Man who sexually abused, killed North Port mother in 2008 to be executed

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. —

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday signed the death warrant for a man convicted in the 2008 murder of a North Port woman that resulted in increased training for 911 operators in Florida.

Michael King, 54, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at Florida State Prison on March 17, the fourth warrant DeSantis has signed this year.

According to the death warrant, King, a plumber, abducted Denise Amber Lee, 21, the mother of two, from her home on Jan. 17, 2008. Lee, the daughter of a Charlotte County Sheriff sergeant, was first taken to King’s home and raped.

An hour later King placed her in the backseat of his car as he drove to a cousin’s house to borrow a flashlight, shovel, and gas can. During the drive, Lee was able to get hold of King’s cell phone and call 911.

On a recording of the call, “Ms. Lee is heard crying and begging to be saved so that she could see her husband and children again,” the warrant states.

At least four people called 911, including one woman who followed Lee and gave 911 workers a detailed description of his location, but no officers were sent to help, according to reporting from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune at the time.

King later drove Lee to a remote area where he shot her in the face and buried her. He was convicted of kidnapping, sexual battery, and first-degree murder in 2009.

In 2010, Florida legislators approved the “Denise Amber Lee Act,” which in part required the Department of Health to establish criteria for the certification of 911 emergency dispatchers.

The law, signed by then-Gov. Charlie Crist, also stated in part that applicants for certification or recertification as a 911 emergency dispatcher must complete a training program of not less than 208 hours. They were also required to certify under oath that they were not addicted to alcohol or any controlled substances.

The Herald-Tribune reported that at the time 911 centers set their own training standards, “a practice that means some call takers train for months while others are directing emergency response just days after being hired.”

A letter Friday from Attorney General James Uthmeier included with the warrant notes that in 2012 the Florida Supreme Court affirmed King’s convictions and death sentence and that the U.S. Supreme Court denied his petition to review the case.

Since then, “King engaged in unsuccessful postconviction litigation in both state and federal courts,” Uthmeier’s letter states.

Florida carried out 19 executions in 2025, a modern-era record.

On Tuesday, Ronald Heath, 64, was put to death by lethal injection for the 1989 murder of Michael Sheridan, who was shot, stabbed and robbed in a wooded area south of Gainesville.

DeSantis has also signed warrants for the executions of Melvin Trotter on Feb. 24 and Billy Leon Kearse on March 3.

Trotter, 65, was sentenced to death in the June 1986 murder of Virgie Langford, 70, who was found by a truck driver on the floor at the back of Langford’s Grocery Store in Palmetto.

Kearse, 53, was convicted of killing Fort Pierce police officer Danny Parrish during a 1991 traffic stop.

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