Continuing with the record of executions in Florida, just 5 minutes ago, another inmate was executed. After spending nearly two decades on death row, Michael Lee King was executed on March 17th, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. at Florida State Prison by lethal injection. Stay with this video because I’m going to tell you about the sad and tragic crime that led him to death row, how his execution was carried out, and what his final words were before he died.
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 Lure 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 two years old, and Adam, who was just 6 months old. Jennifer Eckert 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. >> I’m sorry. I’m sorry. >> Hello. >> I’m sorry. >> Hello. >> Well, Hello.
>> I just want to see my family again. >> Hello. >> Please let me go. Please let me go. >> I just want to see my family again. >> Okay. >> Hello. >> I’m sorry. Hello. >> Hello. >> Go, please. >> Oh, yeah. >> Hello. >> Help me. >> What’s the address? >> What’s the address that you’re at? 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 two 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.
