True Crime with Kendall Rae - Denise Amber Lee Did Everything Right in Her Abduction but 911 Failed Her…
Episode Date: July 3, 2025In 2008, 21-year-old Denise Amber Lee was abducted from her home in North Port, Florida, and murdered. This case was widely reported on and became well known because of the circumstances surrounding h...er death. Despite multiple 911 calls, some operators failed to report their findings to law enforcement during the active kidnapping. This ultimately led to Denise not being found in time, when she was right under the nose of police officers stationed around the area. Denise herself even called 911 and tried to get help, but tragically, nothing worked to save her. DAL Foundation: https://deniseamberlee.org/ — This episode is sponsored by: Olipop Check out my foundation: Higher Hope Foundation: https://www.higherhope.org/ Watch my documentaries: 530 Days: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjUWkmOjNLk Apartment 801: https://bit.ly/2RJ9XXr True Crime with Kendall Rae podcast: Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3rks84o Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3jC66pr Shop my Merch! https://kendallrae.shop Check out my other podcasts: Mile Higher (True Crime) @milehigherpod YouTube: https://bit.ly/2ROzJcw Instagram: http://instagram.com/milehigherpod The Sesh (Current events, a little true crime, pop culture, and commentary) https://bit.ly/3Mtoz4X @the_seshpodcast Instagram: https://bit.ly/3a9t6Xr *Follow My Social!* @KendallRaeOnyt Instagram: http://instagram.com/kendallraeonyt Facebook: https://bit.ly/3kar4NK True Crime TikTok: https://bit.ly/3VDbc77 Personal TikTok: https://bit.ly/41hmRKg REQUESTS: General case suggestion form: https://zfrmz.com/yg9cuiWjUe2QY3hSC2V0 Form for people directly related/close to the victim: https://zfrmz.com/HGu2hZso42aHxARt1i67 Join my discord to chat with other viewers about this video, it’s free! https://discord.com/invite/an4stY9BCN C O N T A C T: For Business Inquiries - kendallrae@night.co Send me mail: Kendall Rae 8547 E Arapahoe Rd Ste J #233 Greenwood Village, CO 80112
Transcript
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Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of True Kermit Kendall Rae.
Thank you so much for joining me today as always.
And if you're new to the show, then welcome.
I'm so happy to have you here.
Okay, guys, today we are getting into a case that, God, I have just so many thoughts and
I don't want to ramble too much in the
beginning because I'd be doing that as we know.
But I was shocked that I had never heard of this case and I just cannot believe how, I
mean, it's gotten a decent amount of coverage, but I think it just needs so much more.
I think it's a case that everyone should know about and it's really something that everyone
that works especially in dispatch but in law enforcement in general has to know about because
oh my gosh the failures here you guys it was so so preventable. Today I'm going to be telling you
about the murder of an incredible woman a mother named Denise Amber Lee. And when I tell you guys that this woman
is the truest embodiment of brave,
I mean that to my core.
When you hear about what Denise was able to do
in the midst of one of the most horrific things
anyone could possibly experience,
I think you'll be as speechless as I was.
And I've got to say, I mean,
researching these cases on a
weekly basis is so emotional this one really really got to me I have cried a
lot while learning about Denise and hearing some of the audio recordings and
there are some of them that I can't even play for you guys because they are just
so disturbing and I will explain that as we go but this one is just incredibly difficult to hear about.
Denise was truly failed.
It feels like this could very much so could have been prevented if the right steps were
taken and it's just one of those cases that makes you frustrated,
just doesn't even begin to describe it. I mean, every turn of this case, I'm just like,
oh my God, it was, she did everything right. And she was still failed. I know you guys are going to
have a lot of thoughts on this one. So I'm really looking forward to hearing all of your feedback.
And with that, let's go ahead and get into Denise's case. And I, of course, want to start by telling
you more about who Denise was. So Denise Amber Goff was born on August 6th, 1986 in Florida
to her loving parents, Susan and Rick, and she had two younger siblings, Tyler and Amanda.
And while the earliest parts of her life haven't been shared in too much detail, there was
definitely no shortage in learning about what an incredible person Denise was.
Denise was definitely more on the more reserved, introverted, quiet side you could say, but
she also had a big personality in a lot of ways and was a deeply passionate person.
And if you got her started talking about something
that she loved, there was no stopping her.
She actually graduated magna cum laude from her high school
and on top of her academics,
she also played flute in her school's band.
Denise loved music.
It was definitely a huge passion of hers
and it was one of the many things that she had in common
with the boy who ended up becoming her high school sweetheart.
And oh my gosh, do I love their origin story.
So that brings me to introducing you to Nathan Lee.
Now, Nathan was also a student at Lemon Bay High School.
And the way that Denise used to tell the story,
she would say that he didn't know she existed.
Apparently they had a class together
and she used to joke that he didn't notice her, but Nathan says that that wasn't the case at all.
In fact, he very much noticed her. He knew exactly which seat was hers and it just, you know, took him some time to work up the courage to actually talk to her.
What's funny though is some sources say that she ended up actually asking him out. I did read something though, where Nathan said that he asked her if she wanted to study.
So maybe they had different ideas of who asked who,
but either way, it was a super cute love story.
And their love story also wasted no time,
which I, you know, in hindsight with what ends up happening,
I'm glad that they met so young
and their relationship moved so quickly because they were able to spend as much time as possible because they were robbed of many good
years together. But anyway, Valentine's Day was actually three weeks after their first date. And
I mean, that's a little tough, right? They had gotten really close in that time, but they were
just starting to date. But I think they knew there was something really special here and so they wanted to have a special Valentine's Day.
And you know, there's a lot of pressure that comes with Valentine's Day.
But Denise was very chill about stuff.
I don't think she was, you know, very high maintenance or expecting too much, but they
went to dinner, of course, and then Nathan wanted to buy her something and there was
a little jewelry store nearby that Denise had wanted to go and then Nathan wanted to buy her something. And there was a little jewelry
store nearby that Denise had wanted to go to, and he wanted to pick her out something special for
Valentine's Day. So she ends up picking this little silver ring with a heart on it. And this is
really important to remember. This ring meant a lot to her. He said more than her engagement ring in the end, which spoiler
alert, they obviously end up getting married, which I'm so glad they were able to do that.
But yeah, he said that this ring that she initially picked out was like 40 bucks or
something, but it meant the world to her. Truly to her, it ended up being one of the
most valuable things she owned. And yeah, their relationship moved very quickly.
He did buy her her engagement ring not too long after that.
Not right away, but you know what I mean.
She graduated high school in 2004 and by August of 2005, they got married at First United
Methodist Church in Punta Gorda, Florida.
And they went on to have two beautiful boys who were very close in age. I think they
were about a year apart and they just brought them endless joy. And Denise even decided to delay
going to college that she could focus on raising them. And from what I've been able to learn about
her being a mother was Denise's calling. And I think delaying some of her own dreams for them
really speaks to that. And even in the end of her life, Denise did everything in her power to keep those boys
safe.
And that also says everything that you need to know about her.
So let's talk about what happened.
It was Thursday, January 17th, 2008.
And that day really couldn't have started off more normal.
Nathan left the house early that morning to go to work and that day he was working his job as a meter reader with a
Florida Power Company and just sort of a side note because Denise was now home
with the kids. Nathan was working three jobs to help make ends meet and money
was definitely tighter for them but they really were able to make it work and
Nathan was willing to
do anything he could to support his family.
And they had actually just moved into a new rental house in North Port, Florida.
And the home was basically new, but it was more affordable since it was in a more secluded
area.
In fact, Denise's father didn't really like the idea of them being out where they lived,
but you know, it worked for them.
And so that's where they lived, but you know, it worked for them. And so that's where they lived.
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Kroger, and HEB. That day, Nathan got up for work, and because he usually left before Denise woke up, he
said he never normally would kiss her goodbye because he didn't want to wake her up.
I mean, as a mother of two under two, two years old and a six-month-old, which I cannot
imagine, shout out to anyone doing that.
That sounds incredibly difficult, I can't imagine, but I'm sure Denise appreciated
any extra sleep she could get.
But looking back, this breaks my heart, he regrets not waking her up because that was
the last morning that he got to see her.
And they did luckily speak on the phone briefly at around 11 a.m.,
but neither of them had any idea that that would be their last time speaking.
But on that call, Denise had talked about giving the boys a haircut that day,
and Nathan talked about how they could save some money
if she turned off the AC and opened the windows instead,
which she reassured him that she had already done that.
So a few hours later, around 3 p.m., Nathan was done with work and like always, which
I thought was so cute, he called her on his way home because they would chat while he
was driving home a lot of the time.
And this time when he called her, he didn't get a response, which was very strange.
Normally she would answer the phone, but of course, as a mother of 202,
there were times that she didn't,
but he called her seven times
and she didn't answer any of those calls.
Which yeah, he's thinking, okay, this is a little strange,
but yeah, she does have the kids at home.
Maybe she's just busy right now.
But then he pulls up to the house
and he kind of gets this weird feeling
because he could see that all of the windows were closed.
And her car was in the driveway, so he thought maybe she decided to put on the AC after all.
So he's weary, but he thinks there's probably an explanation for all of it.
You know, your mind doesn't necessarily go to the worst in a situation like that.
But the front door was even locked, so that was also a good sign to him.
But then he walked into the house. First of all, Denise was nowhere to be found
and that was the first moment of oh shit yeah something is really really wrong here.
And not to mention her purse, her keys, her phone were all still there.
And then the biggest shock moment was when he saw that both of his sons were crying in the same crib
alone in soiled diapers. And like I said, Denise was a great mother. She would have never
left her boys alone and she just never actually left them in the same crib, let alone in soiled
diapers. So he is panicking already. And then he noticed that all of the windows were shut,
but they weren't completely shut.
And it looked like someone had pulled them down in a hurry,
but didn't take the time to actually shut and latch them,
which he said his wife absolutely would have done.
And all of these things were red flags,
but the biggest red flag was that the boys were alone
and that they're crying and that she, I mean,
it just didn't make any sense.
So he immediately calls 911 to report her missing.
And here's some of that call.
North Port emergency.
Yes.
Um, I'm at, uh, I just got home from work and my wife, I can't find her.
My kids were in the house and I don't know where she is.
I've looked every single place and I don't know where she is. I've looked every single place and
I don't know. Your kids are at home by themselves? Yes. I know. I don't know where mommy is.
She's never done this before? No. No. No. No. No. No. I don't know. I mean she's,
I've been home almost 10 minutes now. I haven't seen her. All right, Nathan, I have an officer en route for you.
If she does return home by the time we get their calls back, let us know.
Okay?
Okay.
All right.
Thank you.
Thank you.
His next call was to Denise's dad, Rick, who are going to be talking about a lot today.
And Rick had actually been expecting a call from one of them because earlier that day,
he had called his daughter to ask if they wanted to come over for dinner with the boys that night.
And so when Nathan's name came up on his phone, he assumed that that's what he was calling
about.
But once he answered, he realized that definitely wasn't why he was calling.
And as soon as he heard what was going on, he agreed that something horrible must have
happened.
And so he, you know, immediately leaves his house and starts making his way over to theirs.
And something that you should know is that Rick actually worked in law enforcement for
25 years.
He worked as a sergeant at the neighboring county sheriff's office in Charlotte County.
And apparently, a big part of his job included helping track down fugitives in criminal cases.
So as you can imagine, Rick had a lot of knowledge when it came to missing persons, violent
crime, and all of those sorts of things, which meant that he knew the first person law enforcement
was going to look at was Nathan. But he was quick to stand behind him and basically say, hey, do not
waste your time here. My son-in-law didn't do this. And I do believe that Rick was a big reason why
law enforcement got involved to the degree
They did and you'll hear me explain it
But they really called in a lot of resources for this case
Although I will say there was a brief period where law enforcement appeared to be
Sort of dragging their feet and I think that went on for like an hour or so before Rick was like, okay
You guys need to be doing something.
You need to be out there searching for her, knocking on doors, do anything.
But for whatever reason, at first there was this lag.
And that being said, they did start to recognize the seriousness of the situation and ended
up approaching this with this sort of, she's one of our own mentality, I think because
of Rick.
And pretty soon they had the house and the road taped off
and Denise's street was swarming with law enforcement.
And at Rick's strong recommendation,
they went to speak to neighbors,
which ended up being incredibly helpful
because they ended up speaking to this girl named Jennifer,
who actually didn't live at the neighbor's house.
She was just staying there with relatives,
but she remembered seeing something weird that day.
At about two or so in the afternoon,
she was in the front room of the house, just watching TV,
and she noticed a car drive by on the street.
But what was weird is he had driven by about four times,
which is why it caught her attention.
And at some point, she watched the car
pull into the Lee's driveway and
for whatever reason she decided to step outside.
And this is when she saw the driver of the car who she described as a heavy,
tall white man driving a green Camaro.
She even said that at one point he started staring at her so she felt weird,
probably felt unsafe and went inside.
And she thinks that he may have been there for probably like 10 more minutes after that,
but then he was gone.
Although transparently, once she went inside, she sort of stopped paying attention and she
didn't see what happened next.
And that is so not her fault.
I mean, she had no idea what was about to unfold or who this guy was.
And in all honesty, she was very helpful to the case.
I mean, she was able to provide a pretty good description to detectives because now they
knew what type of car they needed to be on the lookout for.
Plus, not to mention, she also gave a pretty decent description of the driver.
So all of that information was sent out to all law enforcement in the area and the search
was on at that
point.
Look for a light color green Camaro too.
A light color green Camaro, as we know, approximately a year.
And it's going to be actually a darker green Camaro and it's going to be probably an early
2000s late 90s model.
So between 5 and 6 p.m. this became an all hands on deck effort.
Local media picked up on the story, federal authorities even got on board, and everyone
in the greater Northport area was searching for that green Camaro.
Officers began monitoring all the highway entrances, as well as conducting traffic stops,
and helicopters and canine units were even dispatched.
And believe it or not, the next big lead in this case actually came from Denise herself.
And I seriously couldn't believe it when I first heard.
But at 614 that evening, a 911 call was received from none other than Denise Amber Lee.
This incredible woman was able to somehow get a hold of her abductor's phone and called 911 herself.
And I can't even describe how beyond words upsetting this call is.
I'm not going to be playing it for you guys.
It is deeply disturbing.
I think it's one of the most disturbing things I have ever heard in my entire true crime career. The audio
from the call is available and I've obviously heard it for myself. It's not difficult to find,
so if you really want to hear it you can probably find it on your own, but I want to warn you,
caution you majorly. It is deeply, deeply upsetting to hear and I felt truly, truly disturbed. I mean, Denise is quite literally just pleading for her life and it's very clear she's in
extreme distress and so out of respect for her and especially for her kids, I've decided
against playing the audio.
I know that her husband and her parents have had to listen to it, just to identify her voice. But as her kids are getting older now, I would hate for
them to hear that at all, let alone from my show.
So I'm just not going to be playing it.
But I will describe it to you to some degree because the context is super
important to understanding this case.
In the beginning of the call, Denise can be heard literally
begging for her life. Like I said, she asks her abductor multiple times to please let
her go. And she even says that she's sorry. And you can simultaneously hear the 911 operator
repeatedly saying hello, as if she's trying to, you know, figure out what's going on.
And essentially throughout the call, the operator asked Denise questions like, what's your name? Do you know where you are? Where do you live? Now, unfortunately,
the radio was playing really loud in the background. So it's definitely muffled and hard to hear
at times. But what is so impressive about what Denise was able to do is that she knew
she couldn't let her attacker catch on to the fact that she had
his phone and was speaking to 911.
So when the operator would ask her a question, she would find a way to answer it so that
her attacker would think that she was talking with him.
As an example, when the operator would ask, where do you live?
Denise would respond with, please take me home.
I live at XYZ so
that they knew where her house was. And here's another example. The operator would ask, do
you know where you are? Are you blindfolded? And Denise would say, I can't see. Where are
we? She even managed to tell the operator her full name and that she had a husband and
kids. And God, that part in particular is just so gut wrenching
because she's just talking about how she would do anything
to see them again and it's horrific you guys.
But what is so astounding and inspiring about this moment
is that she had the foresight to do all of this
and even think clearly in that moment.
And she did a lot of other things that
Will go over as well
but the fact that she was able to keep the operator on the phone for almost six minutes is just
incredible and then towards the end of the call you can hear her abductor is
Figuring out that he has lost his phone
He's trying to figure out where it is and Denise says that she't have it. She even says that she'll help him look for it. But then it eventually
cut out. And I'm not sure if he finally realized that she had it or if she just felt like it
was becoming too close of a call. So she hung up. Yeah, not sure there how it ended. But
yeah, to add to the pain of all of it as I mentioned her dad had to
listen to that audio to identify her voice and
You know, I listened to it as someone who didn't know Denise. I cannot imagine
listening to my child in
that state it is
It is seriously one of the worst things I've ever heard in my life. And what's even more heartbreaking about this call is it actually gave them hope because
this was proof that she was still alive.
In fact, when her mom found out that her daughter had called, she thought it would only be a
matter of minutes before they got a call back saying that Denise was found.
You know, the hope being that they would be able to pinpoint her location and recover
the vehicle with her inside.
But unfortunately that wasn't the case because the phone ended up being a burner phone and
obviously that doesn't have the same type of GPS tracking that a regular cell phone does so
all they could really gather from the call was the general location from the tower that it had
pinged off of. And again unfortunately that information didn't end up being that helpful
however
they were able to trace the number back to the person who bought the phone which
Obviously ended up being very very helpful and that's when they found out that it went back to
Or was traced back to a man named Michael King and of course they asked her family if they knew of a Michael King and what?
Was bizarre is
Nobody in their family had heard of him
He was a total stranger
Even the detectives were kind of scratching their heads a bit because when they looked him up in the system
He didn't have much more than a parking violation
But they certainly didn't have the luxury of taking their time to figure out the connection at least not then in there because they
Desperately needed to find her. I mean every
second counted and like I've said they were searching high and low. And believe it or not
it was actually only a couple minutes later that they caught their second big break and it was at
6 24 p.m a second 911 call was made and the details shocked everyone. I'm about to play it
for you but just for some context going into it, the caller is
a girl who was reporting what she said her dad Harold saw.
I know it's a little confusing.
It'll make more sense when I explain in a second.
So what's the problem?
I just got a call from my dad and his cousin came over his house with a girl in the car
and she was tied up and the girl came out of the car, got out of the car, and my dad's cousin went and put
her back in the car when she got out.
Okay, where's your dad's house?
It's in Northport.
Do you know the address of it?
He wants to be anonymous.
His cousin left.
Okay, what's the cousin driving?
A green Camaro.
Where would he be going with this female?
He came over to my dad's house, borrowed a shovel,
a gas tank, and found out.
All right, what's the cousin's name?
His name is Gary King.
Gary?
King, yeah.
Oh, it's not Gary King, it's Mikey King.
Michael King?
Yeah. Okay.
Now, even though this call was upsetting to hear,
it was very, very important because
it pretty much confirmed that Michael King was their guy.
And it doesn't make sense to explain this in the timeline right now, but I will give
you some more context as far as the details of what happened with her dad.
But we're just not quite there yet.
But anyways, this call was a shock to literally everyone.
And keep in mind, the timing of everything was happening very, very quickly.
I mean, Denise's call was at 614, and then Sabrina's call, who Sabrina is Harold's daughter,
if I didn't already say that, was at 624, so only 10 minutes apart.
And then at 630, there was a third call.
And this is where the case gets infuriating. If you aren't already infuriated at this point,
just buckle the fuck up, because it just gets,
there are no words.
["The Last Supper"]
So this call, let me explain, comes from a woman named Jane.
And we love Jane.
I wish there was a Jane in every single case.
She did everything right.
And yeah, the world would be a better place with more Janes among us.
But anyway, that evening, Jane was driving south on Highway 41.
And just before 630 p.m., she had come to a stop at a light.
Totally normal, right?
Well, while she's sitting at this light,
she thought she heard someone scream. And it wasn't an innocent, playful kind of scream. It was a
help me kind of scream. Instant urgency. And so she turns over and looks at the car next to her.
And she's pulled up next to who we now know is Michael King.
He was in his green Camaro, and the two of them even made eye contact, which is so eerie
to think about.
But anyways, she calls 911.
She is actually the embodiment of if you see something, say something.
And she tells the operator that she thinks she's witnessing a child abduction.
Now I'm going to play a portion of her 911 call.
I don't have the full thing actually, but you'll hear that she gets a few details technically wrong.
But I mean, whatever, it's not her fault.
She was doing her best. The sun was setting.
And she was describing everything the best that she could.
But more or less, she describes what she thinks is a kid being abducted and when the light
turns green she does everything she can to stick close to the car which is very very
brave.
But the issue here was that Michael realized that she realized what was going on and so
he slowed down and managed to get his car behind hers and then eventually he's able
to turn off the highway at a time where she just doesn't get the chance to follow him. Listen to this.
And I was at a stoplight and a man pulled up next to me and there was a child
screaming in the car.
It's a blue Camaro,
like Camaro like in the nineties or early two thousands or something.
Okay. With a baby or?
No, it it a baby or a...
No, it was a child.
How old?
You know what, it's dark and I turned to look at him
and he's a white male, sort of light colored hair, sort of plump.
He's behind me now and I tried to slow down so he could pass me
and I could read his license plate.
Okay, ma'am, don't hang up, okay?
I'm not.
And there's a kid in the back seat,
and they kept banging on the window.
And it was banging on the window.
And screaming.
And crying.
And screaming.
Like screaming, screaming, screaming.
And not a happy scream, like get me out of here, scream.
OK, now it's green, and they're in the green arrows,
and he's going now. He Now turning left on Toledo blade. Yeah, do you want me to do all the
time? Try to follow him or? Okay, because he want her to follow him. Okay, can you turn?
He just turned on Toledo blade. I don't know if I can catch up. There's a bunch of traffic
and I can't get over. So I think we can all agree here, Jane did everything right.
She stayed on the phone with the operator.
She provided as much description as she possibly could,
tried to figure out what was going on
and was brave enough to try and stick by Michael
as long as she possibly could.
Now the operator on the other hand,
completely fucked this up.
Like beyond.
I just, it's hard to even wrap your mind around how something like this could happen.
And when you hear the details I think you're going to be as pissed off as me.
So when Jane had made that 911 call she had crossed the county line, which means that
her call was routed to a call center in Charlotte.
But it was the Northport Police Department who were heading up this investigation.
That being said though, and I cannot stress this enough, everyone knew by this point that
Denise was missing.
They had put out a bolo to all of the neighboring counties and the operator did know that there
was an active abduction underway.
She had that information.
She actually knew during the call
that Jane was likely talking about Michael and Denise.
You could even hear the operator talking
to other people in the room.
So she had gotten others in the call center involved.
And the issue was that the information
never was relayed to anyone outside of the call center, which just oh
My god blew my mind. I guess to my understanding which I still I don't know
I have trouble understanding how this happened at all
But she had been verbally telling other dispatchers the information
I guess thinking that they would log it into the system to reach the deputies
But one dispatcher later said that her radio was broken,
which by the way, ended up not even being true, and the rest of them just said they assumed someone
else had done it. Oh god you guys. So if you're not fully grasping the gravity of this fuckup,
this means multiple people knew in real time that they had an eyewitness on this abduction,
and that information was never actually given to those who were searching for her.
Mind you, and this makes it so much worse, the street that Michael had pulled off of
is called Toledo Blade, and there was a deputy parked right there.
Right fucking there.
Not to mention there were a handful of deputies
within a very, very short radius.
And something else that just needs to be said
is that with or without this information,
those deputies already knew
that they were supposed to be on the lookout
for a green 90s model Camaro.
So they also just flat out missed it,
but can you imagine if they were told
that the Camaro was right there?
They would have been that much more locked in.
And I'll circle back to this later on, but it is possible.
I'll even say it might even be likely
that had they known, Denise would still be here today.
If that information actually made it to them, who knows?
But anyway, before we get into more of a conversation on that, let's get back to the timeline here.
So after that, about 20 minutes later, there ended up being a fourth 911 call.
And I guess technically it could be the fifth if you count Nathan's original call.
And this call came from Sabrina's dad, if you remember Sabrina had called earlier talking
about her dad.
Her dad's name is Harold if you need a reminder.
And apparently he had a change of heart.
So let's listen.
I'm not sure exactly what the word is for you.
It's exactly for, I think, somebody that's been taken without the, they don't want to
be where they need to be.
Uh huh.
And we're in the 95th Green Cam want to be where they need to be. Uh huh.
And we're in the 95th Green Camaro, the North Port somewhere.
Okay. And how do you know this?
I know.
Do you know where they are?
I have no idea.
And what did they take?
Some girl. Some girl taken and out of us.
And she don't want to, I don't think she wanted to be where she wanted to be.
Do you know who the guy is?
No. Anything else you can tell me?
No.
And...
Let me let you go.
Can you get me anything else?
No.
I'll find you something else, I will.
Okay, can I get your name and number?
No.
I'll get your number.
Okay.
Insane.
Insane.
Now that was just part of the call.
I couldn't get the whole thing, but obviously that rubs me the wrong way, and I'm sure you
guys agree with me there.
I mean, what's the point of being so cryptic, you know?
Like, they did luckily connect the dots that it was Harold calling about Michael, but I
feel like he was only trying to clear his conscience more than anything else.
There was one new piece of information that he shared though, and it was definitely helpful
so I'll give him that. He said the Camaro had a black bra on the front, which is basically a
protective cover on the front of the hood area. I'm sure a lot of you know what a bra is, but this tip
definitely helped them to clarify, you know, even more so what they needed to be on the lookout for. Now after this call,
and I'm sure this is obvious to most of you, but obviously after
hearing everything he had to say, they needed to pay him a visit and hear what happened
firsthand and his story is absolutely insane.
So Harold said that between 530 and 6 he was home when his cousin Michael stopped by. And apparently Michael had concocted this story
about how his lawnmower was stuck in a ditch.
So he needed to borrow a shovel and a gas can
and a flashlight to get it out.
Now, Harold at the same time says that he was unaware
that there was a missing woman
just a few miles down the street.
So he didn't think twice about it. He even said that he stood and chatted for a few miles down the street, so he didn't think twice about it.
He even said that he stood and chatted for a few minutes to catch up with Michael before
he started to leave, who by the way, to him, was acting totally normal.
But this is when he saw what you heard his daughter Sabrina say earlier, that there was
a woman tied up in his car and that he saw her get out and then he saw Michael push her back in.
And what you didn't hear Sabrina say, which investigators learned, was that Denise was yelling,
call the cops, and Michael turned to him and said, don't worry about it.
Now, sources sort of vary on if Harold saw her actually get outside of the car.
Some say that she did get out.
Others say that he only caught a glimpse of her
inside the car because the windows were tinted.
But to me, at the end of the day,
the distinction is irrelevant, really.
I mean, what's important here is the fact
that he witnessed a woman clearly begging for help,
and he did nothing about it.
He did go on to say some useless shit
about how he thought this woman was one of Michael's
Quote psycho girlfriend so he figured it was a domestic dispute
Which I don't see how that makes it any better if someone is yelling call the cops or seems
Depending on what actually happens clearly seems in extreme distress and is begging you for help. You call the fucking cops.
I mean, it's just...
Oh man, you guys, this one makes me so mad in so many ways.
And to make it worse, I guess he started to feel like the situation wasn't right,
so he drove to Michael's house to see if there really was an issue with his stupid lawnmower,
but Michael wasn't home, so at that point, Harold clearly knew he'd been lying
and he still didn't call the cops then and there.
He called his daughter and thankfully she called.
And then of course, the guilt must have got to him
to some degree because he did end up making
that anonymous call, but you're too late, dude.
And I'm sure that Harold lives with this guilt now.
I mean, I hope he does. But you had the chance to possibly
save Denise's life and you didn't. You just chose not to. You didn't want to get involved,
took the easy way out and just waited too long to do anything and then made a bogus
anonymous call. I mean, that's just so unhelpful in a situation like that, right? Like if you
actually cared and were concerned, you would have given every ounce of information you
could and identified yourself, but you're too much of a little bitch to have done that.
And so as far as I'm concerned, I hope you live with that guilt the rest of your life,
and that's a battle that you chose to face.
But anyways, with all of this in mind now, obviously detectives have no doubt that it's Michael
they have to find.
And one place they hoped they could find him was his house, which is where they went next.
Yeah, there is a TV on in the house and sounds like voices inside the residence.
Have you got the vehicle there?
Well, it could be in the garage. There's a blue car garage and then a single car garage
that's next to it.
And there's no windows, so I can't tell.
But it does sound like there's voices in the house.
The neighbor directly next to him
advises she believes he's possibly home
and does park his car in the garage.
He does still drive Camaro and does still reside in Sardinia.
And to her knowledge, he is home.
So with that, detectives just honestly busted right in.
And the thing was, is the house was empty.
And I'm not talking in terms of people or like barely decorated.
I mean, his house was literally empty.
It looked like no one was living there.
There was like a few miscellaneous furniture items, but it didn't, yeah, it didn't look like anyone one was living there. There was like a few miscellaneous furniture items, but it didn't look like anyone was
actually living there.
Any noises they heard coming from inside were from the TV and radio, both of which had been
turned up to a super high volume.
However, they did find something horrific, something that made them believe Denise had
been there.
They found duct tape in two areas of the house, the kitchen and the primary bedroom,
both of which had long brown hairs attached to them.
They also found a Winnie the Pooh blanket
and a pillow on the ground in the primary bedroom
as if it was where someone had been sleeping.
But when they noticed there was a towel covering the window
on top of everything else they saw,
they ultimately believed that Michael
could have taken Denise there to sexually assault her.
So they went ahead and collected everything they found and even ripped up parts of the
carpet, which looked like it had blood on it so that they could send it out for DNA
processing.
And this is very disturbing and I don't think it'll come as a surprise to any of you at
this point, but the results proved exactly that. It was Denise's hair on the duct tape, and his semen was found on the blanket.
Now of course they didn't know that on the spot, but they did know that they had to find
her and that the clock was ticking.
So for the next two and a half hours, the search efforts were at their absolute max.
And like I said, they had helicopters
and canine teams as well as officers performing traffic stops at every exit
in Northport. Finding Denise and Michael was the only option. And at 9 16 p.m.
they found one of the two of them. A highway patrol officer on Toledo Blade
Boulevard spotted his green Camaro trying to leave the city and that's when
they ultimately made the arrest and that's when they ultimately
made the arrest.
And of course they were hoping to find Denise with him and when they saw he was alone, reality
really sunk in.
And even when her dad heard that Michael was found alone, he understood what that probably
meant.
And it didn't help those thoughts that the bottom of his pants were wet and his boots were covered in mud, suggesting that he might have come from burying her.
They also found the shovel, the flashlight, and the gas can, as well as that burner phone
which had the battery and SIM card removed.
So all signs here are pointing to something that nobody wanted to happen.
And when they took him to the station for questioning, shocker, he lawyered up and refused to talk.
Here's what's interesting though.
They end up bringing Harold to the station
to talk to him more.
And at some point,
they end up putting the two men in a room together.
And that's when Michael starts rambling like an idiot
on and on with this wild story about what he says happened,
which is basically that
he was the one who got kidnapped.
And it's so strange, I'm just going to play the clip for you so you can hear it yourself. I remember that Charlie called T and went and sang out this to kill
They were like crazy
Couldn't do anything but said anything and he would just go get everybody else
And I didn't have anything in my house, garage or anything
He was pissed off
What would I do? Put everybody else in harm?
Who was it?
I don't know man
Somebody in the street seen it and somebody called and I said you know,
there are cops in my house.
I left the spot.
What am I supposed to do here?
No, no, he didn't really say anything.
No, I didn't, you know.
I didn't know how to say it to you without...
It's pretty cold without him knowing.
What, is somebody else in the car you know? Yeah, he had to be. The only reason I had to have his phone, huh? My god. I don't know how he thought anyone was going to believe that.
But yeah, nobody was buying it, as you can imagine.
And he was even asked to take the police to the place where this so-called abductor took them, but
when police went there, they found nothing, of course. So yeah, Michael was next to no
help when it came to locating Denise, of course, and that wasn't much of a shock, but he naturally
gets charged with kidnapping. And meanwhile, there was another team of people forensically
examining his car. They wanted to know if they could find
anything that would point to where Denise was. And you just can't help but
to get chills, full-body chills, when you hear what they found. Remember earlier
when I talked about that little silver ring that Nathan had bought her for
Valentine's Day and how it was really her most valuable possession.
Well, they found it in the backseat of his car. And Nathan even came into the station to identify
it. And he said that he was 100% certain that it was hers. He broke down in tears when he saw it.
And he believes that she left it there on purpose. And it seems most people believe that. I certainly believe that.
I think she knew what she was doing, that she was trying to give as many clues as she
could to what had happened to her.
So eerie to think about the fact that she in those moments was trying to leave clues
for her own murder case.
And you know, she knew that Nathan would know it was hers and oh my god the
footage of him identifying it oh my god it just destroyed me I was just heavy
sobbing seeing he looks I cannot imagine what was going through his head seeing
that ring probably holding out hope that it wasn't hers and when he saw it it took
it took him seconds to know that yes, that is hers and oh, it's
like one of the worst things I've ever seen.
Is this her ring?
Yes.
This is the first ring I gave her, first Valentine's Day.
How confident are you that it's her ring? 100%. And this is also just so horrible, but also so impressive on Denise's part, but they found
chunks of her hair that had been ripped from the root.
Like she knew that they were going to need that.
And so she, they believe that she did that on purpose.
And think about it with her dad in law enforcement for as long as he was she
Would have known that they needed a full strand of hair from the root to make the best identification
I'm just so impressed by Denise
She was such an incredible person to be in the midst of all of that and be thinking that sharply
I mean she was thinking like an officer. She was thinking like an investigator. She did everything that she
could to help them to build a case against him if she didn't survive, which I'm sure
at some point she knew she probably wasn't going to. But of course, we can't forget
that these findings at the end of the day pointed to a really horrific reality that
Denise was no longer alive. And that of course meant that these search teams needed to pick
it up if there was any chance of finding her. And of course meant that these search teams needed to pick it up if there was any
chance of finding her.
And of course, they're still hanging on to hope at this point.
So searches were at an all-time high that night and all through the next day.
And finally on the evening of the 18th, the awful discovery was made.
Deep in a marshy area near Plantation Boulevard in Northport. An area of disturbed earth was
found and near it there were two piles of sand which appeared to be covering what looked
like blood. And after excavating the area the following morning, Denise's body was
recovered from a grave. He had dug it deep enough that the cool earth had preserved her
remains and a gunshot wound was visible on her head, which was later confirmed
to be her cause of death.
She also had more than 20 internal and external bruises, as well as other injuries to suggest
that she was met with additional violence, including sexually.
And then a few hundred yards away, they found a pair of boxers, which were actually Nathan's,
and Denise was known to wear them, and those tested positive for Michael's sperm and
Additional forensic testing also confirmed traces of her blood on the hood of his car and in the back seat of his car
But what's interesting though is they never actually found the murder weapon even to this day, which I thought was pretty surprising
But yeah, those details are I
Mean it's just hard to even put into words how horrific it was.
And obviously it wasn't an outcome that any of them were expecting or hoping for.
And in the days that followed, the grief was unmistakable.
I mean, everyone was mourning this loss to a massive degree.
And I think her funeral really speaks to how big of an impact her death had on this community.
Law enforcement held a huge procession and people showed up in the hundreds to show their support.
And when Nathan spoke, he was...
Ugh, it's heartbreaking. At times, deeply upset, obviously.
But then at other moments, it sounded like he sort of brightened up a little bit
as he spoke about the woman he loved so dearly, and I'm sure so many memories were flooding his mind.
He even talked about their first date at Applebee's where Denise wouldn't eat.
So she just sat and watched him eat for 45 minutes, which I thought was kind of funny.
And he also talked about the passion she had when it came to being a mom.
He remembered how often she would be at the dinner table feeding both of their sons while
trying to sneak in a bite of food for herself.
And that brings me to, I think the part about this case that just destroys me the most is
that she had always put her boys first and that was true until the very end.
And I just cannot imagine being, sorry, I try not to break down in these episodes too
much because I don't want to make it about me. But I mean, how can you not,
as a mother thinking about in that situation, putting my baby, my babies in a crib,
hoping that they were going to be okay
and just leaving them,
not knowing if you'd ever see them again,
leaving them alone in a house,
was just such a nightmare for any mother.
It's so sad to think about what the final moments of her life were like, especially
that that was the last time that she'd ever see them and the last time that they would
ever see her.
And for them to have to have these thoughts of what their last
moments with their mom were.
It's just sick.
It is so sick and for what?
Her family also took part in a press conference where they not only thanked the community
as well as law enforcement, but they also recognized Denise for the hero that she was.
Her quick thinking helped them identify Michael as her killer.
And it's just beyond words incredible
everything that she did in an attempt to be found. And thankfully, Michael received two new charges,
one for murder, of course, and another for sexually assaulting her. But honestly, yeah,
what most people wanted to know at this point was why? Why Denise? And the answer is honestly that
this was random. Investigators theorize that Michael
must have been, you know, just looking around, basically hunting for someone to abduct. And
Denise just happened to be that person. And they think that she was outside on her back porch,
cutting her son's hair when Michael drove by and saw her. And that's when they think that he
decided that she was for whatever
reason going to be his target and it's hard to say exactly how he got her to go with him
but knowing her cause of death it you know seems obvious that he probably held her at
gunpoint and like I said earlier in one of her last moments of bravery she decided to
put the boys together in the same crib and probably convinced him to only take her and had to just leave them there.
And if you remember, the front door had also been locked, so they believed Denise locked
it as he was making her leave the house, which is just another way that she was trying to
protect them.
And the windows too, think about that.
They think that she may have closed them
in order to keep the boys from getting out if they were somehow able to get out of their crib.
But I mean either that or Michael closed them so that people wouldn't hear her scream. So not
exactly sure what happened with the windows. But from there they think he took her to his house
where the assault took place. And then afterwards is when they think
that she took his phone to make that call.
From there, it's likely that he went right to Harold's house
and borrowed all those items.
And then we know what happened next.
And another thing that really shocked people,
which I did mention earlier,
is that Michael didn't have a criminal record.
Although I'd argue he probably should have had one
because I guess some neighbors had come forward after all of this had happened to say that they had had tons of issues with
this dude. Apparently one time he keyed his neighbor's car, slashed their tires, and
poured battery acid on their pool cage. Another person came forward saying that he sexually
assaulted her. And I guess he was also known as a peeping Tom which isn't shocking I mean just look at this guy
He's peeping Tom written all over him and there was one woman who said that he had come into her salon with a 15 year old girl
And started making out with her and then was bragging to people there about how he met her online
so, I mean this guy is just a
Nasty pig pervert freak. I mean I can't
even think of enough. Every horrible word in the dictionary is Michael.
And they also learned that this rat was struggling financially like really badly.
So he had been living in Michigan with his wife and their kids.
But in 2002, he had moved to Florida after she left him for another man pretty much out
of the blue.
And I can't say I blame her for that one.
And in Florida, I guess he worked as a plumber, but eventually he just stopped showing up
to work and was known as a pathological liar.
And so, long story short, his house was about to be foreclosed on and he was, I guess, running
out of options.
I guess his friends and family were super shocked to hear about his arrest and what
happened because they didn't think he was capable of doing something like this.
But I did read that in the months leading up to this, he had become real paranoid and
just wasn't acting like himself.
And there's this whole story about how he got into a sledding accident as a kid, which
resulted in a traumatic brain injury.
And that's sort of, I don't even know why people are trying to do this, but some people,
you know, have tried to use this as an excuse for his behavior, but it sounds like he was able to live a pretty normal life
before all of this.
And there's more that I could get into about his life story, but I really don't care to.
I don't want to waste any more time than I have to talking about Michael.
I don't give a fuck about him.
What I do give a fuck about is justice for Denise, and luckily they were on their way to getting that. However, before justice was served,
there was one more major finding. Now remember earlier when we talked about Jane's call and how
they legitimately didn't know about it? Well, what I didn't tell you was how they learned it existed.
After Michael was arrested and Denise was recovered, it
was obviously all over the news, and Jane ended up seeing it. And she called the North
Port Police Department to basically say like, hey, I was that 911 caller. Let me know if
you need any follow-up information. And they were like, uh, your who now? Like they had
no idea. And she had to explain that she had made an
eyewitness report with critical real-time information about the
abduction. And I won't repeat everything I said earlier, but this was a huge
failure on behalf of the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office. Mind you, that was the
department that Denise's dad worked for. So when he learned about this, his response was, we blew it.
And he said that he has struggled for years, that this mistake was made by the very police
department that he worked for.
And I cannot imagine how that would feel as a father after dedicating 25 years of your
life to this department and to law enforcement in general, to have such a major mistake play
out from your own department when it comes to your daughter that could have potentially
saved her life.
And I'm positive that those dispatchers have had to live with that guilt forever.
And I'm sure that's been really difficult for them.
I hope it's been difficult for them.
I think it should be.
It's just such a major mistake.
It costs someone's life. Those kind of mistakes just cannot happen and it can't just be like an oops
We'll try harder next time. You know, it's just it's not like that
And if I'm being honest in my opinion the repercussions for this weren't that high for employees were ordered to do remedial training
And had brief very brief suspensions, but that was really it.
It wasn't a suitable response, in my opinion, for possibly costing Denise her life, and
Denise's loved ones definitely felt the same. But as for the true villain here, Michael,
the justice system definitely had its way with him. Obviously, the evidence against him was
way too strong to deny, although the defense definitely gave it their all.
I feel dumb even sharing what their defense was because it's so ridiculous.
I guess they had to come up with something, but it turns out that he had gone to a shooting
range that morning with some friends, so the defense...
I shouldn't laugh.
It's so ridiculous.
The defense tried to say that it was his friend that killed Denise and the friend actually
had an alibi so that argument held up as well as a cooked noodle I guess you could say.
It's just ridiculous.
Honestly to me it's like offensive that they even tried that.
But in the end I'm very happy to say that Michael ended up being convicted of kidnapping,
sexual battery, and first degree murder.
And at the strong recommendation of prosecutors, he was ultimately sentenced to death.
Now I know people feel differently about the death penalty.
It's something that I, I don't know, I have different feelings on.
It's not a conversation for any of us really because this was something that her family
was absolutely in support of and to me that's all that matters.
Plus I feel like in so many of the cases I cover, people get really, really weak sentences
and it just pisses me off beyond.
So to me, I'm very happy with this outcome.
Granted, no punishment obviously will ever bring Denise back and therefore it's still
even the death penalty is still never enough.
And you know what's ridiculous too is there was some strong debate in the penalty phase over whether or not he was competent enough to receive the death penalty
because the dude didn't have the highest IQ shocker. But yeah, the judge was like,
no, you might be kind of a dummy, but you're smart enough to know what you did was wrong.
You knew what you were doing. So bye bye, you You're done. And of course as they always do Michael has attempted to
Overturn his conviction, but so far he hasn't been successful and I doubt he ever will be but as I wrap this up since this
Has been such such a brutal case. I wanted to try and end it on a more positive note. It's actually not
Too hard to do that because some incredible things have come out of Denise's story
I'm very happy to share that Denise's incredible things have come out of Denise's story.
I'm very happy to share that Denise's murder has actually sparked some real change.
I'm not kidding you guys.
What their family has been able to do is unbelievable.
It's so inspiring and it's honestly why I chose to cover this case to begin with because
when I started looking into the details, I was like, dude, I don't know if I can even
talk about this.
It's so upsetting, but it was also really inspiring to me.
And I felt like it's something, her story is something that, like I said in the beginning,
more people should know about, especially people in dispatch and in law enforcement.
So listen to this.
In June of 2008, just a few months after this all happened, Nathan founded the Denise Amberlee
Foundation.
And the basis of this foundation
is rooted in the failure of that 911 operator with the goal to improve the 911 system across
the nation so that what happened to Denise doesn't happen to anyone else ever again.
Nathan created it as a way to help work through his grief and the work that he's been able
to do is incredible you guys. When he learned about this massive failure in his wife's case, he started looking at
the 911 system as a whole, and he found out
a lot of shocking facts, including the fact
that this is not even a nationwide system.
It's more of a patchwork of agencies
that all have varying protocols and standards
for what it takes to be qualified to do the job,
which now in 2025 might not
be super shocking to us as we are learning much more about all of our systems these days,
I think.
At least I have been like pretty shocked looking into how systems across all different areas
of our government and country work.
I mean, just here in America, but over the world as well.
But in 2008, this was pretty shocking.
And the further he dug in, the more
surprised he became. He found out, you guys, that some states don't require any mandated
training for people to become 911 operators, and other states hardly measured what it takes
to be successful at it. Hence the foundation, where Nathan's full-time career is now dedicated
to touring the country, to educate about the importance of training, protocols,
standards, all of that. He's also sharing his wife's story to inspire people to approach
this line of work with their best foot forward every single day. They offer in-person and
online training which provides in-depth education on topics like leadership, hiring, training,
and encouraging employees in a communication center. You can even go on their website and
see what events they have coming up, but there's a ton and they're all a communication center. You can even go on their website and see what events they have coming up,
but there's a ton and they're all over the country.
And here's something shocking.
Before the foundation,
only 24 states required mandatory training for operators.
And now it's at least up to 36,
but that means we still have a long way to go, don't we?
Cause you would hope that it would be mandatory
in all 50 states, right?
And that could be an outdated fact,
but I believe it's from 2024. So I'm quite confident we are not at all 50 states. And so this foundation
is incredibly important in making huge strides. And another thing that really blew my mind, but
also, I don't know, kind of didn't after some of the cases I've covered over the years, but most
law enforcement agencies don't have quality control standards in place for accountability
and safety.
So the foundation created their own quality assurance team with 28 experts and they will
go and listen to the audio from 911 calls and then grade each department on how they
did.
And then these departments can use that score to either receive a certificate that says
they're doing a good job or they can use it to learn where they need to improve.
So that part of the foundation is just so valuable.
And Nathan, and I think all of us, want people to feel confident when they call 911, whether
you're in New York, you're in California, Colorado, let's say Oklahoma even, you want
to be able to get the best help that you can possibly get, right?
And honestly, this case is just really eye opening.
I mean, we all want to assume that when we call 911, you're getting the best help possible.
But in this case, and so many other cases like it, we just know that that's not always
the reality.
Now I do want to be very clear here that there are some incredible like angel on earth type
of people that are in dispatch who are so on top of things, so dedicated to it, have
saved lives.
There are countless cases of that as well.
In fact, it was just I think last weekend that I met a fan who had been in dispatch
for 25 years and she was telling me a little bit about it.
We didn't get to talk too long, but she seemed awesome. And I don't want any of you out there who work in dispatch to feel
discouraged or picked on because I know a lot of you are doing incredible work, but
it's so important that we constantly improve our systems and you know that starts at the
top level. So I'm really grateful for people like Nathan who have made it their life's
work to better the systems for everyone else and I love that he does that in Denise's honor.
In fact what's really really cool is he and Rick actually managed to get a bill passed
and the process was actually started before the foundation was officially launched but
the themes really overlap.
In April of 2008 Nathan and Rick worked with Florida legislators to advocate for a new
bill that would establish statewide standards for the certification of 911 emergency dispatchers.
It's called the Denise Amber Lee Act and it passed unanimously.
And just like the foundation, their goal is to make people feel confident when calling
911 again.
They want to ensure that people who work these jobs are properly trained and qualified and supported.
At the end of the day, the kind of person it takes to do this job effectively naturally
means that they have to have this drive to want to help others.
And I think most people that get into dispatch have that.
But Nathan and Rick want to make sure that everyone that works in dispatch has that,
you know, in them.
So with this act, the state of Florida now requires 232 hours of training for 911 operators,
which is a super incredible accomplishment that they should be very, very proud of.
And honestly, I only really skimmed the surface of the impact that's being made.
So if you're interested in learning more, I am going to put a link to the foundation in the show notes of this episode. And I also want to mention that I've just been
obviously so inspired and moved by this case as a whole that I'm going to be making a donation
to the foundation on behalf of this show and all of you. And I also wanted to mention one last thing
before wrapping up this episode and that's that Nathan won a big lawsuit against the Charlotte
County Sheriff's
Office in 2012.
He sued for wrongful death and negligence and the case even went to trial, but a few days
in they reached a $1.25 million settlement.
The funds were split up for legal fees, money for his kids and his family, but there was
also a portion that made it to the foundation.
And he made it clear though that this was never about the money.
Of course, it was about Denise.
And I think he's done such an amazing job of keeping her at the center of it all.
I don't know if Nathan will ever see this episode or Rick, but I just wanted to say
that I'm so impressed by both of them and all the work that they have done.
And I can only imagine how many people's lives have been saved because of their efforts.
And I hope they're so, so proud of that.
I know Denise is proud of them for that too. Denise clearly was such a special person. It just when I think
about her boys not having her it just destroys me inside. I hope they never
hear that call. It's just it's so awful but the fact that they can look at the
legacy that she has left behind, I think that is
incredible.
And I did want to say this, and it makes me really happy to be able to say this, but Nathan
has gone on to remarry, which I think is really beautiful, and I'm sure Denise would have
wanted that for him.
Finding love after losing his soulmate, I mean, he said multiple times that Denise was
his soulmate, couldn't have been easy.
But it makes me happy to know that he has love in his life again.
He tells this story about how one time his wife,
Tanya, went out for a walk, but didn't have her phone,
and when he came back to find the house empty,
it was really triggering for him.
All of the emotions from that day and what happened to Denise
just flooded back in, as you can imagine,
and I think that really goes to show
that this is something that he will always carry with him the rest of his life, of course it is.
I mean we talk about justice so often as if it's the end of the chapter and you know it's
sort of something as humans we want to be like okay well there was justice and yes that's
something to celebrate that is a huge victory not every family gets that but it's really
not the end you know these families deal with this for eternity. And what Michael did
is just nothing short of evil. There's just no words for him. He's such a disgusting
waste of a human being. And he took away a wife, a daughter, a mother. And I don't
think he really had any remorse about it. And like I keep going back to, those boys
will never get the chance to grow up with their mom. And I know that Nathan and her
parents are doing everything they can to tell them about her.
Their grandma now cuts their hair like Denise used to do.
And she's always talking about what an amazing
and kind person their mom was.
But I can't help but feel so angry at the end of the day
that she's not here to give them those haircuts
and, you know, be in every part of their life
to help raise them herself.
It's just, it's so unfair.
And for what?
For what? It's sick. Oh, it's so unfair. And for what? For what?
It's sick.
Oh, it's so awful.
But yeah, I definitely want to hear your thoughts
on this case.
I'm sure it tore a lot of you up as much as it did me.
Just, man, there are no words for some of these cases.
There really aren't.
That is gonna be it for me today, guys.
Thank you for joining me for another episode and make sure you follow the show on Spotify
and Apple podcasts.
It really does help me out.
If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel,
which will be linked or you can just search Kendall Rae.
I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there.