Episode 167: Denise Lee – Bite-Sized Crime

When a young mother is taken from her home, investigators must race against the clock to find her. What happened to Denise?

Episode Media

Denise and Nathan Lee with their sons *(ABC News)*

Michael King’s green Camaro *(Florida State Attorney’s Office)*

Episode Sources

Episode Transcript

Welcome back to Bite-Sized Crime. This week I’m bringing you a case from Florida, the story of a young woman who fought hard and the family who was determined to bring her justice. This episode discusses sensitive topics, so listener discretion is advised.

Denise Amber Goff grew up on the Gulf Coast of Florida. Born in the town of Englewood in 1986, Denise was a happy child, bright and kind to others. During her senior year at Lemon Bay High School, Denise started taking college classes, where she met and fell in love with Nathan Lee, a star baseball player just a few years older than she was. Nathan told ABC News, “I know it sounds cliché, but I mean, we really knew right away… We were two peas in a pod. We were as happy as you could be.”

Denise graduated magna cum laude in 2004, and that fall, she and Nathan moved to Tampa to attend the University of South Florida. But after the first year, Denise learned she was pregnant. She and Nathan got married and made the decision to drop out of college. They moved back home to Englewood to live with Denise’s parents, working and saving up money until they could eventually get their own place.

In 2006, Denise and Nathan welcomed their son Noah. Shortly after, they rented a three-bedroom home in North Port, about 20 miles east of Englewood. Nathan got a job working full-time as a meter reader with the local power company, while earning extra money on the side coaching Little League baseball and playing saxophone in a band. In 2007, Denise gave birth to their second son, Adam. She loved being a mother and shared her journey on MySpace, blogging about her daily life with two young children. It was a happy life.

On the morning of January 17, 2008, Nathan headed off to work as usual. He and Denise chatted on the phone a few times that day, Denise telling Nathan that she was cutting Noah’s hair on the back porch and Nathan reminding Denise to open the windows so they could get some fresh air in the house and save on electricity. They planned a shopping trip for that afternoon so they could get some essentials – navigating a grocery store with a 2-year-old and a 6-month-old was easier when both adults were on hand.

Around 3pm, Nathan called Denise to let her know he was on his way home, but she didn’t answer the phone. Thinking she might be busy with the boys, he tried again. No answer. Concerned, Nathan called Denise six times with no response. When he finally arrived at their house on Latour Avenue, the first thing he noticed was that all the windows were closed. Inside, the house was eerily quiet. The air conditioning was off, Denise’s purse and keys were on the counter, and her cell phone was on the back of the couch. Nathan walked through the house, calling his wife’s name. When he opened the nursery door, he found his two sons in the same crib, but there was no sign of Denise.

Panic rising, Nathan dialed 911. After being assured that officers were on their way, Nathan called Denise’s parents to let them know what was going on. Denise’s father, Rick Goff, was a well-respected police sergeant in neighboring Charlotte County. As soon as he heard his daughter was missing, Rick drove to North Port. He confirmed to the responding officers what Nathan had been saying – Denise would never leave her children alone. Although the North Port Police Department had jurisdiction over the case, Rick called in reinforcements from his own department. Charlotte County immediately sent teams to help with the search.

Officers began going door to door in the neighborhood, asking residents if they had seen anything in the last few hours. Several residents mentioned seeing a green Camaro driving up and down the street that day. One neighbor told officers that around 2pm, she had been inside watching television when she saw the Camaro pass by her house four or five times. Assuming the driver was lost, she went outside to investigate. She watched as the Camaro drove by again before finally pulling into Denise and Nathan’s driveway. The neighbor went back inside, but fifteen minutes later, she saw the Camaro pull out of the driveway and head down the street. She didn’t see it again after that.

North Port Police put out a bulletin in Sarasota and Charlotte counties for a green Camaro. If Denise was in that car, they needed every available officer to be on the lookout.

Hours passed, and there was no sign of Denise. Then, at 6:14pm, a call came into the Sarasota County dispatch center. A woman’s frantic voice repeated over and over again, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I just want to go… Please let me go.” The dispatcher then heard a man’s voice in the background asking where his phone was. The dispatcher suspected that the man didn’t know the woman had called 911, that the phone she was calling from was hidden somehow. She kept listening, asking the woman over and over what her name was just in case she could hear her. Finally she heard, “My name is Denise. I‘m married to a beautiful husband, and I just want to see my kids again.”

The call continued, and the dispatcher was able to determine that Denise was likely blindfolded; she couldn’t see where they were going. But Denise was smart – she was able to give the dispatcher her name and address without tipping off the man in the background. Then, the dispatcher heard Denise say, “Help me,” and the call ended.

Immediately, investigators tracked the phone number Denise had called from to a man named Michael King. Incredibly, as they were gathering this information, another call came into Sarasota County just 9 minutes after Denise’s call had ended. This time, a teenage girl named Sabrina told the dispatcher that her dad’s cousin had been at his house just a short while ago to borrow a gas tank, a flashlight, and a shovel. According to her dad, while he and his cousin were talking, a young woman had tried to jump out of the car. She asked him to help her, to call the cops, but his cousin had shoved her back in the car and drove away. When asked by the dispatcher, Sabrina said her dad’s cousin was named Michael King, and he was driving a green Camaro.

The pieces were starting to come together. During Denise’s 911 call, the dispatcher had heard the male voice saying something about a cousin and how Denise had messed things up. If Sabrina’s story was correct, Michael King must have taken Denise to his cousin’s house, then panicked when she had alerted his cousin to her presence. It was now even more important that they find Denise, and find her quickly.

Then, at 6:30pm, another call to 911, this time in Charlotte County. A woman reported that she was at a stoplight on US Highway 41 next to a Camaro. She could see a small hand banging on the back window and could hear screaming, “and not a happy scream, a ‘Get me out of here’ scream.” The woman could see the driver clearly, describing him as a white male with light hair. She tried to follow him, but she lost him when he turned north on Toledo Blade Boulevard.

Charlotte County put out a BOLO for the Camaro, but somehow there was a miscommunication, and the alert didn’t reach neighboring jurisdictions. North Port police had no idea that Denise and the Camaro had been spotted just 7 miles away.

While Michael King was headed north, officers were at his house on Sardinia Avenue. When they entered the home, they noticed that there was very little furniture, but a television and a clock radio were turned on, the volume on high. A roll of duct tape sat on the kitchen counter. In the bedroom they found pillows and blankets on the floor and a mirror propped up against the wall. The bedroom window was covered with a yellow blanket. A hairband lay on the floor next to a wadded up ball of duct tape, long strands of light-brown hair stuck to the tape. Officers immediately applied for a search warrant so they could collect evidence. The clock was ticking.

Law enforcement set up a perimeter with road blocks and police checkpoints, hoping to prevent Michael King from getting on the interstate. Just after 9pm, three hours after Denise’s 911 call, a trooper with the Florida Highway Patrol spotted the green Camaro and initiated a traffic stop. Michael King was at the wheel; Denise was nowhere to be seen.

The state trooper noticed that Michael King had mud on his shoes and his clothes were soaking wet. In the backseat of the Camaro, a blanket and a heart-shaped ring lay in the backseat next to a shovel caked with dirt. An empty gas can sat on the passenger seat. There was also a cell phone with the battery and SIM card removed.

Michael King was taken into custody, but during questioning, he tried to convince investigators that he had been kidnapped along with Denise. According to King, the kidnapper had let him go but took Denise, and he didn’t know where she was now. Naturally, investigators did not believe this story. So they tried a new tactic – they brought in King’s cousin, Harold Muxlow.

Initially, Muxlow didn’t want to get involved, but eventually he gave in. He told investigators that King had come to his house around 6pm and said he needed to fix a lawnmower that was stuck in his yard. He asked if he could borrow a gas can, flashlight, and shovel. Muxlow gathered the items, but when he returned, he heard a woman shout from the Camaro, “Call the cops!” Muxlow asked King what was going on, but King told him not to worry about it. Then, Muxlow saw King push someone down in the backseat, a woman with shoulder-length hair, before driving away.

Muxlow felt that something wasn’t right, but he didn’t want to get in the middle of his cousin’s business. He called his daughter Sabrina and relayed what he had seen, but told her not to call the police. Thankfully, Sabrina didn’t listen. Her 911 call set investigators on the right path.

Muxlow decided to drive to King’s house. The Camaro wasn’t in the driveway, and there was no lawnmower stuck in the yard. Feeling guilty about not speaking up, Muxlow walked to a nearby gas station and placed an anonymous call to 911. However, he refused to name his cousin, saying only that police should be looking for a green Camaro.

While Michael King sat in custody, search teams were out in the woods and swamps of North Port searching for Denise. The town sits on a network of canals, so searchers had to utilize kayaks and boats while helicopters flew overhead. ATVs and search dogs covered the ground area, but the terrain was rough.

Investigators knew that King would be the key to finding Denise, but he was holding strong to his story that he had been a victim of kidnapping as well. So they started to focus on who Michael King was, and what connection he could possibly have to Denise.

King wasn’t originally from Florida, living most of his life in Michigan before relocating to North Port in 2002 with his wife and son. He got a job working as a plumber, and was generally known to be a hard worker. But according to his neighbors, King’s behavior had been erratic since his wife had divorced him a few years earlier. Some days he was kind, some days he wasn’t. One neighbor told the Sarasota Herald-Times that they suspected King had slashed their tires and dumped battery acid in their pool. He had been caught peering in neighbor’s windows and was often seen wandering the streets alone at night.

Investigators had wondered if King had kidnapped Denise as some sort of retaliation against her father, Rick Goff. Rick was a well-known detective and had been involved in some high-profile cases, but Michael King didn’t have a criminal record, and there was no indication that he and Rick Goff had ever crossed paths.

It appeared to investigators that King may have been motivated by anger and desperation more than anything else. He was recently unemployed, divorced, and bankrupt. His house was in foreclosure, and his last girlfriend had broken up with him. When contacted by police, the ex-girlfriend said that King had seemed depressed the last few months, but she never dreamed he would be capable of something like this.

On the night of January 18th, a canine handler searching an abandoned construction site near Toledo Blade and Plantation Boulevard discovered an area of disturbed ground. Spots of blood dotted the sand. When the sun came up the next morning, the site was excavated, and there, they uncovered the body of Denise Lee. Nearby, investigators found pieces of her clothing and a single 9mm shell casing.

An autopsy revealed that Denise had been sexually assaulted. Her cause of death was a single gunshot wound to the head.

Michael Lee King was charged with first degree murder, kidnapping, and sexual battery. During his trial, the defense argued that because the murder weapon had never been found, there was no proof that Michael had killed Denise. They tried to point the finger at a friend of King’s, but that friend had a solid alibi. The defense called no witnesses.

The prosecution, however, called multiple witnesses, including Harold Muxlow, Denise’s neighbor, and the woman who had called 911. The state produced a mountain of physical evidence tying King to the crime. Denise’s palm print was found on the driver’s side window of the green Camaro, and her hair was found in the backseat. Blood and hair found on the outside of the car matched Denise’s DNA, as did blood on a blanket recovered from the backseat. Denise’s hair was found in the duct tape at King’s house, and King’s DNA was found on Denise’s clothing. The heart-shaped ring in the bag of the Camaro was the promise ring Nathan had given Denise when they first started dating.

After two hours of deliberation, the jury found Michael King guilty on all counts. He was sentenced to death. He is currently on death row at Union Correctional Institution in Railford, Florida.

In the aftermath of Denise’s death, her family was determined to keep her memory alive. Her father told the Herald-Times, “I feel better when I’m talking about her because I want people to remember what a good person she was.”

They also wanted to bring awareness to the deficiencies in 911 communications. In 2009, Nathan filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office, alleging that their dispatch center mishandled the 911 call from the witness who had seen Denise, costing investigators valuable time that could have saved Denise’s life. Because the call had not been properly entered into the dispatch system, no officers were sent to the area where the Camaro had been spotted, and North Port police didn’t receive the information they needed to apprehend Michael King while Denise was still alive. By the time King was arrested three hours later, Denise was gone.

In the sixteen years since Denise was killed, Nathan has traveled the country speaking to 911 dispatchers through the Denise Amber Lee Foundation, the organization he founded in his late wife’s name. His mission is to promote public safety through proper training and standardized procedures for dispatch centers.

Denise’s younger sister Amanda became a 911 dispatcher herself, wanting to honor Denise by making a difference in people’s lives. Denise’s family also helped pass the Denise Amber Lee Act, a Florida bill that established standards for dispatcher training. They continue to work towards making these standards nationwide.

Denise Amber Lee was a loving mother, daughter, and wife. She was also a hero. She protected her children and did everything she could to make sure her killer would face justice. May her memory live on.