Under a death warrant signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, Michael Tanzi, 48, is slated for execution next month. Tanzi was convicted of the 2000 kidnapping and subsequent murder of Janet Acosta in Miami. The execution is scheduled for April 8 at Florida State Prison, as reported by NBC Miami.
In detail, court documents reveal that Acosta was sitting in her parked van when Tanzi assaulted her with a razor blade, he then bound and gagged her and began heading toward the Florida Keys in her van. At some point, Tanzi sexually assaulted Acosta, and used her bank card to withdraw funds from ATMs, before taking her to an isolated area on Cudjoe Key to strangle her, leaving her body behind. Following the murder, Tanzi drove to Key West to meet friends, unaware that Acosta's friends had reported her missing. Tanzi was soon apprehended after police identified Acosta's van, according to U.S. News & World Report.
The upcoming execution marks the third of its kind in Florida this year, preceding the execution of James Dennis Ford last Month, and following the scheduled execution on Thursday next week of Edward James, for crimes committed in Charlotte and Seminole counties respectively. Ford was executed for a double murder in 1997, while James is on death row for a separate horrendous act, including the rape and murder of a woman and her 8-year-old granddaughter back in 1993.
