Morbidly obese death row inmate’s final meal revealed as he’s executed after claiming to be too fat for lethal injection

A 380lb killer has been executed after his lawyers claimed he was too overweight for lethal injection. 

Michael Tanzi, branded a ‘fledgling serial killer,’ was put to death just after 6pm on Tuesday evening at Florida State Prison in Raiford after his lawyers tried to stave off his morbid end. 

Tanzi, who brutally kidnapped and murdered Janet Acosta, a Miami Herald employee, 24 years ago, indulged in his final meal request of pork chops, bacon, ice cream and a candy bar. 

In his final statement, Tanzi said, ‘I want to apologize to the family,’ before reciting a Bible verse. 

The lethal injection was administered to Tanzi, before he heaved for three minutes and then stopped. He was pronounced dead at 6.12pm. 

The victim’s sister, Julie Andrew, said upon witnessing Tanzi’s execution: ‘It’s done. Basically, justice for Janet happened. My heart felt lighter, and I can breathe again.’ 

Only last week did Tanzi’s lawyers ask the US Supreme Court to spare him from lethal injection and argued that the method would be incredibly painful for him due to his weight. 

They filed a brief on March 24 stating that he was ‘morbidly obese’ and suffers from a nerve condition called sciatica. 

His lawyers argued that due to his obesity, the state’s three-drug lethal injection could potentially cause Tanzi ‘serious illness and needless suffering’. 

The brief detailed that the drugs may not be able to fully sedate Tanzi and he would be left ‘paralyzed but aware’ with a ‘sensation of being burned from the inside’. 

However, the request was denied just hours before his execution. 

Acosta, 49, was on her lunch break in her car on April 25, 2000, when Tanzi approached her and asked for a cigarette before punching her repeatedly until he was able to take control of the car. 

Tanzi threatened her with a razorblade, saying he would ‘cut her from ear to ear’ if she made any noise, and drove her car for around am hour from Miami to Homestead. 

He sexually assaulted her, stole her money and credit cards, and then drove to an isolated area to kill her. 

‘He also knew he would get caught quickly if he released her alive,’ court records said. 

The Miami Herald reported that Tanzi claimed he ‘didn’t want to get caught’ because he ‘was having too much fun’.

Tanzi put duct tape on her mouth, strangled her, and left her body in a wooded area. He then drove to Key West and Acosta’s friends eventually reported her missing.

Police located him when they discovered he was driving Acosta’s car. 

When they approached him as he returned to the car, he said that he ‘knew what this was about’ and wanted to talk about ‘some bad thing he had done’, The Independent reported. 

He 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. 

Miami police detective Frank Casanovas told the Herald in 2003: ‘What we have here is a fledgling serial killer.’ 

Tanzi was sentenced to death three years later. He filed an appeal in 2005, but his death sentence was affirmed in 2007.

He still filed a motion for a rehearing which was denied. Despite multiple motions since, his death sentence has remained.

Tanzi also admitted to the killing of another woman, Caroline Holder, in Brockton, Massachusetts, a few months before he killed Acosta. 

At the time of Tanzi’s sentencing, Acosta’s sister told the Herald that her family weren’t ‘here for revenge’ but ‘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.’