In the winter of 2005, the life of a Memphis, Tennessee family was irrevocably altered, leading to the disappearance of 41-year-old Robert Lee King. He was last officially seen on December 5, 2005, but the circumstances surrounding his vanishing began to unfold just days earlier. What initially may have seemed like a missing person case quickly revealed itself to be a complex and tragic story of violence and escape, leaving a community in shock and a family searching for justice.
The search for King would evolve into a years-long manhunt, stretching far beyond the city limits of Memphis and drawing the attention of national law enforcement agencies.
The events that precipitated King's disappearance occurred in the pre-dawn hours of December 1, 2005. In a Memphis home, King’s girlfriend, Dorothy Smith, and her 20-year-old daughter, Diana, were subjected to a brutal attack. Awakened by a heated argument between her mother and King, Diana went to her mother's bedroom and witnessed a horrific scene. After witnessing the assault on her mother, Diana ran to call for help, but King pursued her. He broke through her locked bedroom door and attacked her, inflicting a severe cut on her neck before fleeing the residence. Tragically, when emergency personnel arrived, Dorothy Smith was pronounced dead at the scene. Her daughter, Diana, was transported to the hospital in critical condition but survived the vicious attack. From the hospital, she was able to positively identify Robert Lee King from a photo lineup as the man responsible for the violence that took her mother's life and nearly ended her own.
In the wake of the devastating attack, a massive search for Robert Lee King began. A warrant for his arrest on charges of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder was issued by the Shelby County Sheriff's Office on March 3, 2006. As the search intensified with no sign of King, the U.S. Marshals Service took up the case, eventually adding him to their "15 Most Wanted" fugitives list in May 2009 and offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading directly to his arrest. Over the years, the investigation has been relentless, with law enforcement pursuing leads across the country in states like Mississippi, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Alabama. To aid in the ongoing search, authorities released an age-progressed photograph showing what King might look like after years on the run. The case of Robert Lee King is a harrowing example of how a missing person report can mask a darker reality; it is the story of a violent fugitive who has managed to evade capture for more than a decade, leaving a family to cope with their profound loss while the quest for justice continues.Last Seen: Dec 5, 2005
