A 27-stone “fledgling serial killer” whose attorneys argued he was too obese for lethal injection has been executed.
Florida State Prison carried out the death warrant on Michael Tanzi, nearly 25 years after he kidnapped and murdered a Miami woman. For his final meal, he requested of pork chops, gravy, bacon, ice cream and a chocolate bar.
The 45-year-old was pronounced dead after the administration of a three-drug lethal injection. Tanzi had been on death row since 2002 for the brutal killing of Janet Acosta, a 49-year-old Miami Herald newspaper employee.
She was abducted during her lunch break in 2000, sexually assaulted, robbed, before being strangled. In the days leading up to his execution, Tanzi’s legal team made a final appeal to the US Supreme Court, claiming that his obesity and a related nerve condition, sciatica, would make the lethal injection inhumane.
They warned the drugs might not work properly due to his size, potentially leaving him “paralysed but aware” during the procedure and causing a burning sensation described as “being burned from the inside.” The appeal, filed March 24, was denied just hours before the execution.
Tanzi’s final statement included an apology to Acosta’s family. “I want to apologise to the family,” he said before reciting a Bible verse. Witnesses reported that following the injection, Tanzi heaved for approximately three minutes before becoming still.
He was officially declared dead shortly thereafter at 6.12pm on Tuesday.
For Acosta’s family, the execution marked the end of a decades-long wait for justice. “It’s done. Basically, justice for Janet happened,” her sister, Julie Andrew, said after witnessing the execution. “My heart felt lighter, and I can breathe again.”
Acosta’s murder occurred on April 25, 2000. Court records show that Tanzi approached her while she was sitting in her car during her lunch break, asking for a cigarette before violently attacking her.
After taking control of her vehicle, he held Acosta at razorpoint, threatening to “cut her from ear to ear” if she resisted. He drove her from Miami to Homestead, sexually assaulted her, stole her money and credit cards, and eventually killed her in a wooded area using duct tape and manual strangulation.
According to court documents, Tanzi admitted he planned to kill her from the outset, knowing he would be caught if he let her live. After the murder, he fled to Key West in Acosta’s car. Police tracked him down after linking him to the stolen vehicle.
Upon being confronted by officers, Tanzi confessed, saying he wanted to talk about “some bad thing he had done.” He was indicted on multiple charges including first-degree murder, armed robbery, carjacking, kidnapping, and sexual battery.
During his 2003 trial, Miami police detective Frank Casanovas described him as “a fledgling serial killer.”
Tanzi also confessed to the earlier murder of Caroline Holder in Brockton, Massachusetts, though he was never tried for that crime. He was sentenced to death in 2002.
His conviction and sentence were upheld in 2007, and his subsequent appeals and motions for rehearing were denied over the years.
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