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Report Due Soon On Handling Of Call In North Port Slaying

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BY JOHN DAVIS

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Published: February 7, 2008

The sheriff's office could have answers this week about how it handled a 911 call from a witness it thinks pinpointed the location of Michael King and Denise Lee shortly before Lee's slaying Jan. 17.

A conclusion could come by Friday in the investigation by the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, FDLE spokesman Bob Carpenter said.

Sheriff John Davenport has characterized the probe as a "critique of what went right and what went wrong" in the agency's handling of an emergency call that came as officers from Charlotte, Sarasota County and North Port searched for Lee.

The actions of the 911 operator who took the call, Mildred Stepp, have been scrutinized by the department. She is back at work.

Janet Kowalski called Charlotte County 911 on Jan. 17 to report what she thought was a possible child abduction by a man in a dark Chevrolet Camaro on U.S. 41 near the Charlotte-Sarasota county line. The 6:30 p.m. call came three hours after Lee, 21, had been reported missing and search efforts for Lee and a green Camaro were escalating.

Kowalski reportedly lost sight of the Camaro, which she later identified as being driven by King, on Toledo Blade Boulevard, the same road where King was arrested hours later without Lee in the car.

King was arrested while trying to drive south on Interstate 75. Lee's body was found later in a shallow grave one-half mile from where King was arrested.

King, 36, is in Sarasota County Jail, charged with kidnapping and murder.

Recordings of the Kowalski call or other 911 calls related to the Lee case have not been publicly released, and the agency has not answered questions about its response or 911 procedures.

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