The detective's daughter

Dennis Murphy Correspondent • Profile

SARASOTA, FLA. - It was bad enough that it happened at all -- the horrible thing. But it was doubly shocking for a West Florida Community that no one was able to stop it.

On Jan. 17, 2008, a young mother named Denise Amber Lee was abducted from her home, driven down busy roads, winding through residential neighborhoods, in broad daylight, screaming for her life.

Operator: 911, what's the emergency?

People saw her for sure. 911 centers lit up, including one call from a driver giving play-by-play of a nightmare of a crime in realtime.

(911 call)

Kowalski: He's going slower than I am, which is not right. Something's going on.

And there was even one call from the victim herself, who was able to put out an alert as her kidnapper was at the wheel.

Call 911. That's what we're all trained to do isn't it?

Rick Goff: As far as I'm concerned, we blew it. And I say "we" because I'm part of that Sheriff's office.

Howie Grace: The tragedy of it is huge. The senselessness of it is huge.

Young Denise Amber Lee never wanted to be known as anything but a loving mom and devoted wife.

She was 21 years old, and truly a happily married woman.

She met her future husband, Nate Lee, in high school. He hung with the cool kids, the ball players. Denise was more the studious type -- a bookworm and math ace.

When she finally overcame her shyness senior year and was bold enough to ask out the guy who'd caught her interest, they both learned that opposites really did attract.

Nate Lee: One of the main things about Denise was she was pretty quiet. She just wasn't a very outgoing person. She actually talked to me first. And I always thought that was the most ironic thing ever. Because, you know, as quiet as she was, and people find out that she's the one that approached me.

Dennis Murphy, Dateline NBC: It's like being the girl that asked the guy to dance.

Nate Lee: Man, I should have just known right there, she's the one.

Three weeks after their first date, the couple marked Valentine's Day together with a pledge of what was to come.

Nate Lee: It was kind of awkward because, you know, we had we'd just met and Valentine's Day was already there. And we both didn't know what we should do and we were falling in love. Well, I ended up getting her just a little $40 ring with a heart on it.

Denise never took that ring off, and not long after, she got another one -- when Nate asked her to marry him.

Nate Lee: Just everything about her was perfect. And we hit it off right from the start. And we ended up starting a beautiful family.

Noah came along first.

Then Adam came a couple of years later.

Denise had her hands full raising children, so she put off getting her college degree.

Nate was juggling three jobs to make ends meet.

There was way more love in their young household than money.

Nate Lee: We were going through what most people would say is some tough times. You know, we had two little kids and we were young -- money wasn't necessarily on our side. But it didn't phase us. We were -- we knew we were gonna be fine, and we knew we were, you know, going to grow old together.

They'd rented a house in North Port, Fla., a bedroom community 40 miles south of Sarasota. It was close to both their parents, but in a mostly rural setting. That appealed to them.

Denise's father, Rick Goff, a police sergeant, wasn't entirely comfortable with the feel of the subdivision, which was a little like a new construction ghost town after the sizzling housing market had sputtered.

Dennis Murphy: Were you worried about the house bein out in the sticks?

Rick Goff: Yes. Soon as myself and her mother saw it, we go, "We're not real happy about this house out here." But it's brand new, three bedrooms, two bath house. Real cheap rent. And back then, I mean, that's what they could afford.

The quiet, partly-built community suited Nate and Denise just fine. It was a perfect safe haven, they thought, for their growing family.

At least until the afternoon of Thursday, Jan. 17.

That day started off routinely. It was drizzling outside as Nate left for his job as an electric meter-reader; Denise was home with the boys. They checked in with each other periodically on their cell phones.

Dennis Murphy: When do you think the last time was that you talked to her?

Nate Lee: It was 11:09. I have the phone records. And it was only about a five-minute conversation. We were just talking about, you know, what we normally talk about. I remember asking her that morning to "Make sure you open the windows, so we don't, you know, turn the air off; save some money." And she said she already had.

Nate didn't get a chance to call again until he got off work at three that afternoon. The phone rang but there was no answer.

It was unlike Denise to be out.

Nate Lee: It took me about 25 minutes to get home from there. And I ended up calling eight times in that 25 minutes.

Dennis Murphy: You're wondering?

Nate Lee: I didn't start getting nervous until I turned on our street.

As he was pulling into his driveway, he noticed rightaway the windows -- the ones Denise said she'd opened -- were now shut.

Inside, he found his sons, 6-month-old Adam and 2-year-old Noah, lying together in a crib. Denise was nowhere to be found.

Dennis Murphy: Had you ever known her to leave the children alone?

Nate Lee: No. No.

Dennis Murphy: So when do you start to freak?

Nate Lee: I started freaking about then. Then I looked at the windows, I noticed it was hot in the house. And I noticed the windows were pushed down but they weren't shut and latched. They were just like pushed down, like somebody pushed them down in a hurry.

And there were bad signs. Denise's cell phone and keys were lying on a chair. Wherever she'd gone, she'd left in a hurry. Nate called 911.

911 Call

Operator: North Port emergency.

Nate Lee: Uh yes, I'm at 7912 Latour Avenue. 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 everyplace.

That 911 call, made at 3:29 pm, would be the first of many made that day related to Denise's disappearance.

Nate Lee: They asked me, "Is her money missing?" This and that. And, "Any sign of forced entry?" And everything looked normal. The only thing that wasn't normal was the fact that Denise wasn't there.

The next obvious person to call was his father-in-law, Rick, who happened to be a 25-year-veteran of the sheriff's department in neighboring Charlotte County.

Rick, it turned out, had also been trying to get ahold of Denise that day. He'd left a message inviting them all over to dinner. When he saw Nate's cell phone number pop up, he figured it was the kids calling back.

Rick Goff: I go, "Hey, you guys want to come over and eat? That's the first thing I asked him as soon as he called. He goes, "I can't. Denise is missing."

Dennis Murphy: That's the first you're hearing this?

Rick Goff: And I go, "Nate you;ve got to explain what you mean by that." And he says, "I'm telling you. She's missing."

Rick knew firsthand how law enforcement tends to look at spouses reported suddenly missing: skeptically.

He was intent that late afternoon on convincing the North Port Police, who were running the investigation, that this missing person report was different -- and they needed to hit it immediately.

Rick Goff: I go, "Listen, if nothing else, I know my daughter. Can we, like, get my helicopter and my dogs out here," because it was a different jurisdiction. I already called my people, my chief and stuff. And they're all -- anything I need.

Dennis Murphy: What are you allowing yourself to think here, at this point?

Rick Goff: I knew something happened to her bad.

When police got to the Lee residence, they started knocking on doors and got their first big tip of the day from a neighbor.

Jennifer Eckert: I was by myself the whole time, so I kept thinking he could have stopped here.

Jennifer Eckert was staying with relatives in the house next to the Lees's. She told police she'd seen a white male sitting in a dark green Camaro,parked in Denise's driveway at around 2:30 p.m. -- just one hour before Nate had arrived home.

Jennifer Eckert: I came outside and he sat there I'd say for a good 15 minutes. So I went back inside, and then about 10 minutes later, he left.

By 5 p.m. -- an hour and a half after Denise was reported missing -- police had the description of a suspect and vehicle, and issued a regional 'BOLO' -- a 'be on the lookout' alert.

But it was the next lead in the case, a stomach churning 911 call, that would confirm their worst fears.

Rick Goff: We just wanted to verify that it was her voice. And made sure it was what we thought it was. And the first thing was her screaming.

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