GUILTY FL - Denise Lee, 21, raped & murdered, North Port, 17 Jan 2008

[STEADFAST]

That's horrible! How could that happen?? Why wouldn't they notify the police? I'll be interested in hearing more.

 

[cheko1]

This is awfull!!!! How / why????

 

[RiverRat]

Too busy my azz! I just checked the CCSO website and there were a grand total of 26 arrests on January 17th. For a 24 hour time period - that is not busy.

 

[RiverRat]

http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/myfox/

A woman called 911 to report she'd seen a woman struggling in the back of a car, but an internal investigation shows 911 workers did not notify authorities. The young mother in the car was later found murdered

Warning - this case rips your heart out and boggles the mind.

 

[CW]

RiverRat I moved the thread over to Denise thread and just added to the thread title a little more info.

 

[RiverRat]

RiverRat I moved the thread over to Denise thread and just added to the thread title a little more info.

Great job of summing up the new title, but just seeing how it has progressed from it's original one....it's hard, but I am more than appreciative.

I'm not sure if this small community is aware of just how lucky we are that this creep was immediately caught. Maybe a crash course here would help bring that fact home of the far too many cases that never do progress this far.

 

[earthacademy]

Warning - this case rips your heart out and boggles the mind.

yes it does. There has been a lot of community support and fundraisers to help the family. I helped volunteer at one. {it is wonderful to see the community come together in this way} but unfortunately for a horrible reason~ It is just like a bad nightmare... Denise's family will always be in my thoughts and prayers.
I wish Rick and Nathan could just do whatever they want to that monster.... I can't imagine that anyone could disagree

 

[LookOut]

This poor girl! She had tried so hard to be helped and no one could save her. That's very sad the situation was not taken more seriously by the killers relatives and the 911 operators.

 

[earthacademy]

It is a tragedy, and now Jane Kowalski is being dragged through the mud- {she was the one who called 911} she did the right thing!!! The county doesn't want to take the blame for their screw ups. I just can't stop thinking about it all. it still hurts like it just happened yesterday. My prayers are still with Her family.

 

[Fairy1]

This poor girl! She had tried so hard to be helped and no one could save her. That's very sad the situation was not taken more seriously by the killers relatives and the 911 operators.

Someone did try to help her - it just didn't work like it should have. This is so heartbreaking. I don't know what else can possibly be done to help women who are in trouble. FGS - makes me SO angry!!!

 

[earthacademy]

King pleads not guilty in Lee murder

var ArticleTools_Title ='King%20pleads%20not%20guilty%20in%20Lee%20murder';
Todd Ruger
SARASOTA COUNTY — The man accused of abducting, raping and murdering Denise Amber Lee in January pleaded not guilty to the charges at a hearing this morning.

Michael L. King’s plea was not unexpected at the arraignment hearing, a formality where King did not appear in the courtroom.

His attorneys simply turned in a paper with the not guilty pleas at the end of a 20 minute hearing about other motions in the case.

Also this morning, Judge Deno Economou denied defense attorney attempts to have the first-degree murder indictment thrown out on several reasons, including that media publicity about the case may have tainted the grand jury.

Defense attorneys often ask the court for specific rulings on such motions to preserve the issues for conviction appeals.

Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty against King on the murder charge, and have also filed kidnapping and sexual battery charges against King, 36.

Lee, 21, was reported missing the afternoon of Jan. 17. Her body was found two days later in a wooded area with a single gunshot wound, in a shallow grave six miles from her home.

A state lab has matched King’s DNA to DNA found in the body of Denise Lee,, according to documents filed with the courts.


This just makes me so sick to my stomach

 

[sleuthin4fun]

OK my dad is an attorney but, I have one question. How do defense attorneys sleep at night? How anyone could defend this man is beyond me. The facts in this case are overwhelming just send him to the middle east where they can cut of his head!!!!!

 

[Bobbisangel]

OK my dad is an attorney but, I have one question. How do defense attorneys sleep at night? How anyone could defend this man is beyond me. The facts in this case are overwhelming just send him to the middle east where they can cut of his head!!!!!

:clap: :clap: :clap:

 

[RiverRat]

OK my dad is an attorney but, I have one question. How do defense attorneys sleep at night? How anyone could defend this man is beyond me. The facts in this case are overwhelming just send him to the middle east where they can cut of his head!!!!!

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

[RiverRat]

http://www.sun-herald.com/CHNewsstory.cfm?pubdate=030708&story=ch5.htm&folder=NewsArchive2

NORTH PORT -- Not understanding why law enforcement wasn't taking her information seriously, motorist Janet Kowalski called North Port's police department twice. By the second call, she was frustrated. Now the police know why. Earlier this week, North Port Police investigators learned Kowalski called the police department late Friday morning -- the day after Denise Amber Lee, 21, was abducted from her North Port Estates home and Michael King, 36, was arrested. However, North Port police didn't know of Kowalski's first call.

Kowalski had dialed 911 from her cell phone on Jan. 17 as she traveled from North Port (Cranberry Boulevard area) into Charlotte County. The Charlotte County 911 operator allegedly did not identify what county Kowalski was calling into when she explained she was in front of a dark-colored Camaro with a screaming passenger traveling slowly down U.S. 41. She told the operator the Camaro abruptly turned left onto Toledo Blade Boulevard as she continued to travel on U.S. 41.

After not hearing from the North Port Police Department on Friday, Jan. 18, Kowalski called the department's crime tips line Saturday morning before police announced they had found the body of a female in the woods near the Toledo Blade Boulevard exit. "When Mrs. Kowalski called us she seemed upset because she thought she called us three times and no one was responding to the important information she thought she tried telling us," said Cpt. Bob Estrada of the North Port Police Department. "Now that we figured it all out, we know why she was so frustrated."

Investigators have pieced together what happened on the fateful Thursday night Lee was abducted and slain. They now understand the series of calls Kowalski made and why she was so concerned. When Kowalski learned King had been arrested Thursday night off Toledo Blade Boulevard in North Port, she called the North Port Police Department on Friday morning because that's where she thought she placed the original 911 call.

The North Port 911 operator who spoke to Kowalski on that Friday had not worked the night before during the massive manhunt for Lee and King. Thinking her Thursday calls were directed to North Port, Kowalski asked if the information she provided had helped police find and arrest King. The operator said she was unsure and would have an investigator call her. "At the time, our operator thought we (the North Port Police Department) received the 911 call from Kowalski," Estrada said. "When Mrs. Kowalski called upset the next day (Saturday) that no one called her back after she called the police three times, we found we had no knowledge of her original call to the Charlotte County 911 center."

This week, after investigating, Estrada said because the operator mistakenly thought the city handled the original 911 call, she told Kowalski someone would call her back on that Friday. The next day police did an in-depth interview with Kowalski. She explained everything she witnessed Thursday night to the North Port officers.

 

[Bobbisangel]

http://www.sun-herald.com/CHNewsstory.cfm?pubdate=030708&story=ch5.htm&folder=NewsArchive2

NORTH PORT -- Not understanding why law enforcement wasn't taking her information seriously, motorist Janet Kowalski called North Port's police department twice. By the second call, she was frustrated. Now the police know why. Earlier this week, North Port Police investigators learned Kowalski called the police department late Friday morning -- the day after Denise Amber Lee, 21, was abducted from her North Port Estates home and Michael King, 36, was arrested. However, North Port police didn't know of Kowalski's first call.

Kowalski had dialed 911 from her cell phone on Jan. 17 as she traveled from North Port (Cranberry Boulevard area) into Charlotte County. The Charlotte County 911 operator allegedly did not identify what county Kowalski was calling into when she explained she was in front of a dark-colored Camaro with a screaming passenger traveling slowly down U.S. 41. She told the operator the Camaro abruptly turned left onto Toledo Blade Boulevard as she continued to travel on U.S. 41.

After not hearing from the North Port Police Department on Friday, Jan. 18, Kowalski called the department's crime tips line Saturday morning before police announced they had found the body of a female in the woods near the Toledo Blade Boulevard exit. "When Mrs. Kowalski called us she seemed upset because she thought she called us three times and no one was responding to the important information she thought she tried telling us," said Cpt. Bob Estrada of the North Port Police Department. "Now that we figured it all out, we know why she was so frustrated."

Investigators have pieced together what happened on the fateful Thursday night Lee was abducted and slain. They now understand the series of calls Kowalski made and why she was so concerned. When Kowalski learned King had been arrested Thursday night off Toledo Blade Boulevard in North Port, she called the North Port Police Department on Friday morning because that's where she thought she placed the original 911 call.

The North Port 911 operator who spoke to Kowalski on that Friday had not worked the night before during the massive manhunt for Lee and King. Thinking her Thursday calls were directed to North Port, Kowalski asked if the information she provided had helped police find and arrest King. The operator said she was unsure and would have an investigator call her. "At the time, our operator thought we (the North Port Police Department) received the 911 call from Kowalski," Estrada said. "When Mrs. Kowalski called upset the next day (Saturday) that no one called her back after she called the police three times, we found we had no knowledge of her original call to the Charlotte County 911 center."

This week, after investigating, Estrada said because the operator mistakenly thought the city handled the original 911 call, she told Kowalski someone would call her back on that Friday. The next day police did an in-depth interview with Kowalski. She explained everything she witnessed Thursday night to the North Port officers.

They were just a little to late figuring all of it out. I think if I had been Mrs. Kowalske when I found out how screwed up everything had been and that the life of this young lady could have been saved I wouldn't have stuck around to explain it all again. It was to late for explinations anyway. I would have just got up and walked out of the police department.

Don't they have briefings at the police department when the shifts change? Of all places you would think that they would. Info is passed down. That 911 dispatcher should have known what was going on in that area even if she hadn't worked the night before. She should have been briefed.

 

[RiverRat]

They were just a little to late figuring all of it out. I think if I had been Mrs. Kowalske when I found out how screwed up everything had been and that the life of this young lady could have been saved I wouldn't have stuck around to explain it all again. It was to late for explinations anyway. I would have just got up and walked out of the police department.

Don't they have briefings at the police department when the shifts change? Of all places you would think that they would. Info is passed down. That 911 dispatcher should have known what was going on in that area even if she hadn't worked the night before. She should have been briefed.

I will let Denise's Dad weigh in on that one.....here is a post from a local board where Rick's anguish is felt to the core:

"You say I dont have the right to sit back and condemn these people, I'll beg to differ.

I say that I am in fact qualified to make such a judgement since I have been in Law Enforcement for 25 years. And to say mistakes were made is to say the least. I hope mistakes like this one are not done everyday like you say, because this one more than likely would have saved a life if handled properly. And why should we give these operators another chance to make the same mistake and possibly cause someone else to loose their loved one. And If the families feeling were given any weight, then the operators on duty that night would have been fired.

And as far as living with it everyday, Well so do I, so does my wife Sue, My son Tyler, My daughter Amanda, My son in law Nathan, My Grandson Noah and my grandson Adam. And as far as the suspect King,my daughter Denise did everything in her power to make sure this monster is behind bars so he'll never hurt anyone again. So Yes, I guess I do have the right to sit back and condemn these people.

I love you baby! Your my hero and my Angel... Dad"

and

"What do you think it's like working there after this incident. I have to depend on these same dispatchers on a daily basis when my life is on the line, how do you think that makes me feel. Will they send me help or will they forget like they did with Denise? Yes this is what I have to deal with and I'm not the one that screwed up. Go figure!"

 

[tezi]

I will let Denise's Dad weigh in on that one.....here is a post from a local board where Rick's anguish is felt to the core:

"You say I dont have the right to sit back and condemn these people, I'll beg to differ.

I say that I am in fact qualified to make such a judgement since I have been in Law Enforcement for 25 years. And to say mistakes were made is to say the least. I hope mistakes like this one are not done everyday like you say, because this one more than likely would have saved a life if handled properly. And why should we give these operators another chance to make the same mistake and possibly cause someone else to loose their loved one. And If the families feeling were given any weight, then the operators on duty that night would have been fired.

And as far as living with it everyday, Well so do I, so does my wife Sue, My son Tyler, My daughter Amanda, My son in law Nathan, My Grandson Noah and my grandson Adam. And as far as the suspect King,my daughter Denise did everything in her power to make sure this monster is behind bars so he'll never hurt anyone again. So Yes, I guess I do have the right to sit back and condemn these people.

I love you baby! Your my hero and my Angel... Dad"

and

"What do you think it's like working there after this incident. I have to depend on these same dispatchers on a daily basis when my life is on the line, how do you think that makes me feel. Will they send me help or will they forget like they did with Denise? Yes this is what I have to deal with and I'm not the one that screwed up. Go figure!"

To say this makes me mad would be the understatement of the century! Are we sure this 9-1-1 operators didn't get their training in my neck of the woods? Because this sounds like something that would happen and probably has happened here.

I do not understand why they are allowed a second chance! And this poor man has to depend on them to possibly save his life one day??? Yeah, I'm sure they'll be up to the task.

I'm having one of the worst weeks of my life. I didn't think I could read about anything worse that what I have lived through this past week, but alas, I just did. I did learn one interesting thing, though....When someone says it can't get worse, don't believe them, because I'm living proof that things can and do get worse. I can't imagine what Denise's father is going through. It would take every ounce of my self-control not to beat the tar out of these two "professionals."

RR, I am sorry I haven't posted on this thread until now. I think I need a Xanax after reading it....How can they NOT fire these dispatchers?

 

[RiverRat]

Tezzie - this is the same area where Yana Huss called 911 over 20 times before Scott killed her......I pretty much can't comment at this point since it's another local case, so I can only add this....:furious:

 

[Bobbisangel]

I wonder if the same dispatchers were on duty then? Sounds like that department needs to clean house and bring in all new dispatchers. How many chances do they get and how many lives will be lost!