Michael Tanzi. Credit: Florida Department of CorrectionsMichael Tanzi, 48, was pronounced dead at 6:12PM on Tuesday evening after receiving a three-drug lethal injection at Florida State Prison in Raiford, per the Guardian.
Tanzi, who weighed 380 pounds at the time of his death, had spent over two decades on death row for the 2000 murder of Janet Acosta, a 49-year-old production worker at the newspaper.
Acosta was on her lunch break on April 25, 2000, when Tanzi approached her in a parking lot, asked for a cigarette, and launched a horrific attack that would end with her body dumped on a remote island in the Florida Keys.
Court records paint a disturbing picture of the crime. After luring Acosta into conversation, Tanzi attacked her in her van, punching her repeatedly.
He then drove her to Homestead, where he bound and gagged her, stole $53 and her bank card, and threatened to “cut her from ear to ear” with a razorblade if she made a sound. During the ordeal, Tanzi also sexually assaulted her.
He used her card to withdraw money in Tavernier, then stopped at a hardware store to buy duct tape and razor blades before driving to Cudjoe Key. There, he sealed her mouth shut and strangled her, leaving her body in a wooded area.
When Acosta failed to return from her lunch break, her co-workers reported her missing. Police eventually tracked Tanzi to Key West—where he had driven her van—and arrested him. He confessed and led investigators to her body.
“If I had let her go, I was gonna get caught quicker,” Tanzi told police. “I didn’t want to get caught. I was having too much fun … I told her, I says: ‘I can’t let you go. If I let you go, then I’m gonna be in a lot of trouble.’”
He was convicted of first-degree murder, carjacking, kidnapping, armed robbery, and two counts of sexual battery with a deadly weapon. A jury unanimously voted 12-0 for the death penalty.
“He’s remained compliant and in good spirits,” said Florida Department of Corrections spokesperson Ted Veerman.
Tanzi’s last meal included pork chops, bacon, corn, ice cream, and a candy bar, per Newsweek.
He woke at 4:45AM and was visited only by a spiritual adviser.
In his final moments, his voice barely audible, Tanzi apologized: “I want to apologize to the family,” before reciting a verse from the Bible.
After the drugs began flowing, Tanzi’s chest heaved for about three minutes. A corrections officer called his name loudly twice with no response. He was officially declared dead at 6:12PM
Tanzi’s execution came despite a last-ditch attempt by his lawyers to block it, arguing he was “morbidly obese” and suffered from sciatica, which they claimed could cause “serious illness and needless suffering” during lethal injection.
They warned Tanzi could be “paralyzed but aware” and experience “a sensation of being burned from the inside.” The U.S. Supreme Court denied the appeal just hours before the execution.
The non-profit Death Penalty Information Center states Florida uses a three-drug cocktail: a sedative, a paralytic, and a drug that stops the heart.
Tanzi is the third person executed in Florida this year, with another set for May 1 under a death warrant signed by Governor Ron DeSantis. Across the U.S., eight other executions have been carried out so far in 2025.
Acosta’s family, who had waited nearly 25 years for justice, witnessed Tanzi’s final moments.
“It’s done. Basically, justice for Janet happened,” said her sister, Julie Andrew. “My heart felt lighter and I can breathe again.”
Acosta’s niece, Janet Vanderwier, added: “This is the culmination of more than two decades of work to get justice for Janet.”
Tanzi filed multiple appeals over the years. In 2005, he appealed his sentence, which was affirmed in 2007. His most recent appeal, citing his weight and sciatica, was dismissed by the Florida Supreme Court as untimely—his condition had been known since 2009.
Adding to the disturbing legacy, Tanzi also admitted to killing another woman, Caroline Holder, in Brockton, Massachusetts, months before Acosta’s murder. Miami police detective Frank Casanovas once described him as “a fledgling serial killer.”
Following his sentencing, Acosta’s sister said the family sought justice, not revenge.
“We wanted to see justice done for my sister,” she told the Miami Herald. “And we wanted to make sure no one else had to go through what we went through.”
