STARK, Fla. (AP) — A man convicted of killing a woman who was carjacked by taking a break from lunch from work at the Miami Herald is scheduled to be executed Tuesday evening.
Due to the delay in moderation, Michael Tanji is due to receive a fatal injection at the Florida State Jail for acquiring and stranglehold of Janet Acosta in April 2000.
The victim, a production worker in the newspaper, was beaten, taken away, relegated to Florida keys, strangled, and her body was left to the island.
Tansy, 48, became the third inmate on Florida’s death row inmate executed this year, with another fatal injection scheduled for May 1 under a death warrant signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Court records show that the victim was off work in the newspaper on April 25, 2000. Records show that she was sitting in a van reading a book when Tanji approached her and began punching her face after asking for a cigarette.
“He is holding his wrist and threatening her with a razor blade,” court records show Tanji drives to Homestead south of Miami, where he stops at a gas station, ties up Acosta and spits out a monkey agged. He took $53 in cash from her along with her bank card.
They then proceeded to Tavernier, the town of Florida Keys. Tanji used Acosta’s bank card to steal money from his account, according to records. They stopped by the hardware store where Tanji bought the duct tape and a razor blade, and Tanji decided that he had to kill Acosta, they added.
“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, strangle her until she lapsed.”
Meanwhile, Acosta’s friends and colleagues reported that she went missing when she didn’t return from the break. It led the police to her van, and Tanji was heading towards Key West. Police said Tanji confessed the crime and showed investigators where he left Acosta’s body.
“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.”
Tanji was convicted of first-degree murder, carjacking, tricking and armed robbery. A Monroe County ju judge recommended a death sentence with a 12-0 vote for the murder of Acosta.
Tanzi has filed several appeals but has not been successful. The Florida Supreme Court recently rejected his argument that he should not be executed because he is “mobidly obese” and suffers from sciatica. The court held that his appeal was not timely as his terms have been known since 2009.
“In addition, this court considered and rejected a similar argument based on obesity and IV procedures,” the judge ruled.
Two other convicted murderers were executed this year in Florida. Edward James, 63, died 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 for killing her husband and wife on a remote farm in an attack witnessed by a married couple’s infant who survived the ordeal.
