All PRISONERS EXECUTED in March 2026 (US): Last Meals & Final Words

In this video, we will analyze all the criminals executed during the month of March. Five executions were scheduled for this month, but unfortunately, two of them were cancelled. Stay with me because in this video, I’ll tell you about the crimes that led them to death row, how their executions were carried out, as well as their last meals and final words before dying.

Billy Leon Pierce, state Florida. To understand the weight of this case, we must first know the victim. Danny Thomas Parish was born in October 1961. He was a man of discipline and strong convictions. After graduating from high school in Fort Pierce in 1980, he dedicated much of his youth to military service, spending three years in the United States Navy and later serving in the National Guard.

 In 1988, he joined the police department alongside his brother as a full-time patrol officer. Dany was married, and although he did not have children, he was a key figure in a family with a long tradition in law enforcement. It was nearly 11 p.m. in Fort Pierce when Officer Parish spotted a dark blue 1979 Monte Carlo driving the wrong way down a one-way street.

 Parish turned on his lights and pulled the vehicle over. Behind the wheel was Billy Leon Kierce, an 18-year-old black man who had legally entered adulthood just 84 days earlier. Kirst was nervous. He did not have a valid driver’s license and was on probation for a misdemeanor committed months earlier. Officer Parish, suspecting something was not right, radioed in the license plate number before stepping out of his patrol car. Parish asked for identification.

Fearing that the officer would discover he was violating his probation and send him back to prison. Kierce began giving false names. Parish checked the aliases and finding no matches ordered Kirst out of the car and told him to lean against the vehicle so he could place him under arrest.

 What began as a routine procedure ended in a desperate struggle. When Parish attempted to put handcuffs on him, they accidentally struck Kierce under the eye, triggering an immediate and violent reaction. The two men began fighting for several minutes, exchanging blows and grappling without control. In the middle of the confrontation, Kirst stumbled and fell to the ground, but from there, he managed to seize the officer’s service weapon and point it directly at him.

 Disarmed and vulnerable, Sergeant Parish raised his hands and without resisting pleaded for his life. Come on, man. Don’t do it. Kirst did not stop. He pulled the trigger 14 times. Nine bullets struck Parish’s body directly. Four others became lodged in his bulletproof vest. Kirst got back into his car and fled, leaving the mortally wounded officer on the asphalt.

 A passing taxi driver heard the gunshots, saw the Monte Carlo speeding away, and used the fallen officer’s radio to call urgently for help. Parish was rushed to the hospital, but he was already dead by the time he arrived. The reported license plate led investigators directly to the young man’s home that same night. Kirus was arrested and after waving his rights, confessed to everything.

 He admitted he fired the shots because he panicked at the thought of going back to prison. >> As who knows what their problem was? A routine traffic stop turns into a police officer shot. It’s just unbelievable. >> The case surrounding Parish’s death had an enormous media impact largely because he was a highly respected and beloved police officer in his community.

 His funeral drew a massive crowd attended by numerous officers and citizens and it was broadcast on television. His family gave interviews and from the very beginning public opinion turned against Kierce as all attention focused on the trial that was about to begin. In October 1991, a jury found him guilty of firstdegree murder and armed robbery, recommending the death penalty by a vote of 11 to1.

 But that was when the chaos began. In 1995, the Florida Supreme Court overturned the death sentence. The court determined that the original judge had committed serious errors when instructing the jury on aggravating factors, improperly duplicating certain charges. A new sentencing trial was ordered in 1996 and moved to Indian River County to avoid prejudice from local public opinion.

 In this second proceeding, the state presented evidence about the victim’s character and the brutality of the attack. The defense, for its part, tried to humanize Kierce by exposing a childhood marked by neglect and decline. They explained that from birth, he suffered neurological damage caused by his mother’s alcohol consumption during pregnancy, resulting in fetal alcohol effect.

 His father abandoned him when he was just 2 years old. And at school, he was described as a hungry, neglected child with serious learning difficulties. He had an IQ of 79 and academic performance at a third grade level. His attorneys argued that at 18 years old, he was emotionally immature when he committed the crime. Despite these arguments, the new jury was unanimous.

 Kierce should die and he was again sentenced to death. Governor Dantis signed the death warrant on January 29th, 2016, giving the attorneys only 33 days for final appeals. Kirst’s legal team described it as a death assembly line where deadlines were compressed so tightly that his lead attorney, Paul Khil, had to litigate while his own father was in hospice care.

 All lastminute appeals to halt the execution were denied and the scheduled day finally arrived. On March 3rd, 2026, the protocol was carried out. Kirst woke up today at 6:00 a.m. He received a visit, though officials did not disclose who it was. He also met with a spiritual adviser. When he was offered a special last meal, he declined it and was instead served the regular prison menu for dinner.

According to reports, he remained calm and in good spirits throughout the day. If an inmate refuses to cooperate with the execution process, they can be lightly sedated to ensure compliance, but that was not necessary in this case. At 6:00 p.m., Kirst was escorted into the execution chamber. After being strapped to the gurnie, he was allowed to make a final statement.

 His last words before dying were, “To your family, I sincerely apologize for what I have done. There is no way I can ever repay that.” The technical execution process began at 6:02 p.m. with the administration of, a powerful seditive. Kierce closed his eyes and began breathing heavily. At 6:08 p.m., the prison warden performed the consciousness check by shaking his shoulders and calling out his name.

There was no response. A medical examiner entered shortly after and after checking vital signs pronounced the official time of death at 6:15 p.m. The procedure lasted 13 minutes for Sergeant Danny Parish’s widow, who was present in the witness room. It marked the end of a 35-year wait for a justice many considered delayed.

 After the execution, Parish’s widow said, “I’m 60 years old. I never thought I would live to see this day. I don’t like wishing death on anyone, but this is the only way I see justice. Cedric Allen Ricks, state, Texas. Cedric Allen Ricks was born on September 8th, 1974 in Chicago. In his adult life, he projected an image of stability working in the field of construction management.

 However, his problematic behavior had begun much earlier. When he was between 8 and 9 years old, he was already experiencing serious problems at school due to episodes of aggression. Despite these early issues, over the years, he managed to receive professional training in the health care field, where he worked for a period of time in the state of Illinois.

 After losing his job and his home during the financial crisis that affected Illinois, Ricks decided to move to Texas in search of new opportunities. There he began working again in the healthc care sector, this time in the city of Bedford. It was there that he met Roxanne Diane Sanchez, a medical assistant who worked at an obstetrics and gynecology clinic called the Women’s Group.

 Over time, they began to develop a friendship. At that moment, Roxanne was married, but as time passed, her marriage deteriorated and she eventually separated from her husband. Shortly afterward, Cedric and Roxanne began dating. According to people close to the couple, the attraction between them was immediate, and the relationship progressed quickly.

 It did not take long before they made their relationship official. In many ways, the relationship seemed like something out of a movie, a story that, at least on the surface, appeared to be a dream. Cedric presented himself as a man very different from Roxan’s ex-husband. He was not jealous and he appeared loving, attentive, and affectionate.

 The relationship progressed until Ricks moved into Roxan’s apartment in the Colonial Village complex. There, he became part of the household where she was already raising her two older sons, Marcus and Anthony. At that time, Ricks assured her that he would raise the boys as if they were his own. Under the laws of the state of Texas, their relationship was legally recognized as a common law marriage.

 But once Rick seemed to have everything Roxan could offer, his attitude began to change completely. Shortly afterward, he started showing increasingly controlling behavior. He tried to isolate Roxanne from her closest friends, began to show constant jealousy, and adopted a dominant attitude within the relationship. Despite this situation, Roxanne became pregnant by Cedric, and in 2012, their son, Isaiah Cedric, was born.

 The arrival of the child created hope for the couple, who believed this new chapter might improve their relationship. However, the conflicts only intensified. The arguments became more frequent, and Cedric’s behavior grew more aggressive. Over time, episodes of physical abuse began to the point that he started hitting Roxanne.

Eventually, after reaching that limit, Roxanne decided to end the relationship and requested an emergency protective order against him. The night of May 1st, 2013 would become a decisive moment. Around 8:00 p.m., Cedric Allen Ricks, who was 38 years old at the time, was at the Colonial Village apartment complex.

the same place where he had lived with Roxanne just months earlier. That day, he arrived at the apartment without warning, completely ignoring the protective order Roxanne had obtained against him. Ricks went there looking for her. But when he realized that Roxanne was not in the apartment, he erupted in anger.

 Convinced by intense and unjustified jealousy that she was seeing someone else, he became increasingly agitated. Shortly afterward, Roxanne returned to the apartment complex. She had just finished doing the month’s grocery shopping at Walmart with her three children, Marcus, Anthony, and the baby Isaiah.

 Cedric was waiting for her outside the complex since he no longer had the new keys to the apartment. From the exterior stairs, he began shouting insults at her. The situation was intense enough that a neighbor heard the shouting and noticed Roxanne’s distress as she quickly entered the apartment with her children. Inside apartment 1400, the children went into a bedroom while Roxanne carried the grocery bags inside.

From outside, Cedric continued shouting. As he approached the apartment, the insults did not stop. When Roxanne tried to close the door, Rick stopped her by placing his foot in the doorway to prevent it from closing. At that moment, the situation quickly escalated into a physical fight in the living room where both began hitting each other.

 The confrontation ended when Ricks pushed her to the floor and began punching her while manually strangling her. Hearing the screams, Roxan’s older sons, Anthony and Marcus, came out of the bedroom to try to intervene and break up the fight. The two boys jumped on Cedric from behind, hitting him in an attempt to stop the attack on their mother.

However, Ricks pushed both of them to the floor and continued beating Roxanne with blunt force, causing severe head trauma until she was left motionless on the floor. In a particularly brutal moment, RX paused briefly and looked at the scene. The children on the floor crying and Roxanne lying motionless.

 He then stood up and walked to the kitchen where he took a knife from a drawer. He returned to the living room and began stabbing Roxanne repeatedly, inflicting a fatal wound to her neck that severed her cervical spine. In total, he attacked her with around 30 stab wounds. While Anthony and Marcus watched in horror, Anthony, the younger son, who was only eight years old, in a desperate act of love for his mother, lunged at Ricks in an attempt to stop him and defend her.

 Ricks turned on the boy, pushed him to the floor, and began stabbing and cutting him more than 40 times. One of the wounds penetrated his skull, and reached the temporal lobe of his brain. Before dying, Anthony made a sound described as a gurgle caused by hemorrhagic asphyxiation and he died beside the couch.

 Marcus, the older son, ran in terror to his bedroom. There, he hid inside the closet and called 911 with his cell phone, but Ricks forced the door open. Marcus dropped the phone, and when RX tried to attack him with the knife, the boy grabbed the blade with his hands to defend himself, suffering severe cuts.

 Ricks chased him back into the living room, knocked him down, and began stabbing him repeatedly, inflicting around 25 stab wounds to the back of his neck, head, chest, back, and hands. In an extreme act of survival, Marcus decided to remain completely still, pretending to be dead. Ricks finally stopped attacking him, believing the boy was dying or already dead.

 While all of this was happening, the couple’s baby, Isaiah, remained unharmed in his crib. After the attacks, Rick showed calculated coldness. He went to the kitchen where he washed his hands that were covered in cuts. He then showered in the main bathroom, changed into clean clothes, bandaged his wounds, and packed a suitcase with some belongings.

Before fleeing, he picked up the baby, kissed him, spent a moment playing with him, and finally placed the baby back in his crib before leaving the scene in Roxan’s car, also taking her cell phone. Police took approximately an hour to arrive at the apartment. It appears that Marcus did not have enough time to provide a full address to the 911 operator during the emergency call.

 By the time officers finally arrived at the scene, Cedric Ricks had already fled. While driving along the highway, Ricks called a cousin and told her, “I just messed everything up.” He then added, “I killed Roxanne and her two sons.” He then asked her to go to the apartment to get the baby.

 He also told her that his hands were full of cuts because of all the stabbings. When his cousin insisted that he should turn himself into the police, Rick’s replied that he would rather die than go to prison. After ending the call, the woman immediately contacted 911 and told authorities everything Ricks had confessed to her. Once at the scene, Bedford police found Marcus bleeding heavily near the door of the apartment.

 Because of the severity of his injuries, he was urgently airlifted to Cook Children’s Medical Center, where he eventually made a full recovery from his wounds. Baby Isaiah was found unharmed in his crib. Meanwhile, investigators issued a nationwide report for the stolen vehicle belonging to Roxanne. With the help of the phone company Sprint, they were able to track RX’s cell phone and determine that he was traveling through the area of Ardmore, Oklahoma.

 Local authorities in Oklahoma were alerted. Around 10:30 that same night, approximately 3 hours after the crime in Texas, state troopers located the vehicle and conducted a traffic stop without incident. Cedric Ricks was arrested at that moment and later transported to a hospital due to the severe cuts on his hands.

 During the following weeks, Ricks tried to avoid his extradition back to Texas, but authorities eventually managed to transfer him. Before that happened, while he remained detained in a jail in Oklahoma, he was attacked by other inmates and severely beaten, which forced officials to transfer him once again to a hospital.

 When he finally returned to Texas, he requested to be housed in a single cell with little or no contact with other prisoners because he feared for his life. Official reports never fully clarified why he was attacked inside the Oklahoma jail. Ricks was charged with two counts of firstdegree murder and one count of attempted murder.

 Ricks decided to testify in his own defense. He admitted to the killings, but claimed he acted in a rage he could not control and falsely alleged that the children had attacked him first with a knife, forcing him to defend himself. One year later, on May 8th, 2014, a jury found him guilty of capital murder.

 And on May 16th, he was sentenced to death. Since then, he has remained on death row in Texas. In total, he spent nearly 12 years there, a relatively short period compared to many other cases, where the average time on death row is often around 30 years. Finally, in October 2025, a court order set the execution date for Cedric Allen Ricks, establishing that the sentence would be carried out on Wednesday, March 11th, 2026.

Ricks woke up at 6:00 a.m., took a shower, and had a spiritual visit. He was then given the standard prison meal. According to reports, he appeared somewhat nervous about the time of his execution. So, at 2 p.m., he was given a tranquilizer to help him remain calm and cooperate with the execution process.

 At 5:30 p.m., he was transferred to the execution chamber where he was strapped to the gurnie and the intravenous lines were placed in his arms. Witnesses were then brought into the viewing area. Already strapped to the gurnie, he was asked if he had any final words. He said yes.

 And Rick directed his message to the boy who survived the attack and also witnessed the execution. Yes. First, I want to say I am sorry for taking Roxan and Anthony away from you. I can’t imagine the pain it’s caused you. I am glad I am able to speak to tell you face to face. I just hope one day you can find forgiveness in your heart so you don’t have to live with the pain anymore.

 and Marcus, I always thought about you and I am sorry for taking your mom and brother from you. I hate that you had to go through that. I just can’t imagine. But I am truly sorry for what I’ve done and I wish you peace and joy as much as possible. But I am sorry. That’s all I can say. I can’t say anything else. Reyes, I’m sorry.

 I’m sorry, man. Lonnie, I’m sorry. Marcus, I’m sorry. I am glad you’re able to fulfill your dreams, whatever they may be. I hope to find Roxanne and Anthony in heaven and be able to tell them I am sorry face to face because I don’t wish any more pain on them. I hope everyone leaves in peace. I truly do. I’m sorry.

At 6:00 p.m. the execution began. When the lethal drugs were administered, Ricks appeared to complain or show signs of discomfort for around 30 seconds before his body gradually became still. At 6:14 p.m., Cedric Allen Ricks was officially pronounced dead. Ricks did not give any final words before his execution.

 According to press reports, Marcus, the boy who survived the attack, went to live with his biological father. Meanwhile, the baby Isaiah Ricks was placed in the custody of his maternal grandparents, Roxanne’s parents. They publicly stated that they planned to adopt him and legally change his last name so that he would carry their family name. Michael Lee King, state, Florida.

This is not a common crime. It is a deeply sad and tragic case and the most shocking part is that the victim had multiple opportunities to save her life. To understand what happened, we first need to know the man who committed this crime. Michael Lee King was born in 1971 and grew up in a working-class family.

Those who knew him described him as an exemplary person. He had no criminal record, no history of violence, and he did not use alcohol or drugs. He had been married, but in 2002 at the age of 36, his marriage came to an end. After the divorce, he began to show signs of depression. Determined to change his life, he made the decision to start over.

 He moved to Northport, Florida, where his cousin Harold Moxlo lived with the intention of rebuilding his life from scratch. Determined to start over, Michael began working as a plumber. Over time, he became skilled at his trade and his financial situation improved significantly. Because of this, he was able to buy his own home, a three-bedroom house on Sardinia Avenue, and he also purchased a green 1995 Chevrolet Camaro.

 From the outside, everything suggested that his new life had left depression behind. However, the reality was very different. By January 2008, King was going through one of the most critical moments of his life. He had quit his job 3 months earlier, had stopped paying his bills and mortgage, and was already receiving notices from the bank warning of a possible foreclosure if he did not pay his debts.

Weeks before the tragic crime occurred, King bought a 9mm handgun without a clear reason. On the morning of January 17th, 2008, King went to a shooting range with a friend. He told him he wanted to practice with a new gun he had acquired, but didn’t have any ammunition. His friend offered to provide bullets, and the two spent time shooting.

 They remained there for approximately 2 hours. At first glance, King appeared calm and even relaxed while practicing. But behind that appearance, his mental state was unstable, and something dark was already beginning to take shape. At the same time, in another part of the city, Nathan Lee was starting his workday at Florida Power and Light, where he worked as an electric meter reader.

 He had arrived around 7:00 a.m., and during his break, he decided to call his wife, Denise Amber Lee. During that conversation, they talked about everyday things like any couple. They mentioned how nice and cool the weather was. Nathan suggested that she turn off the central air conditioning and open the windows to take advantage of the weather and save electricity.

Denise told him she had already done it. That decision, seemingly insignificant, would end up being key in the tragic outcome of this story. Denise Amber Lee was born on August 6th, 1986 in Englewood, Florida into a family respected within their community. Her father, Rick Goff, was a sergeant with the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office.

From a young age, Denise was known for her cheerful, caring, and protective nature. She graduated in 2004 from Lemon Bay High School with Magna Cumla honors, standing out both for her academic performance and her personality. Those who knew her described her as someone with a warm presence and a deep connection to her family and community.

Denise and Nathan Lee had known each other since high school. Their relationship began in their teenage years and quickly grew stronger. Nathan recalled that about a month after their first date on Valentine’s Day while walking through a store in a shopping mall, he saw a heart-shaped ring. He bought it for $40 and gave it to Denise.

According to him, she put it on that same day and never took it off again. Years later, that ring would become a key piece of evidence in the case. Shortly after graduating, the couple discovered that Denise was pregnant. Certain that they wanted to build a life together, they decided to get married. Their first child, Noah, was born 5 months after the wedding, and about 2 years later, their second son, Adam, was born.

 The married couple faced serious financial struggles. It was difficult for them to get ahead, but they managed to find a house they could afford on Lore Road in the city of Northport. They both agreed that Denise would stay home to take care of the children while Nathan worked multiple jobs to support the family. Continuing with King’s movements after spending several hours at the shooting range, he left in his vehicle.

 He did not return home, nor did he have a defined destination. He was driving aimlessly, looking for an opportunity, a random crime without a specific target. Around 200 p.m., King began driving around a neighborhood in Port Charlotte in his green Chevrolet Camaro. After circling the area several times, he stopped in front of a house. There was an open window.

At that moment, he decided that would be his target. It was the Lee family home. According to his later statement, from outside he could see a young blonde woman playing with her two small children. It was Denise who was at home taking care of Noah, who was 2 years old, and Adam, who was just 6 months old.

 Jennifer Eert was at a relative’s house that day, located right next to Denise Lee’s home. She was alone when sometime between 1 and 2 p.m. she noticed a dark green Camaro slowly circling the block several times about four or five passes. Minutes later, the vehicle stopped and pulled into Denise’s driveway where she was with her two children.

 Jennifer saw that the driver was alone and described him as a man with a wide face, light blonde hair, and light colored eyes. Seeing the car park at the house, she assumed it was someone known to the family and chose not to intervene. About 10 to 15 minutes later, around 2:30 p.m., she looked out the window again and saw the same Camaro leaving the house.

Over time, this moment would be identified as one of the first opportunities when Denise could have been rescued before the situation escalated beyond control. What was happening inside the house was even more disturbing. Michael King arrived at the property and knocked on the door, appearing normal. He pretended to be a plumber who had been called by mistake and asked for permission to come in, claiming he needed to rest for a moment and contact the supposed client.

 Once inside, without warning, he pulled out a gun he had hidden among his tools and pointed it directly at Denise. under threat. He warned her that if she did not obey, he would kill her children. Faced with that situation, Denise had no choice. King managed to overpower her, forced her out of the house, and took her to his vehicle.

 He then placed her in the backseat of his two-door Camaro where she had no access to the handles and fled the scene with her. Nathan finished work shortly before 300 p.m. and called Denise to let her know he was on his way home, but she didn’t answer. During the 25-minute drive, he tried to reach her several more times without success, which began to worry him.

 When he arrived, he immediately noticed that Denise’s car was still parked outside. Inside the house, he found all the windows closed, even though she had told him she had opened them. This detail caught his attention. Some theories suggest Denise may have closed them quickly before being taken, while others point to the attacker closing them to prevent noise from being heard outside.

Minutes later, Nathan found his two children, Noah and Adam, just 6 months old, together in the same crib. Something completely out of the ordinary. Denise would never have done that as it posed a risk to the baby. Everything suggests that in the middle of the situation, she tried to protect them as best as she could before being forced to leave.

 The scene became even more confusing when Nathan saw that Denise’s phone, purse, and keys were still inside the house. At 3:29 p.m., he called 911 to report her missing, explaining that his children had been left alone and that nothing indicated she had left on her own. After the call, he contacted his father-in-law, Rick Goff, a sergeant and detective in Charlotte County.

 Goff reacted immediately, coordinating with Northport Police, to mobilize all available resources. The search quickly expanded, even involving other agencies, including the US Marshalss. Meanwhile, Michael King drove from Denise’s house to his home on Sardinia Avenue. there. He kept her restrained and covered her mouth with tape, wrapping it around her head.

 For approximately 3 hours, he subjected her to a brutal attack marked by extreme violence and no clear motive. Shortly before 6:00 p.m., he blindfolded her, took her back outside and placed her once again in the backseat of his Camaro, ordering her to lie down. He then left the house, and continued driving without a defined destination.

At the same time, police were canvasing the neighborhood around Denise’s home. That’s when they obtained key information from the neighbor, Jennifer Eckert, who shared everything she had seen. With that information, officers confirmed that it was likely a crime, and an alert was issued to stop all dark green Camaros and check if Denise was inside.

Michael King, with Denise in the back seat, drove to his cousin Harold Moxlo’s house. When he arrived, he parked near the mailbox some distance from the entrance and went inside. There, he spoke with his cousin for a few minutes and told him that his lawn mower had gotten stuck, so he needed a shovel, a gas can, and a flashlight.

 Both men went out to a shed to look for the items. Meanwhile, inside the vehicle, Denise managed to partially free herself. She was able to remove the tape from her mouth, moved toward the door, opened it, and got out of the car. As she did, she saw a man nearby and not knowing he was her attacker’s cousin, began screaming desperately, “Call the police! Call the police!” Moxlo saw the woman in clear distress.

 But at that moment, King quickly returned, overpowered her again, and forced her back into the vehicle. Moxlo shouted, “What’s going on there?” to which King replied, “Don’t worry about it.” Later, Moxlo would say that he thought it was a domestic dispute between a couple and chose not to intervene. That moment would be considered the best opportunity to have saved Denise’s life.

 If Harold Moxlo had called 911 at that instant, the outcome could have been very different. While driving, Michael King began speaking to Denise in an increasingly disturbing tone, describing how he planned to kill her and where he intended to bury her. In the middle of that situation, and without him noticing, Denise managed to grab her phone.

 Lying in the back seat, with the device hidden near her head, she dialed 911. For several minutes, she used a desperate strategy to survive. She answered the operator’s questions while pretending to continue pleading with her attacker, avoiding raising suspicion. >> 911. >> Hello. >> I’m sorry. >> Hello. Hello. >> Hello. >> I just want to see my family again.

>> Hello. >> Please let me know. Please let me know. >> I just want to see my family again. >> Okay. >> Hello. >> I’m sorry. >> Oh my god. >> Hello. I’m going to call any >> Hello. >> Please. >> Hello. >> Help me. >> What’s the address? >> What’s the address that you’re at? WARMING UP. HELLO. >> FIRST, my personal opinion.

 What kind of operator handled that 911 call so poorly? That level of inefficiency could have changed the course of the entire story. King was using a disposable phone with no GPS technology, which made it impossible to track the call precisely. The only thing investigators were able to obtain were signals from nearby cell towers indicating a fairly wide general area.

 However, that phone did provide a name when the subscriber records were checked. Michael King. It was the first time investigators had that name. They also discovered that King owned a green 1995 Chevrolet Camaro, so they now had a license plate number to include in the alert. When police obtained an address, they headed to Michael King’s home.

 Just 9 minutes after Denise’s 911 call exactly at 6:23 p.m., another operator received a new call, this time from Sabrina Moxlo, daughter of Harold Moxlo, King’s cousin. Sabrina explained that her father had called her in a very agitated state, telling her that his cousin Michael King had come to his house asking to borrow a shovel, a gas can, and a flashlight, and that he later realized King had a woman in the car against her will.

 Sabrina told the operator that King had just left her father’s house and that he had seen the woman with her hands tied. However, Harold Moxlo would later deny having seen Denise tied up or having told his daughter that Sabrina also stated that her father had asked her not to call the police, but she chose to do so anyway. At 6:30 p.m.

, a driver named Jane Kowalsski called 911 after seeing a Camaro on US 41. From her vehicle, she saw hands desperately hitting the rear window and heard screams, believing it was a kidnapping. Although she couldn’t clearly identify the car’s color due to the evening light, she followed the vehicle for a short time and even made eye contact with the driver.

 During the call, she reported the direction in which the Camaro turned. However, that information was never relayed to the patrol units in the area. Operators later admitted they forgot to do so. Tragically, officers were very close at that moment, making this the last real opportunity to save Denise. After obtaining information from the phone and Michael King’s address, police arrived at his house at 6:42 p.m.

 But he was already gone. When they forced their way inside, they found a disturbing scene. An improvised bed on the floor, the television on at full volume, possibly to mask any noise, and crumpled duct tape with strands of long, light brown hair stuck to it. A little over 2 hours later at 9:16 p.m. a state trooper located the 1995 Camaro on the highway.

 After confirming the license plate, he initiated the stop. King hesitated to exit the vehicle, forcing the officer to warn him before he finally complied and was handcuffed. The officer noticed that his clothes were wet and covered in mud from the waist down. Denise was not in the vehicle. When questioned, King gave a version he would repeat several times.

He claimed that both of them had been kidnapped by an unknown man who later released him and drove off with Denise still inside the car. The story made no sense. During the interrogation, after being read his rights, King requested a lawyer. Even so, investigators continued, focused on finding Denise as quickly as possible, which would later become a point of controversy during the trial.

 Over the next 2 days, search teams combed the area intensively. Eventually, a K-9 unit found a patch of disturbed soil in a nearby wooded area. When they dug, they discovered Denise Lee’s body. At the scene, clothing and a shell casing were also recovered. Although the weapon was never found, ballistic analysis linked it to casings from the shooting range where King had practiced earlier that same morning.

Inside the vehicle, they also found the ring Denise had worn since her teenage years. She had taken it off herself and hidden it in the back seat. In the middle of the horror, she left signs. She did everything she could to survive and also to make sure her attacker would not go unpunished. At the 2009 trial, Michael King pleaded not guilty to the murder.

 He admitted to the kidnapping and assault, but tried to shift responsibility, claiming that the friend who had provided him with ammunition was the one who ultimately took Denise and killed her. However, the investigation already had strong evidence, including receipts and recordings, confirming Robert Salvador’s alibi.

 The jury completely rejected that version, and ultimately found King guilty, sentencing him to death. Meanwhile, Denise’s family filed a lawsuit against Charlotte County over failures in the 911 system, arguing that the tragedy could have been prevented. They made it clear it wasn’t about money, but about accountability. The case was eventually settled for approximately $1.1 million.

 King spent nearly 17 years on death row filing multiple appeals. Finally, on February 13th, Governor Ronda Santis signed the fourth execution warrant of the year in Florida, setting his execution for March 17th, 2026 by lethal injection. Today, convicted criminal Michael Lee King, 54, was executed.

 He was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m. after receiving a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Stark. The curtain to the execution chamber opened exactly at 6:00 p.m. the scheduled time. About a minute later, King began his final statement. Since I found Jesus in prison, I have tried to live as his disciple, following the two greatest commandments.

 To love God with all my heart, my mind, and my whole being. And to love my neighbor, meaning everyone, my family, Denise Lee’s family, and everyone present in this room. At no point did he apologize or ask for forgiveness. As he spoke, a member of the clergy stood beside the gurnie. As the drugs began to take effect, King showed signs of distress.

 His breathing became labored, his arms trembled, and his body convulsed. Minutes later, he stopped moving. A guard shook him and called his name, but there was no response. A doctor was then called in and officially pronounced him dead. And this was today’s case. Let me know what you think in the comments.