A man convicted of kidnapping a woman in Miami and strangling her to death will be executed next month, according to a death warrant signed by Governor Ron DeSantis on Monday.
Michael Tanzi, 48, is scheduled to be executed on April 8 at Florida State Prison.
According to court documents, Tanzi attacked Janet Acosta while she was sitting in her parked van in April 2000, threatening her with a razor blade.
Tanzi bound and gagged the woman and drove toward the Florida Keys in her van. Tanzi sexually assaulted Acosta at one point and used her bank card to withdraw money from machines.
Tanzi eventually drove to an isolated area of Cudjoe Key, where he strangled Acosta and abandoned her body, according to officials.
He then drove to Key West to see his friends. While Tanzi was traveling through the Keys, Acosta’s friends reported her missing. Tanzi was arrested after police recognized her and her van.
Tanzi’s execution would be the state’s third of the year. James Dennis Ford was executed in February for the 1997 murders of a couple in Charlotte County.
Edward James is scheduled to be executed on March 20 for murdering a woman and raping and killing her 8-year-old granddaughter in Seminole County in 1993.
