Search for woman shifts

Investigators seeking the kidnapped North Port mother move north to Manatee County.

By Times Wires
Published January 19, 2008

The search for 21-year-old Denise Amber Lee moved north to Manatee County on Friday, though authorities did not know for sure that she was in that area.

A kidnapping suspect was taken into custody Thursday night. He has not revealed Lee's whereabouts, authorities said.

The effort, still classified as a search and rescue, expanded from North Port to Parrish, near the home of the suspect's parents. The Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported that police also found a sandal in the area that they believe could be from the missing woman.

Lee of 7912 Latour Ave. in North Port was reported missing about 3:30 p.m. Thursday when her husband returned home to find their 2-year-old and 6-month-old alone but unhurt.

Michael Lee King, 36, became the main suspect about three hours later, when a 911 call was traced to his cell phone. Lee was heard pleading for her release, law enforcement records say.

Florida Highway Patrol troopers found King, an unemployed plumber, driving on Interstate 75 in Sarasota later that night. Authorities found a woman's ring and a long blond hair in his 1994 green Camaro, according to the Herald-Tribune.

Troopers also found a shovel and a gas can in the car - things that King's cousin said he had lent him about 5:30 p.m. King said he needed them to get a stuck lawn mower out of a ditch, the Herald-Tribune reported.

A neighbor reported seeing the car in the woman's driveway about an hour before she was reported missing, according to the records.

King of 3493 Sardinia Ave. in North Port was arrested and taken to the Sarasota County Jail, but Friday he had not confessed or revealed where the woman might be.

Records suggest he has no criminal record in Florida. Nothing has led police to believe that Lee knew the suspect.

Lee, whose father is a lieutenant with the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office, is described as 5 feet 2, about 110 pounds, with sandy hair and blue eyes.

More than 100 law enforcement officials searched for Lee, including deputies from the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

Information from the Associated Press and Bay News 9 was used in this report.

[Last modified January 19, 2008, 00:01:07]