MIAMI – Nearly 25 years after Janet Acosta, a beloved Miami Herald employee, was kidnapped and killed, her convicted murderer, Michael Tanzi, is scheduled to be executed in less than a week.
Acosta, 49, was on a lunch break in April 2000, reading in her van in Miami, when authorities said Tanzi, 48, forced his way inside.
Investigators say he punched her, pushed her aside, and drove off, taking her south into the Florida Keys.
Along the way, they said he tied her up, withdrew money using her bank card, and ultimately strangled her.
Frank Zamora, a retired Key West detective and now an investigator with the Monroe County State Attorney’s Office, was one of the officers who tracked Tanzi down.
Detectives said they initially began their search in the heart of downtown Key West, where Tanzi was spotted on surveillance video withdrawing money from an ATM at a bank on Front Street.
“Detectives started looking downtown,” Zamora recalled when speaking to Local 10’s Janine Stanwood on Wednesday. “Tanzi shows up — we approach him.”
Acosta’s van was later spotted on Duval Street in Key West, abandoned in a bustling area filled with tourists and locals.
When officers confronted Tanzi, he quickly confessed. He then led investigators to Cudjoe Key, where they said he had taken Acosta’s life.
“He went up to her, punched her in the face, pushed her over — got in the car and took off,” Zamora said.
Investigators retraced the events leading to Acosta’s death, visiting the site where her body was dumped.
“Here’s the area where he ended up dumping her body,” Zamora said while looking at the location once more. “Somewhere right in here. It’s been a long time.”
Tanzi was convicted and sentenced to death for the crime.
Now, with his execution scheduled on Tuesday, Zamora believes justice is being served.
“He’s going to pay for what he did — killed this woman, tortured her — and now he’s going to pay the price.”