This is a long one. The other night I was watching 20/20 and I was floored...not only by the story (which was bad enough) but by a point that they didn't even mention.
On January 17th, 2008, Nathan Lee tries calling his wife, Denise Amber Lee several times on his way home from work and is unable to reach her. As soon as he arrives home and walks through the door he sees his wife’s cell phone laying on a chair and her purse in the living room. Nathan then searches their home for his wife and two small children. He finds both children in a back bedroom but after searching the entire house he is unable to locate his wife. He makes the first call to be received by the Florida 911 dispatch that day, to report his wife missing. He also calls his father-in-law, who worked with the police department to help expedite the search.
A female neighbor alerts the police that she saw a green Camaro driving slowly up and down the street in front of the home and then around 2 pm it pulled into the driveway of the Lee home.
A few hours later a man named Michael King, pulls into his cousin, Harold Muxlow’s driveway and asks him to borrow a flashlight, a can of gas, and a shovel to fix a broken lawnmower stuck in a ditch. While they were speaking in the front yard, Muxlow sees a woman bound and screaming in the back seat of King’s car. At one point she was even able to jump free of car while screaming for help. King quickly grabbed the woman, shoved her back in the car, and jumped into the driver’s seat. King told his cousin “not to worry about it” and then drove away.
Just after 6 pm, another call is made to 911, this time by Denise Lee. She had managed to secretly grab her abductors cell phone and dial 911. She pretends to speak to her abductor while answering questions from the 911 dispatcher. The call lasts for about 6 minutes before it is disconnected.
A few minutes later, another call is made to 911 by Sabrina Muxlow, the daughter of King’s cousin. She tells them her father, Harold Muxlow called her to tell her that his cousin Michael King, had come over in a green Camaro to borrow a few items and there was a women tied up and screaming in the back seat. She even told the dispatcher that the woman had momentarily escaped from the vehicle and was screaming for help.
Police were dispatched to Michael King’s home and inside they found that it was empty except for what would later be referred to as a “Rape Room” because of the duct tape and other items found. However, they were unable to locate Michael King, the Camaro, or Denise Lee.
A few minutes after Sabrina Muxlow’s call, another call to 911 was made by Jane Kalwalski. She told the dispatcher that she was next to man at a stop light in a blue (instead of green) Camaro and what she believed was a child screaming in the back seat. The child was banging on the back windows trying to get out. Kalwaski told the dispatchers she was on Highway 41 and provided them with several cross streets. She even told the dispatchers which road the vehicle had turned on before she lost site of the car.
Six hours after the first report that Denise Lee was missing and about 3 hours after Kalwalski’s eye witness account of a “child” abduction” police pulled over Michael King in his green Camaro. Denis Lee was not found in the vehicle with him.
Several days later, Denise Lee’s body was found naked, shot, and buried in a shallow grave only about 5 miles from where Jane Kalwalski had last reported seeing her.
Before, I continue with what shocks me the most about this story; I want to say that Denise Lee was nothing less than a hero. She was a hero because she did everything right, she did everything she could save her own life, and in the end to help convict the man who took her life. She was a hero because she got a man away from her two small babies, she was a hero for surviving being viciously raped for hours, she was a hero for fighting back, she was a hero for placing the 911 call, and for doing everything she could to let anyone around her know she needed help. And in the end, she was a hero for leaving so many pieces of evidence behind to help capture and convict her killer.
For the women who did everything they could to help her that day, you are heroes too. You make me proud to be a woman.
The story covered how the 911 dispatch made fatal errors while handling her case. They did not send out an alert to police officers in the area so no one was looking for the car. There was a police officer that told Denise’s dad that the Camaro passed right by him but he was never informed they were looking for the car. If that isn’t bad enough…I couldn’t help but wonder was Jane Kalwalski the only driver on the road that day to see a woman (child) struggling and screaming in the back seat of a green Camaro?
NO…in a recent expose on 20/20 a few other citizens came forward to say that they had also seen a woman struggling in the back of a Camaro. The first was from a man who said that he saw the Camaro cross in front of him with a woman banging on the windows in the back seat of the car. Then another man driving down the highway also describes seeing an eerily similar situation with a vehicle in the lane next to him. However, both decide to turn away feeling that it was most likely a domestic situation and they did not want to get involved.
Has a point occurred to you as it has to me that all of the men in this story who saw a woman screaming and struggling to get help…Did nothing?
I was shocked. I still am. If you had asked me before that show…I would have thought most…not all, but most men would come to the aid of a women in trouble. Is there such a thing as “Crisis Situation Gender Bias?” Are you more likely to be saved by a man in a fire or car crash but by a women in a domestic violence or rape?
Do men turn the other way when they see a women in a violent situation with a man? Are men embarrassed when faced with these circumstances? I would really like to know the statistics. Should we tell women in these situations to seek out the help of other women? Could that be the key to saving your life?
I would love to hear your thoughts and stories on this subject. What should we tell women? How do we help each other to survive?
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