Forensic Transmissions Episode 48: Denise Amber Lee 911 calls
Plumber Nathan Lee was at work on Thursday, January 17, 2008; his wife, Denise Lee, was at home with their young children. She called him at 11:21 a.m.. They discussed the nice weather: the couple decided that the windows should be opened at their home. Denise said she had already opened them. Nathan Lee arrived home around 3:30 p.m. to find the windows closed, his wife missing and the children home alone in the same crib. This prompted him to call 9-1-1.
During the afternoon, Denise Lee was abducted from her home by an unemployed man named Michael King. He drove her around, tied up in his vehicle, for quite some time; several people witnessed the journey. Around 6:30 p.m., a witness, Jane Kowalski, heard screaming from a car next to hers at a stoplight. Kowalski called 9-1-1 to report what she believed to be a child abduction. Later that evening, King raped and murdered Lee and buried her in a shallow grave. Her body was found on January 19, 2008. King was later found guilty of kidnapping, sexual battery and first degree murder; he was sentenced to death and is presently detained awaiting execution.
This episode contains two of the 9-1-1 calls. This first is Denise Lee, in the car with King, trying to convey information about her situation to the dispatcher without alerting her abductor. The second is the call from Jane Kowalski.