For the very first time, the public heard the desperate 911 call the Denise Lee made in the midst of her kidnapping in Jan. 2008, and before she was raped, murdered and then buried next to a highway not far from her North Port (Fla.) home. The 911 logging tape of the call was played Tuesday during the trial of Michael King, who apparently picked Lee at random, drove her around and finally killed her. Besides Lee’s 911 call, a motorist dialed 911 to report Lee pounding on the windows of an adjacent car moving along a highway. Despite the two calls, Lee was not rescued. Former Sarasota County sheriff’s dispatcher Kathy Jackson testified Tuesday that she fell into a deep depression after handling the 911 call, resigned from her job and moved back to her home state of Iowa. “She did everything right to save herself,” Jackson told the court. “It breaks my heart to think how she tried so hard and we still couldn’t save her.” Indeed, on the tape Lee tries to secretly provide information about her location using King’s cellular phone. At times Lee can apparently hear Jackson, but other times, she cannot. Several times King angrily asks Lee where his phone is. Several times Lee begs King, “Where are we?” hoping the location will help lead to her rescue. The call lasted six minutes, during which Jackson testified that her co-workers were feeding her questions and trying to determine Lee’s location. “Denise’s voice haunts me,” Jackson said. “I’m just hoping this trial will bring some closure to that.” She now works in Iowa City as a university police dispatcher. The trial Read more about Jackson here. The trial is being streamed live on the Herald-Tribune newspaper Web site. Watch a video of the trial, during which Lee’s 911 is played, or download (pdf) the transcript.
Lee was kidnapped from her home some time before her husband arrived home at 3:20 p.m. He reported the incident to North Port police, who passed the information along to Sarasota County sheriff’s deputies.
Lee’s 911 call was made at 6:14 p.m., while police and sheriff’s deputies were actively looking for her. At 6:30 p.m. a woman dialed 911 to report seeing someone in distress inside an car driving next to her down the highway. But her cellular call went to the Charlotte County sheriff’s comm center, and the information was never relayed to North Port PD, and no deputies were sent to search for the car.
Jane Kowalski, the motorist who made that 911 call, also testified on Tuesday about what she saw and her 911 call. She identified King as the person she saw driving the car that contained Lee.
During Lee’s 911 call, Jackson repetitiously asks “Hello?” nine times before asking Lee–one minute a 12 seconds into the call–“What’s the address?” She then mentions to a co-worker that the cellular call is, “coming off the North Port towers.”
During the remaining five minutes, Jackson asked six questions, repeating all of them at least once, and as many as three times during the call. She asked Lee for her address or location five times, but never re-worded the question or tried to gather other details, such as nearby businesses, signs, railroad tracks, other landmarks or sounds. She never asked Lee if she were in a vehicle or what it looked like, and nothing about the suspect’s description.
With 72 seconds gone, Jackson again asks, “Hello?” and then repeats, “What’s the address that you’re at? Hello, ma’m.”
During this time, Lee is asking, “Where are we going?” and “Tell me where.”
Jackson asks, “What’s your name?” and Lee can apparently hear her. “Please, my name is Denise,” she says. “I’m married to a beautiful husband and I just want to see my kids again.”
“Are you on I-75?” Jackson asks. “Can you tell us if you’re on I-75?”
Jackson then asks, “Are you blindfolded? If you are, press the button.”
At this point, Michael King is asking Lee where his cellular phone is. “I don’t have your phone,” Lee tells him.
“Denise, do you know this guy?” Jackson asks. She tells a co-worker, “She might have the phone laid down and not hear a thing I’m saying, too.”
“How long have you been gone from your house?” Jackson asks. But Lee says, “I don’t know.”
“What’s your last name?” Jackson asks, and Denise says simply, “Lee.” Jackson confirms the entire name, “Your name’s Denise Lee?” and Lee replies, “Uh-huh.” Jackson tells a co-worker that the suspect may not realize Lee is talking to a dispatcher. “I’m thinking, too, that he doesn’t know,” she says.
“Can you tell what street you’re on?” Jackson asks, but Lee says, “No.”
“Do you know this guy that’s with you?” Jackson asks, but Lee again says, “No.”
“You don’t know him from anywhere?” Jackson asks, and Lee only responds, “No, please. Oh, God help me!”
Jackson then asks for Lee’s home address, and Lee is able to twist her conversation with King to provide it. “Please, just take me to my house,” Lee says. “Can you take me home? On Latour (Ave.), please.”
“Can you see or do have a blindfold on?” Jackson asks, and then asked Lee if she could turn down the loudly-playing car radio. Again, Lee apparently can hear Jackson. “I can’t hear you, it’s too loud. Where are we?”
Finally, King finds out that Lee has his cellular phone and tries to take it back.
Lee’s words were the last on the logging tape. “Help me.”
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