Cousin saw King fight with Lee, report says

Denise Lee screamed "Call the cops!" as she wrestled to get away from Michael King outside his green Camaro just hours before she was killed.

But the person she was pleading to for help, King's cousin Harold Muxlow, did not do anything to intervene and later lied to a 911 operator and the police about what he saw, according to police records released Friday.

Despite that, legal experts say Muxlow was not required to call 911 and prosecutors do not intend to file charges against him. But one attorney said his lies to police might have violated a state law against misleading investigators during a missing person case.

"Time is of the essence in a case like that," defense attorney Ron Filipkowski said. "It prevented them from maybe rescuing her."

Muxlow did not respond to a request for comment Friday and his mother, who was at his house Friday, declined to comment.

"I don't know how he lives with himself," said Rick Goff, Lee's father and a 25-year veteran of the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office. "We think he could have done more."

King had come by Muxlow's home at about 6 p.m. on Jan. 17 -- about three hours before King was arrested in connection with Lee's murder.

King asked Muxlow for a shovel, gas can and flashlight, which he gave him.

But as King was getting back in his car Lee jumped out of the passenger side door and fought with King for about 30 seconds as Muxlow watched from his driveway, police records state.

When Muxlow asked King about the fight, "Mr. Muxlow said that Michael King told him not to worry about it, so he did nothing and let his cousin drive away," the reports state.

Muxlow eventually called 911 after calling his daughter, Sabrina Muxlow, and telling her about the event, driving to King's house and then to a nearby 7-Eleven to use the pay phone.

Harold Muxlow refused to identify himself to the dispatcher and told her he did not know the driver of the green Camaro.

"He said that he did not want to get involved and he did not want Michael King to know that he was the one that called the police on him," a report states.

Then Harold Muxlow lied to police at his house. When he was questioned again at the police station he failed a polygraph test about his story.

When confronted with the polygraph results, Muxlow started to cry and admitted that he had in fact seen King struggle with Lee.

Muxlow also called his daughter several times and yelled at her for calling 911 and "making me look bad," the report said. Sabrina Muxlow's biological mother told police that Harold Muxlow "was trying to get his daughter to lie for him."

Chief Assistant State Attorney Dennis Nales said he is prohibited from discussing details of Muxlow's involvement in the case.

"He is a witness in this case," Nales said. "And at this time, there aren't any other charges that are going to be filed in this case."

North Port police Detective Chris Morales, lead investigator in the Lee case, declined to speculate on whether any charges would be filed in the future.

"Our main focus right now is on the successful prosecution of Michael King," Morales said.

Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty against King, 36, on the murder charge, and have also filed kidnapping and sexual battery charges against him.

He is being held in the Sarasota County jail without bail.

Lee, 21, was reported missing from her North Port home the afternoon of Jan. 17.

Her body was found two days later in a shallow grave six miles from her home. She left behind a husband and two young boys.

A lab has matched King's DNA to DNA found on Lee's body, according to court documents filed by the prosecution.

Sarasota defense attorney and former assistant public defender Andrea Mogensen said prosecuting people who call 911 would discourage some people from calling, and police would rather have the crime partially reported than not reported at all.

"They don't want to have a chilling effect on people reporting," Mogensen said. "You don't have to be accurate, you don't have to be forthcoming. If you're a witness to something, you don't have to talk to the police at all."

There are laws against reporting a crime that did not happen, or giving the wrong name when you are under arrest, and people in certain professions are required to report crimes, such as teachers who suspect child abuse.

But Miami defense attorney and former prosecutor Mark Eiglarsh said there is no state statute that makes it a crime for a witness to withhold information.

"I have never seen it prosecuted in 16 years," Eiglarsh said.

And as far as prosecuting Harold Muxlow for providing King the shovel, gas can and flashlight, Muxlow has said King told him he needed the items because his lawn mower was stuck in a ditch. Muxlow provided them before he suspected anything was wrong.

"They have to show knowing participation," Mogensen said. "You can't be tricked into participation and then be found liable."

The records released Friday also detail how King initially told an investigator that he had been the victim of a kidnapping himself. King reportedly told investigators he was tied up and had a hood over his head.

King also told the story to an inmate who shared a cell with him, and offered the man his motorcycle and his house, reports state.

"He said 'My life is over' and that's why he gave me that stuff," Charles Boggs told investigators.

"He said 'live my life ... go live my life. Good luck.'"

Staff writer John Davis contributed to this report.