyebrow. If that's not bad enough, the kidnapper took her blindfold off so she would have to watch it happen.

Another hard fact to swallow is a police officer was nearby when Denise was killed. Due to the 911 dispatchers not relaying information correctly the officer did not know that Jane had called. He was literally on the same road when Denise was killed.

The phone Denise stole from her attacker? Unfortunately it was a burner phone which cannot be tracked, but her father was a damn good detective and he figured out the killer's name quickly. They were able to see who the phone was registered to.

The phone was registered to a 36-year-old man named Michael King. He was also a North Port, Florida resident that did not live far from Denise. He was going through a messy divorce. 

Close to the same time Denise was calling 911 and fighting for her life, police officers were gaining entry at 6:47 p.m. at Michael King's residence where they found evidence of S/A. They found duct tape with Denise's hair stuck to it as well. Unfortunately, police said the best way to describe the room Denise was assaulted in, was, "It was a torture room. There's no other way to put it."

Michael King was pulled over by Florida State Police at 9:16 p.m. just 4 miles from where Jane Kowalski had called. He was alone in his car. He would not exit his vehicle until the state trooper threatened to take a shot at him. When Michael exited the vehicle the state trooper noticed he was soaking wet, and the phone in his pocket had the battery and SIM card removed.

Michael King also had a muddy shovel in his vehicle.

One fact in this case that has always bothered me, Denise's right eye was stuck on Michael Kings front bumper near a headlight.

Despite all of this evidence, Michael King was interrogated and claimed him and Denise were both kidnapped and he couldn't give much information on why he was set free and why Denise was missing.

Two days later, just half a mile from where the state trooper apprehended king, Denise's body was found in a muddy hole. She was unclothed.

Denise had multiple defense wounds and detectives shared with the public that she fought with all of her might for her life so she could see her children and the rest of her family again. Michael King was much larger than Denise, but she truly held her own as long as she could.

Prosecutors and detectives quickly learned that Michael King was known as a quiet man but his neighbors thought he was strange and would pull pranks that were odd enough to call 911 over. They also learned a cashier that knew him quite well claimed she recently watched him make out with a 15-year-old girl. She was stunned because she believed the girl must have been his daughter or something. After digging a little bit more, it was discovered Michael King also had a habit of exposing himself. Michael had not shown up to his plumbing job for over 3 months at the time he kidnapped Denise. He had recently had an ugly divorce according to detectives.

During his trial he stood by the fact that he was also abducted but prosecutors ripped that theory apart quickly. As they played the 911 call Denise made he just stared towards the recording machine showing no emotion.

His defense attorneys tried to claim he had an IQ of 71 after a sledding accident that happened when he was a child. However prosecutors were able to prove that was untrue due to all of the techniques he used to evade being caught, such as realizing Jane Kowalski was on to him so he drove behind her as well as removing the battery and SIM card from his phone.

Denise's family has always been distraught with the fact that Harold, King's cousin, was the person that could have stopped all of this but instead let Michael drive off with Denise. They question if he really believed it was a domestic battery.

Michael King was found guilty of abduction, assault and murder. He received 30 years and a death penalty.

Denise wanted to make sure her killer was caught. When kings car was impounded police found where Denise had ripped out her own hair by the root methodically and placed it under the car seat where King couldn't reach if he were to try to clean the car.

As I said from the beginning, Denise was a smart woman. While police were searching the car they found that right before being killed Denise slipped off that special heart-shaped Valentine's Day gift from her husband and shoved it deep in between the back car seats.

Nathan is now happily married with seven combined children. Nathan still speaks often of Denise. He has set up a state act that was quickly passed in Florida called the Denise Amber Lee act. It is an optional training for 911 dispatchers to help them in cases much like his wife's case. He hopes someday to make it a mandatory training procedure.

Nathan said he finds peace in the fact that he sees Denise when he looks at his two sons.

Michael King tried to get out of the death penalty in 2016 but it did not work. There is no date set for his death penalty.

Rest easy, Denise Amber Lee... ❤️‍🩹