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Chapter 1: What happened in the Denise Amber Lee abduction case?
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Chapter 2: How did Denise Amber Lee manage to call 911 during her abduction?
Welcome to 2020 The After Show. I'm Debra Roberts. And today we're going to continue a conversation about a story 2020 has been following for years. It has stayed with me since I began reporting on it in Florida. And now we've got a few new developments to share. A 21-year-old mom of two vanishes from her home in the middle of the day.
Denise Amber Lee's phone, her purse, her keys, all of that still inside her house. Her husband, who was at work at the time when his wife disappeared, comes home and finds every parent's nightmare, their two little boys left at home alone, And his wife, Denise, is gone.
Well, as you saw on our 2020 episode, I think what really struck so many of us is how quickly this mystery turned into something that was so much more urgent.
Chapter 3: What were the critical moments leading up to Denise's disappearance?
Just hours later, Denise finds a way to call 911 immediately. herself. Now, this is a woman who has been abducted. She's in a car with her abductor at the time, and she is doing everything she can to stay calm, to stay quiet, and to leave a trail. Let's listen to this heartbreaking moment when Denise is heard pleading to get back to her family.
Please let me go.
Somehow, the unimaginable still happens. That's the part in this story that is so hard to sit with. Two days later, police find Denise's body in nearby woods. Her family and her community, as you can imagine, completely devastated. Well, in my latest 2020 episode, we retraced those critical moments, the roads, the witnesses, the calls.
And now years later, I spoke with those little boys, Denise's boys, who are now grown up. Every milestone, there is something missing, and it was our mom.
I always write her name in the clay before every at-bat, just to know that she's there with me.
Some people have called your mom a hero, that she protected you too. I always say she sacrificed herself to make sure we were safe. Hearing the two talk about the milestones that their mom, Denise, missed, that is something that just sticks with me.
Well, today on this episode, we're going to continue our reporting with an update on where this case stands now, how Denise's family is coping after their final chapter in the fight for justice. And we're also going to share some extended moments from our time with Denise's husband and sons, moments you didn't see in the broadcast.
But first, I spoke with 2020 producers Denise Martinez-Ramundo and Jeff Schneider about working on this story together.
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Chapter 4: How did Denise's family cope with her tragic loss?
All three of us were so moved by the story, and I so enjoyed the conversation, and I hope you will too. Denise, good to see you. I think I'm going to start with you because you brought this story to me. It was something that you, I think, discovered. And, you know, obviously it had been a story that had happened in Florida. As a mom, you're a mom, I am too.
And oftentimes you and I have connected over these stories just because we're parents. And when it is something that involves a parent, it really kind of grabs us right away. And tell me about, for you, when you first heard about this story, a 21-year-old mom
um going missing and of course you know tragically turns out dead her name turns out to be denise just like my name we actually share the same birth year um and you know so you kind of hit close to home also like reaching out you know here is um you know sharing the same name and
What was really interesting is that as a mom, you know, she was taking leaving her two young sons behind six months and two years old. I have young children. So to know that she had to be taken away from them and in her mind to maybe try to protect themselves, take the harm away from them. She was a young stay-at-home mom, a very bright young woman, Denise Amber Lee.
One of the things that we really, I thought, brought home for viewers in this case was sort of 911 calls, how it all works, why that was so urgent. We have a series of 911 calls that really bring this kidnapping to life, that we are experiencing and listening to it unfolding in real time. So I think this is unlike any other story that we've seen that we kind of can see that progression.
And I think it was really important to bring that to the viewer. So the audio is obviously really shocking to hear. But obviously, you know, in order for that to bring home to bring it to life, I think definitely Jeff, you know, and with with the video really was able to, you know, capture that.
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Chapter 5: What impact did Denise's 911 call have on emergency response protocols?
And for folks who may not have seen the episode, and I'm telling you, you're going to want to go see the episode, but those of you who did, you'll remember that Denise Amber Lee placed a 911 call from her captor's car. She was actually taken from her home, and she very cleverly
was able to get his phone and to place a call to the police, just sort of not obviously signaling that she was calling the police, but giving enough information there. It's almost like something out of a TV show. And Jeff, what about you and your approach to this particular story? You knew the area.
yeah I mean and I'm also a dad so with two kids and I immediately when did when I read the story when I learned about the story I put myself in Nathan's shoes and her husband you know I just yeah her husband and I just really wanted to capture kind of what he was going through and what he was feeling and you know
these locations were all so very important like where their house was you know it was in the middle of nowhere it was back on a tucked in you know street where it felt safe you know and so that was really something that was important for me to try to get across with the with the visuals is just where everything took place, the relationship to each other and stuff like that.
And then, you know, also the strength of this family, how strong or, you know, Sue, the mom taking in the children in the middle of this nightmare, you know, like you mentioned, having to go. She had to go get formula because Denise was still breastfeeding. Yeah.
Yeah, there was something about that Tinder idea that she's still a breastfeeding mom and had to leave her children behind because she was kidnapped. And in the story, we learn a lot about the two of them, Denise and Nathan. They were very young when they got married. They had these children pretty quickly. And Nathan was a very devoted dad, working very hard.
And he comes home, and his wife's keys in her purse are there, but she's not to be found anywhere. He's the first person, actually, to call 911 in this story. So let's remind our listeners, and let's take a listen.
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Chapter 6: Who were the key figures involved in the investigation of Denise's case?
North Port Emergency. Yes, I'm at 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 every single place, and I don't know. How old are your kids, sir? My oldest is two, and my youngest is six months. You know what? I know. I don't know where mommy is. Her vehicle's in the driveway? Yes.
Does she have any medical conditions? No.
Her purse is here. I don't... Her cell phone is here.
I don't... I don't know. I don't know.
Okay, what is her name?
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Chapter 7: What updates are there on the legal proceedings against Denise's abductor?
Denise.
That call is just so chilling because you can hear the desperation. You can also hear the panic in his voice. Jeff, you talked about being a dad. And of course, Denise, you're a parent too. And I think for all of us, as we were going back and looking at this story, and I had an opportunity to meet her two now older sons. Her father's a police officer, and we'll talk about that, and her parents.
This was a hard one to report, Denise. And I mean, even your face now as we're watching and talking to you about it. I mean, this was a hard one, wasn't it? Yeah, definitely. I mean, in that 911 call, you hear even the son asking, where's mommy? You know, my little one is starting to talk, almost getting close to the two-year-old age.
And, you know, they realize and just hearing that the panic on his voice, the little young son asking for his mom, you know, it was hard, you know, to report on it. So we had covered the story back in 2008. But we didn't have her 911 call. And even though it's heartbreaking and, you know, heart stopping, but it really shows how brave she was.
And I think it was important for us to do this story, showing, making our viewers listen to that 911 call to show the impact that her case has had on the 911 system going forward. Yeah. And that became kind of a theme for us, Jeff, in this story.
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Chapter 8: How have Denise's sons honored her memory and legacy?
We're going to examine 911 calls and operators. And we went actually to a 911 office there to kind of find out how they work, because this case would eventually change a lot in Florida when it comes to 911 cases. We have to dig through a lot of video file reporting. And as Denise said, this is the first time we had actually had an opportunity to broadcast this particular 911 call.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Both me and Denise, you know, go through all the case files that we can get our hands on. You know, we try to get everything. We listen to everything. We make notes on it all, you know, and we're listening to everything and we're keeping all that in mind as we go out.
And I think that makes us, you know, better in the field so that we can really know what to, how to film certain things, you know, the locations and everything like that.
Yeah, especially when it's a case like this one that happened several years back, and then we try to see what we can do to bring something new to it, fresh eyes. Well, there's so much more to this story to report and to tell you all about how we put it all together. Denise Amber Lee and the case of the missing mom down in Florida. We're going to talk more about it in just a moment.
We're going to take a break, so don't go anywhere.
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One online predator unleashed hell on his targets.
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