STARK, Fla. — A Florida man convicted of murdering a Miami Herald employee who was accused of the lunch break was executed Tuesday evening.
Michael Tanji was declared to have died at 6:12pm after three drug infusions at the Florida State Janitor after being strangled to death in April 2000 by South Florida paper production worker Janet Acosta. The victim was attacked with her van, beaten, stolen, relegated to Florida keys, and then strangled before her body was left on the island.
In his final statement, where his voice was barely heard, Tanji said, “I want to apologize to my family,” and then recited a poem from the Bible before the drugs began to flow.
Tansy’s breasts became heavy for about three minutes and then stopped. The corrections officer shook him with his shoulders and yelled his name twice to determine if he was still conscious. There was no response just before 48-year-old Tanji was declared dead.
He was a third party executed in Florida this year. Another fatal injection is scheduled for May 1 under a death warrant signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
After the execution, Acosta’s family expressed relief that the ordeal was finally over. “It’s over. Essentially, Janet’s justice happened,” her sister, Julie Andrew, witnessed the execution. “My heart feels light and I can breathe again.”
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Acosta’s nie Janet Vanderweir pointed out that it took almost 25 years to find the closure. “This is the culmination of over 20 years of work to get justice for Janet,” she said.
Court records show Acosta was on a break when he was attacked on April 25, 2000. She was reading books in her van as Tanji approached, asking for a cigarette, punching her in her face, putting her in a record state.
“I’m holding my wrist and threatening her with a razor blade,” Tanji drove to Homestead, south of Miami, where he tied up Acosta and monkeyed her. Prosecutors said he received $53 in cash from her along with her bank card.
They then headed to Tavernier, the town of Florida Keys. Records show that after using Acosta’s bank card to steal money from his account, Tansy stopped by the hardware store to buy duct tape and a razor blade.
“He drove into isolated areas of Cudjoe Key and began strangle her by telling her that she was trying to kill her,” according to a summary of the state’s Capital Committee. “He tried to keep her quiet, stopping to place duct tape over her mouth, nose and eyes, then strangled her.”
Acosta’s friends and colleagues reported that she went missing after she had not returned from the break. That led the police to her van and Tanji headed for Key West. Police said Tanji confessed the crime and showed investigators the distance from Acosta’s body in Cajokie, more than 140 miles southwest of Miami.
“If I let her go, I would have been caught sooner,” Tanji told the officers, according to records. “I didn’t want to catch you. I had too much fun… I told her, I said, “I can’t let you go. If I let you go, I’m going to get into a lot of trouble.”
Tansy was found guilty of first-degree murder, carjacking, tricking and armed robbery, and elicited a 12-0 juice recommendation on the death penalty.
All subsequent appeals of his actions failed, including a request for delayed execution that was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday afternoon. The Florida Supreme Court recently rejected his claim that he should not be executed because he was “mobidly obese” and had sciatica, increasing the risk of unconstitutional levels of pain.
Two other executions were carried out in Florida this year. Edward James, 63, received a fatal injection on March 20th after killing an 8-year-old girl and her grandmother on the night of heavy drinking and drug use. James Dennis Ford, 64, was executed on February 13 after killing the couple on a remote farm in an attack witnessed by an unharmed toddler.
In 2025, eight other US people were executed. Two were executed in South Carolina, and one each in Texas, Alabama, Arizona, Louisiana and Oklahoma. One of the South Carolina executions is to fire a squad, with another shooting squad being scheduled for Friday. Approximately 12 other executions are still scheduled nationwide.
The nonprofit death penalty information center said Florida’s fatal injections use sedatives, paralytics and heart-stopping drugs.
Kurt Anderson
