On January 15, 2008 about 3 p.m. Denise Lee was kidnapped from her North Point (Fla.) home, leaving her two young children alone in the house. A neighbor later reported seeing a green Camero in Lee’s driveway before Lee disappeared. The suspect drove her around the county, to his apartment not far from Lee’s home, and to his cousin’s house where he retrieved a shovel and gasoline can.
A series of 911 calls alerted various law enforcement agencies of incidents that were related to the kidnapping: Lee herself dialed 911 from a cellular phone at 6:14 p.m. (Phase I only to Sarasota County SO), while the suspect’s cousin called police at 6:23 p.m. to report his visit. Finally, at 6:30 p.m. a motorist dialed 911 to report seeing suspicious activity inside an adjacent car, which matched the suspect’s vehicle reported earlier by Lee’s neighbor (to Charlotte County SO). Police traced this car to the suspect’s house, and searched it about 7 p.m. to find no one home, but locating evidence of a kidnapping.
The suspect was on the move, and eluded police until 9:16 p.m., when a Florida Highway Patrol trooper spotted the vehicle and arrested the driver. Lee was not in the car, but police did find traces of her hair and a ring she apparently slipped off during her ride. Three days later Lee’s body was discovered buried not far from where the suspect was arrested. She had been shot to death.
In the week following the arrest, local media learned about Lee’s s 911 call to Sarasota County and the motorist’s 911 call to Charlotte County. It came to light that there were some miscommunications between the Charlotte County Sheriff’s dispatcher who fielded the motorist’s 911 call and other agencies. But at the time, the Charlotte County sheriff, North Point PD and the state attorney’s office all declined to provide more information.
By Jan. 25, 2008 Charlotte County Sheriff John Davenport released a prepared statement and held a press conference to rebut stories that the witness fully described the car and that dispatcher Mildred Stepp had been suspended for mishandling the motorist’s 911 call. He told reporters, “I want you all to remember that this case has affected this community and this agency very deeply. And you must all know that the call takers and dispatchers working that night have been extremely affected by this case. The stresses in the 9-1-1 center during incidents of this magnitude is tremendous and those employees who work in that center do a tremendous job under such conditions.” Davenport added, “We may lose some dispatchers because of this. They may quit, because this is too much, and the stress and they can’t bear it anymore.”
Davenport did say that Streep had been put on administrative leave with pay for three days while investigators evaluated the agency’s response to the 911 call. Read Davenport’s prepared statement and his other remarks here.
By Feb. 16th two Charlotte County sheriff’s dispatchers had been suspended without pay for their handling of the motorist’s 911 call: Dispatcher Susan Kallestad (working radio) received a 60-hour unpaid suspension, and dispatcher Elizabeth Martinez (radio) was suspended without pay for 36 hours. Both were to undergo 12 hours of remedial training and would be on probation for six months. Both failed to broadcast the information that Stepp received from the motorist, Davenport said.
By March 16th the press had a better timelines of events, and it showed communications breakdowns among the involved agencies in the motorist’s 911 call. No deputies or officers were dispatched to the area where the motorist reported seeing the suspicious vehicle (later determined to contain Lee). In fact, the BOLO that dispatchers issued was not received by some agencies who were actively searching for Lee.
Stepp did not create a separate incident for the motorist’s 911 call reporting the suspicious vehicle, but instead added it to the existing CAD incident about Lee’s kidnapping, received earlier from North Port PD. Because of that, the radio dispatcher did not see the information, and did not assign officers to respond to the area where the car had been seen.
By early April Lee’s father, coincidentally a Charlotte County sheriff’s sergeant, began a campaign to improve dispatcher training standards in the state. He and Lee’s husband later appeared at a legislative committee hearing to support long-standing legislation that would establish an non-mandatory, unfunded 280-hour training program for public safety dispatchers in Florida. The committee later voted 5-0 for the bill, and both the Florida House and Senate later passed the bill.
In Dec. 2008 the “Dr. Phil” show profiled the Lee case and identified the communications problems.
In March 2009 a state senator introduced legislation to make the previously-passed, and optional, dispatcher training standard mandatory. Download (pdf) a copy of the proposed law.
Listen to the 911 call from Linda Kowalski, the motorist who spotted a suspicious vehicle next to her, which was later identified as the suspect’s vehicle. Also listen to two other 911 calls, one from Harold Muxlow, the suspect’s cousin, and from the cousin’s daughter, both alerting dispatchers to a suspicious circumstance, when the suspect came to their house asking for a gas can and a shovel, with a woman inside the suspect’s car.
Update:
In Aug. 2009 the trial of Michael King began, and on the second day former Sarasota County sheriff’s dispatcher Kathy Jackson took the stand to testify about the 911 call that Lee secretly made using King’s cellular phone. Jackson was just out of training when the incident occurred. She quit her job within days of the incident and moved back to her home state of Iowa to become a university dispatcher.
Also, the prosecution played the logging tape of the six-minute 911 call that Lee made. During the call she tried to give specifics about her location and other details, while Jackson questioned her. Download (pdf) the call transcript.
On Aug. 28, 2009 Michael King was found guilty on all charges. He will be sentenced later. Listen to the actual 911 call by watching a video of the trial that includes when the 911 logging tape was played. Read about Jackson’s testimony here.
The Herald-Tribune newspaper has a compilation of stories about the incident.
In Aug. 2009 the Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice commissioned a study of Florida’s 911 system, finding it underfunded and fragmented. Download (pdf) the report here. The foundation is a partner of the Denise Lee Foundation founded by Nathan Lee.
In Sept. 2009 Nathan Lee appeared on CNN’s “Larry King Live” to recount the incident and ask for dispatching reforms.
Also in Sept. 2009 a judge declined to release a full, unredacted copy of the Charlotte County sheriff’s internal investigation into the incident, based on a technicality. Large sections of the report were blacked out when released to Nathan Lee’s attorneys.
In Oct. 2009 Nathan Lee filed a lawsuit against the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office alleging negligence. The state limits liability to $200,000 without legislative approval. But Lee says he wants reforms, rather than money. Download (pdf) the lawsuit here.
In Dec. 2009 two Florida legislators have introduced bills to create a mandatory certification program. The bills expand the definition of a dispatcher, set up grandfathering criteria for current dispatchers, and establishes a 20-hour update training standard every two years. Download (pdf) a copy of the proposed legislation.
In Feb. 2010 Nathan Lee appeared before a Florida legislative panel to urge state-wide training. However, law enforcement and other groups say an unfunded mandate is simply not practical right now, as cities and counties struggle with their budgets. In his testimony, Lee linked his wife’s murder to “terrorism,” and suggested that had a training and certification program been in effect, his wife would not have been murdered. Read more here.
In March 2010 a Florida legislative committee passed a bill 8-5 that would restrict access to 911 call logging tapes. The bill now heads to the floor of the House. Interestingly, the bill is opposed by Lee’s family and husband, who say such a law would prevent public disclosure of errors or misconduct by dispatching personnel, or would conceal policy or procedural problems at comm centers.
On June 3, 2010 Gov. Christ signed legislation setting up state Health Department regulations on dispatcher training. Download (pdf) a copy of the bill here, and the state Department of Education dispatcher training curriculum here.
In August 2010 Nathan Lee asked for support to obtain a scholarship for the EntreLeadership program training. Visitors to the trainer’s Web site can vote to chose the four finalists for the scholarship.