A Florida death row inmate branded a “fledgling serial killer” is set to be executed via lethal injection on Tuesday for the brutal murder of a newspaper employee 24 years ago.
Michael Tanzi, 48, was sentenced to death in 2003 for the slaying of Janet Acosta, a 49-year-old Miami Herald employee.
“What we have here is a fledgling serial killer,” Miami police Detective Frank Casanovas said at the time, according to the Herald.
Tanzi also confessed to killing Caroline Holder in Brockton, Massachusetts, a few months before Acosta’s murder. He never faced extradition or trial over that killing because of his death sentence in the Acosta case.
Acosta was spending her lunch break in her car at the Japanese Gardens in Miami on April 25, 2000, when Tanzi spotted her in the vehicle.
Tanzi approached her as she read a book and asked for a cigarette. He was stranded in Miami and needed a ride to Key West, about 159 miles away.
While she was distracted, he punched her in the face until he gained entry into the car. He drove away with Acosta, threatening her with a razor blade, court documents state. He later stopped at a gas station in Homestead, grabbing a rope and towel to bind and gag her.
He told Acosta if she made any noise, he would “cut her from ear to ear.” Also, while at the gas station, he forced her to perform oral sex and further threatened to kill her if she injured him.
Tanzi continued driving until they reached the Florida Keys. He stopped in Tavernier around 5.15pm to withdraw money from Acosta’s bank account. He had stolen $53 from her earlier to buy cigarettes and a soda at the gas station. To use her bank card, he threatened her again and obtained her PIN. Later, he stopped at a hardware store to buy duct tape and more razor blades.
An hour later, Tanzi decided he needed to get rid of Acosta because she was “getting in the way,” according to the filings.
“He also knew he would get caught quickly if he released her alive.”
Upon arriving at an isolated area in Cudjoe Key, Tanzi told Acosta he was going to kill her, and crosslaced a piece of rope and began strangling her. To stifle the noise, he stopped to place duct tape over her mouth, nose and eyes. He strangled her until she died and disposed of her body in an area where he thought she would go unnoticed, according to records.
In the coming days, Tanzi spent time in Key West, shopping, eating, smoking marijuana and visiting friends, all while using Acosta’s ATM card. He planned to access more of her money, sleep in a hotel, buy drugs and change the van’s appearance.
But on April 27, 2000, police saw him returning to the car, which had been placed under surveillance after Acosta’s friends and family reported her missing.
Police detained Tanzi and obtained receipts from his pocket showing ATM withdrawals and purchases with Acosta’s card. After police approached him, he said he “knew what this was about,” adding he wanted to talk “about some bad thing he had done.”
Tanzi told officers he had assaulted, robbed, abducted, sexually battered and killed Acosta, repeating his confession several times on audio and video. He showed police where he had disposed of her body and the duct tape he used in the murder.
The man was indicted for first-degree murder and charged with carjacking with a weapon, kidnapping to facilitate a felony with a weapon, armed robbery with a deadly weapon and two counts of sexual battery with a deadly weapon.
He initially pleaded not guilty but entered a guilty plea to first-degree murder, carjacking, kidnapping and the armed robbery counts shortly before trial. A jury unanimously recommended a death sentence, and the presiding judge agreed.
Tanzi is being held at the Florida State Prison in Raiford, where he’s scheduled to be executed at 6.00 pm on Tuesday.
In March, his attorneys filed a motion with the state Supreme Court to stay his execution, arguing he should not be put to death because they haven’t been able to obtain substantial documents in the case and their client suffers from sciatica, morbid obesity and uncontrolled hypertension, and gastroesophageal reflux disease.
His prison doctor determined that lying on his back for an extended period is very likely to result in severe pain due to his 380 lbs size. Tanzi is due to be executed via lethal injection. The method has been known to fail or take several hours if the drugs are not administered properly.
Dr Joel Zivot, an associate professor at Emory University’s Department of Anesthesiology and Surgery, determined that Tanzi would need to hold still while lying flat on his back during the execution.
“Any excess body movement risks dislodging the catheters,” he said. “To secure Mr Tanzi’s body from movement, an extremely high amount of forceful restraint will need ot be applied…Forceful restraint and a supine posture expose him to needless suffering, cruelty and pain.”
The court denied the motion earlier this month. Afterward, his attorneys filed a stay application with the US Supreme Court. In response to that motion, state attorneys argued Tanzi’s case did not provide a unique argument as to why a last-minute stay is warranted that would outweigh the state’s interest in enforcing the law.
Friends and family described Acosta as a bookworm who enjoyed traveling, hiking, and the outdoors, according to USA Today.
After Tanzi was sentenced to death, the woman’s sister, Julie Andrew, told the Herald her family “wanted to see justice done for my sister. And we wanted to make sure no one else had to go through what we went through.”
