STARK, Fla. – A Florida men’s program executed A young mother was raped and murdered on Tuesday while she was tied up in an attacker’s car and she frantically called 911 on his cell phone.
Michael Lee King, 54, will receive a three-drug injection at the Florida State Prison near Stark beginning at 6 p.m. He was convicted in January 2008 of first-degree murder, sexual assault and kidnapping in the death of 21-year-old Denise Amber Lee.
The woman was outside her North Port home with her two sons, a toddler and an infant, when King drove by and spotted her, then kidnapped her and left the children alone in the home, court records show.
Investigators say King took Lee to his home, where he bound and raped her. Later that day, King drove to his cousin’s house and borrowed a flashlight, shovel and gas can, according to prosecutors. While Lee was tied up in King’s car, she managed to get hold of King’s cellphone and called 911. In the recording of the phone call, she can be heard begging for her life so she could see her husband and children again.
Authorities say King eventually took Lee to a remote area in North Port, where he shot her in the face and buried her. A short time later, a state trooper pulled King over because his green 1994 Chevrolet Camaro matched the description from another 911 call. A woman stopped at a traffic light heard screams coming from her car and reported a possible child abduction to police.
Investigators later recovered Lee’s hair and belongings from King’s home and vehicle, authorities said.
Months after the killings, the Florida Legislature unanimously passed the Dennis Amber Lee Act to provide better training for 911 operators. The Denise Amber Lee Foundation, founded by the woman’s husband, Nathan Lee, continues to promote training and public awareness nationwide.
The foundation said that in addition to the 911 calls made by the victim, there were at least four 911 calls made the day she was abducted, including from her husband and others who saw parts of the crime but were unable to render help due to communications glitches and other issues.
Last week, the Florida Supreme Court rejected an appeal filed by King, whose attorneys argued that corrections officials mismanaged the state’s death penalty protocol and that he was denied due process by not being able to access certain records.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected King’s final appeal without comment.
King’s execution is the fourth planned in Florida in 2026, after A record 19 people were executed last year in the state. Republican Ron DeSantis carried out more executions in 2025 than any Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.
There are total 47 people Executed in the United States in 2025. Florida topped the list, with Alabama, South Carolina and Texas tied for second, with five executions each.
Two more executions are planned in Florida this year. James Aren Duckett, a 68-year-old former police officer convicted of the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl, will die on March 31. Chadwick Scott Willacy, 58, is scheduled to be executed on April 21 for killing a neighbor who discovered he was burglarizing her home when she unexpectedly came home during her lunch break from get off work.
All executions in Florida are carried out with sedatives, paralytics and heart-stopping drugs, according to the Department of Corrections.
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