STARKE, Fla. — A Florida man is scheduled to be executed Tuesday for the rape and murder of a young mother who frantically called 911 on her attacker’s cellphone while she was tied up in his car.
Michael Lee King, 54, is set to receive a three-drug injection starting at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke. He was convicted of first-degree murder, sexual battery and kidnapping in the January 2008 killing of 21-year-old Denise Amber Lee.
Court records show 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 abducted her while leaving the children alone in the home.
King took Lee to his home, where he bound and raped her, investigators said. Later that day, King drove to his cousin’s house to borrow a flashlight, shovel and gas can, according to prosecutors. While Lee was bound in King’s car, she managed to get King’s cellphone and call 911. She can be heard on a recording of the call begging for her life so that she could see her husband and children again.
King eventually drove Lee to a remote area of North Port, where he shot her in the face and buried her, authorities said. A state trooper pulled King over a short time later because his 1994 green Chevrolet Camaro matched the description of another 911 call. A woman had heard screams coming from the vehicle while stopped at a traffic light and called police to report a possible child abduction.
Investigators later recovered Lee’s hair and belongings from King’s home and vehicle, authorities said.
Several months after the killing, the Florida Legislature unanimously passed the Denise Amber Lee Act, which provides better training for 911 operators. The Denise Amber Lee Foundation, created by the woman’s husband Nathan Lee, continues to promote training and raise public awareness nationwide.
The foundation said that besides the victim’s 911 call, at least four other 911 calls were made the day of her abduction, including one from her husband and others who saw parts of the crime unfolding — but that communication failures and other issues prevented help from being sent.
Last week, the Florida Supreme Court denied appeals filed by King, whose attorneys argued that corrections officials had mismanaged the state’s death penalty protocols and that he was denied due process by not having access to certain records.
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected King’s final appeals without comment Monday.
King’s execution is Florida’s fourth scheduled for 2026, following a record 19 executions last year in the state. Republican Ron DeSantis oversaw more executions in 2025 than any Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.
A total of 47 people were executed in the U.S. in 2025. Florida led the way, while Alabama, South Carolina and Texas tied for second-most, with five each.
Two more Florida executions are scheduled this year. James Aren Duckett, 68, a former police officer convicted of the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl, is set to die March 31. Chadwick Scott Willacy, 58, is scheduled to be executed April 21 for the killing of a neighbor who found him burglarizing her home when she unexpectedly returned on a lunch break from work.
All Florida executions are carried out via injection of a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the Department of Corrections.
