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Family, Friends Wait For Update On Missing Woman

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By VALERIE KALFRIN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 18, 2008

Relatives and friends of a missing North Port mother of two sons are waiting to hear what happened to her after she was abducted from her home Thursday afternoon.

Civilian and law enforcement search teams are combing a wooded area near North Salford Boulevard and Interstate 75, looking for Denise Amber Lee, 21.

Investigators say Michael Lee King, 37, an unemployed plumber who lived near Lee, abducted her Thursday, leaving her sons, 2-year-old Noah and 6-month-old Adam, in a crib. Lee's husband, Nathaniel, found the children alone upon arriving home about 3 p.m. Thursday.

King was charged this morning with one count of kidnapping with intent to facilitate or commit a felony and booked into the Sarasota County Jail. He has no prior arrests, according to a check of criminal databases.

Relatives like Philip Puente Sr., 75, who is Nathaniel Lee's grandfather, feared today that Denise Lee was dead.

"I think she's in a canal somewhere. Oh, Lord," Puente, who lives in Maryland, said in a phone interview. "It's quite disturbing that people would harm their fellow man like that. … At least he didn't harm the children."

Puente said he had heard from relatives in Florida that investigators had found Denise Lee's wedding band and her clothes.

Authorities earlier today said that King was soaking wet when arrested and that he had borrowed a gas can and a shovel from a cousin, saying his lawn mower had broken down in a ditch.

Denise Lee, 21, is the daughter of Richard Goff, the former head of the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office narcotics bureau.

Puente said she is a stay-at-home mother. Her husband works for Florida Power & Light. He thought they had met at Lemon Bay High School in Englewood.

Puente met his grandson's future wife during a visit to Florida a few years ago.

"She was a tiny little thing," he said. "She just seemed like a very nice girl. Very bright. Very friendly."
Public records show the Lees were married Aug. 1, 2005, in Punta Gorda.

Photos from their wedding and of their sons are posted on the family's MySpace page. Friends posted prayers there today for Denise Lee's safe return.

On one video, Denise Lee films her younger son having "tummy time" while his brother decides to twirl around the living room in his diaper.

"Are you dancing now?" she says at one point. "Look at the baby. He's picking his head up. Good job, Adam. Good boy!"

Denise Lee also posted blogs on the site, such as one in August about trying to buy sunglasses at a mall while Noah tried to wander off and Adam cried.

"An old man commented that I must have my hands full and said he checked in the bottom basket of the stroller to make sure I didn't have a third one in there. LOL, can you imagin if I had three?" she typed. "Something so simple as going to the mall to buy new sunglasses is a thousand times harder when you have two boys under two. But it was still fun. Anytime I get to leave the house is a treat for me."

Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800 or vkalfrin@tampatrib.com.

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