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Emergency Call Was Mishandled, Probe Finds

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By JOHN DAVIS, ZAC ANDERSON and MAURICE TAMMAN, Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Published: February 16, 2008

CHARLOTTE COUNTY - Multiple breakdowns in Charlotte County's emergency communications center let Denise Lee and the man accused of abducting and killing her slip through law enforcement's fingers, according to an internal investigation and data released by the sheriff's office Friday.

Sheriff's officials had the information needed to intercept Michael King as he allegedly drove on U.S. 41 last month with the young mother tied up in his Chevrolet Camaro. And the deputies needed to do so were virtually around the corner.

At least four squad cars were only minutes away when an alarmed citizen phoned 911 to report a suspicious vehicle at 6:30 p.m. on the day Lee was kidnapped. But deputies were never sent to look for the Camaro.

Lee, a North Port mother of two and the daughter of a Charlotte sheriff's sergeant, was later found slain.

Upon releasing results of the three-week internal investigation into his department's handling of the call, Sheriff John Davenport announced that he was disciplining four employees for the failure.

Davenport refused to comment on the report or answer questions about his agency's performance at a news conference, but the suspensions of two employees did not satisfy Lee's family.

"They said everyone was busy," said Denise Lee's husband, Nathan. "I don't care. That's their job."

The internal report paints a disturbing picture of a 911 communications center that is at the heart of the county's emergency response system.

In dispassionate language, it recounts a gut-wrenching missed opportunity to save Lee. When driver Janet Kowalski phoned 911 from her cell phone, she spoke of seeing a blue or black Camaro with a child screaming inside.

The scene prompted Kowalski to question whether an alert had been issued for a kidnapped child.

The 911 operator who answered the call realized the potential connection between what Kowalski saw and an intensive search unfolding a few miles away, in North Port, for Lee and a green Camaro.

'I Knew That I Screwed That Up'

The veteran operator, Mildred Stepp, passed the information to Susan Kallestad, a dispatcher communicating with deputies in their squad cars. But Kallestad did not direct a deputy to search for the car, saying she did not think she could use her radio at that moment because it was being "patched" to communicate with North Port police.

"I knew that I screwed that up and that that information needed to have gone out," Kallestad told investigators.

But the internal investigation, assisted by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, showed that Kallestad was not the only one who knew about the Kowalski call and failed to respond.

The report describes a chaotic scene as the participation by the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office in the North Port Police Department's search for Lee was escalating. Minutes before the Kowalski call, Lee made her own call to Sarasota County's 911 center, confirming she had been abducted.

That call would soon lead authorities to identify King as Lee's alleged abductor.

Alerts And A Shift Change

Meanwhile, Charlotte's communications center buzzed with alerts for a green Camaro and Lee. A shift change was also under way.

Kallestad told Sgt. Floyd Davis about Kowalski's report, and memos show that Davis asked Kallestad to check back with North Port police to confirm the color of the Camaro being sought. Davis told investigators he never heard back.

Documents also show that dispatcher Elizabeth Martinez knew about the Kowalski call, but Martinez, who was ending her shift, told investigators it was not her responsibility to send a unit to respond.

Kallestad told incoming dispatcher Katie Beasley about the Kowalski call, but Beasley never dispatched a car and Kallestad did not follow up to ensure that she did.

Kallestad, who has worked for the agency for 18 months, has been suspended for 60 hours and was ordered to take remedial training. She will also be on probation for six months.

Martinez, a two-year employee, will be suspended for 36 hours, put on probation for six months and given remedial training.

Although not facing suspensions, Stepp and 911 supervisor Laurie Piatt have been ordered to receive remedial training for their role in failing to get the information in Kowalski's call to deputies in squad cars that night.

Lee's father, Charlotte sheriff's Sgt. Rick Goff, and Nathan Lee attended Davenport's news conference but declined to comment afterward.

After being briefed on the investigation findings in a two-hour meeting with Chief Deputy Bill Cameron, however, they expressed disappointment with the disciplinary action.

"We're going to give them a second chance?" Nathan Lee said, referring to the suspensions. "Denise didn't get a second chance."

Goff said: "Obviously we're not happy. There were mistakes made, and we'll just leave it at that."

The investigative report was Davenport's first acknowledgment that his agency had mishandled the call from Kowalski. Davenport criticized a "lack of patience" among members of the media in waiting for information about the handling of the Kowalski call.

He said a tape of the 911 call could not be released because of the ongoing investigation in the Lee case.

King, 36, is in Sarasota County Jail on charges of capital murder, kidnapping and sexual battery. Investigators in North Port have found no link between King and Denise Lee, a 21-year-old, stay-at-home mother of two.

North Port police Chief Terry Lewis declined to comment on Charlotte County's handling of the Kowalski call.

"All of my concern right now is with the family," he said.

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