Florida Man Executed for Killing Miami Herald Employee Janet Acosta

MIAMI, Fla. (AP) — Michael Tanzi, the man convicted of murdering Janet Acosta, a longtime employee of the Miami Herald, was executed by lethal injection Tuesday evening. The execution took place at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison in Raiford, following the signing of his death warrant by Governor Ron DeSantis last month.

Acosta, 49, had spent over 20 years at the Herald and was a supervisor in the newspaper’s makeup department. Described as a “calm presence” in a fast-paced newsroom, she was reading in her Plymouth Voyager at Watson Island on April 25, 2000, during her lunch break when Tanzi, 48, a drifter from Massachusetts, approached her vehicle.

According to investigators, Tanzi attacked Acosta by punching her and forcibly taking control of her van. After she failed to return from her break, friends and colleagues reported her missing, prompting a police investigation. It was later revealed that Tanzi drove the van south, tied her up, and used her bank card to withdraw cash before tragically strangling her.

Frank Zamora, a retired Key West detective who helped track down Tanzi, recounted how surveillance footage showed the suspect withdrawing money from an ATM after the crime. Police later found Acosta’s abandoned van near a busy tourist area in Key West.

Zamora stated, “Detectives started looking downtown. Tanzi shows up — we approach him.” Once confronted, Tanzi confessed to the crime and led investigators to the location where he disposed of Acosta’s body in the mangroves of Cudjoe Key.

“Here’s the area where he ended up dumping her body,” Zamora said, pointing to a secluded space off Blimp Road. “It’s been a long time.”

Tanzi was convicted of first-degree murder, carjacking, kidnapping, and armed robbery. He received a death sentence recommended by a jury in Key West. As the execution was about to occur, Zamora expressed a belief that justice was being served, stating, “He’s going to pay for what he did—killed this woman, tortured her—and now he’s going to pay the price.”

On April 8, 2025, the execution was officially carried out, marking Tanzi as the third individual executed in Florida this year. After receiving the lethal injection, Tanzi was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. He did offer a final statement in which he apologized to Acosta’s family.

During the investigation, it was revealed that after Tanzi had attacked Acosta, he drove to various locations, using her bank card at a gas station and withdrawing money from her account. At one point, he purchased duct tape and razor blades, which he intended to use against her.

Describing his confessions to officers, Tanzi admitted to his motivations for not allowing Acosta to go free. “If I had let her go, I was gonna get caught quicker,” he told authorities, according to court records.

Tanzi’s numerous appeals against his death sentence were unsuccessful, including a last-minute request for a stay of execution that was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Florida Supreme Court also dismissed his claim that his health conditions made his execution unconstitutional.

Florida’s usage of the three-drug cocktail for lethal injection consists of a sedative, a paralytic, and a heart-stopping drug. As he prepared for execution, prison officials reported that Tanzi woke up at 4:45 a.m. to a solitary spiritual adviser and requested a last meal that included a pork chop, bacon, ice cream, and a candy bar.