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For North Port Woman's Family, It's A Time Of Mourning

Sarasota Herald Tribune photo by JASON McKIBBEN.

Nathaniel Lee holds his youngest son, Adam, during a news conference on Sunday. Authorities announced that the body of Lee's wife, Denise Amber, had been found.

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John Davis, Sarasota Herald Tribune

Published: January 21, 2008

NORTH PORT - As family, friends and the community mourn 21-year-old Denise Amber Lee, authorities are adding to evidence that led them to a shallow grave near Toledo Blade Boulevard and Interstate 75 on Saturday.

The identity of the body found in that grave was confirmed Sunday, two days after Michael Lee King of North Port was charged with abducting Lee.

King was arrested Thursday night, hours after Lee was reported missing.

Lee's family held a news conference Sunday morning to thank the public for its help in the search for the mother of two. Her husband, Nathaniel, held their infant and toddler as Lee's father praised his daughter for keeping the two children from harm.

Nathaniel Lee reported his wife missing Thursday after returning home and finding his children alone.

North Port Police Chief Terry Lewis gave no details on how Lee was found or killed, citing the ongoing investigation.

Lewis said it is "way premature" to confirm anything regarding the condition of Lee's body. Asked whether he could verify that authorities were searching for a gun and the clothes Lee wore, Lewis said, "We are searching for any evidence."

The multiagency investigation includes personnel from the North Port Police Department, Charlotte and Sarasota county sheriff's offices and Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

King is being held without bail in the Sarasota County jail and has refused to talk to investigators. He has been charged with kidnapping. Charlotte County Sheriff John Davenport said King also will be charged with murder and that he is going to push for the death penalty.

"I think they have a very, very strong case," Davenport said.

Though King has been uncooperative, Davenport said that will not matter in the end.

"By the time it's all over, we won't need a confession out of him," he said.

Davenport is the supervisor of Lee's father, Charlotte County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Richard Goff. Goff has been with the agency for more than 20 years.

Investigators have not been able to find a connection between King and Lee.

A 911 call said to have been made by Lee from King's cell phone at 6:14 p.m. Thursday triggered the search for King.

A search of public records shows King was facing mounting financial pressure, including foreclosure of his North Port home at 3493 Sardinia, and is thought to have left Florida for Michigan in May.

He returned in October to remove his furniture, said neighbor Dana Lewis. Investigators said only a few blankets were found on the floor of the home.

Lewis, who lives in the house next door to King's, described him as having an erratic, volatile personality.

"We've had trouble with him," Lewis said, adding that she called police a dozen times in recent years with complaints about King, including that he threw battery acid on her pool cage and slashed her car tires.

Lewis said that until last spring, King had been living in the home with his son, who was in grade school. King was divorced and had been unemployed for several months, Lewis said. King's parents live in Ellenton, but most of his family is in the Pontiac, Mich., area.

King's sister-in-law, Carrie King, said that she and the other family members were gathering at a home there and were still trying to absorb the news.

"We're absolutely devastated," Carrie King said.

Donations:
Donations for the Lee family can be dropped off at any of the four Charlotte County Sheriff's office locations listed below. Please make checks out to the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office, with Denise Lee Fund written in the memo line.

Locations:

--Main Office at 7474 Utilities Road Punta Gorda by the airport.
--Port Charlotte in the Promenade Shopping Mall at 3280 Tamiami Trail.
--West County Office at 6868 San Casa Road in Englewood.
--Town Center mall Office in Murdock at 1441 Tamiami Trail.

Donations can also be mailed to:

Charlotte County Sheriff's Office
c/o Denise Lee Donation Fund
7474 Utilities Road
Punta Gorda, FL 33982

Sarasota Herald Tribune librarian Cindy Allegretto contributed to this report.

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