Toledo Blade

Denise Amber Lee was an anomaly. Married at 18, a mother at 19, a settled-in housewife at 20. At a time and in a place where many Florida females her age were into tattoos, drinking and spring breaks, Denise had invested in her husband, her children, her home. The pride of her father, Sergeant Rick Goff of the local sheriff's department, Denise was the daughter, wife and mother we all dream of: Thoughtful, intelligent, kind, caring. Then one afternoon in 2008 a 36-year-old stranger walked through Denise's door and everything ended. There was no warning, no hint, no clue; it was, very simply, a random act of evil. . . . Denise did everything right. She fought valiantly. She never once gave up. She did everything humanly possible to save herself. . . . But an ill wind was blowing over Toledo Blade that fateful day and a perfect storm of mistakes conspired against the young woman. What followed would shock a nation.