Search For Evidence Continues In Slaying

NORTH PORT - Hours before Michael Lee King was captured Thursday, police entered his North Port home, prompted by a harrowing 911 call in which Denise Amber Lee could be heard crying and begging to be set free.

Though they did not have a warrant, authorities knew Lee had called for help from King's cell phone and that King had stopped at his cousin's house to borrow a shovel, gas can and flashlight.

"I'm sorry, I just want to see my family," Lee could be heard saying during the 911 call. "Please let me go."

Lee, 21, was found Saturday buried in a shallow grave, killed by a single gunshot. King, 36, has been charged with kidnapping, and authorities have said they want to push for the death penalty.

Investigators continued to search Monday for clues in the crime, including the gun authorities say King used and Lee's clothing.

They searched trash bins across the city and brought heavy equipment to the wooded area where Lee's body was found.

When police entered King's Sardinia Avenue home shortly after 7 p.m. Thursday all they found was a television set that was turned on and duct tape with strands of long brown hair, according to documents released Monday.

Larry Byrd, a criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor, said officers likely will be considered justified in forcing their way into King's home that night because they were trying to save Lee, whom they believed to be in danger.

"Anything they saw in plain view, in plain sight would be admissible," in court, he said.

Police went to Lee's home at about 3:30 p.m., after her husband, Nathaniel Lee, called 911 and reported her missing. Lee told the dispatcher the children had been left alone and Denise Lee's keys, car and cell phone were left behind.

Police put out an alert for King's green Camaro at 5 p.m. Thursday. About two hours later, after finding the duct tape, authorities began searching vehicles getting on and off the interstate and stopping cars at intersections near Lee's home.

The best chance to save Lee may have been an hour earlier, when King pulled up to the house of his cousin Harold Muxlow, who might have been the last person besides King to see Lee alive. Muxlow told police she yelled for him to "call the police."

He called his daughter instead.

Sabrina Muxlow told police her father saw Lee trying to escape from King's car, that she was tied up and that King shoved her back in the car before speeding off.

Muxlow's daughter called 911 first, then Muxlow said he also called 911.

Police said Muxlow is a cooperating witness and has not been charged with a crime.

Family and friends of Denise Lee will gather from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. today at Lemon Bay Funeral Home Englewood Chapel. Services will be held at 1 p.m. Wednesday at First United Methodist Church in Punta Gorda. Burial will be at Gulf Pines Memorial Park in Englewood.

Donations for the Lee family can be made through the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office. Checks should be made out to the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office, with "Denise Lee Fund" in the memo line. The address is 7474 Utilities Road, Punta Gorda FL 33982.