JUST IN: Michael Tanzi Executed + Last Meal and Words Death Row (US) 

On April 8th, 2025, Michael A. Tanzi was executed by lethal injection at Florida State Prison after spending more than 25 years on death row. In this video, we cover the details of his case, his final meal, and his last words before the sentence was carried out. Michael’s crime was brutal, but it was the way he carried it out that left people shaken.

 What started as a quiet lunch break turned into something far darker. And the full story is more disturbing than anyone expected. It was April 25th, 2000, a warm Tuesday afternoon in Miami. Janet Acasta, a 49-year-old administrative assistant, had parked her maroon van at the peaceful Japanese gardens during her lunch break.

 She wasn’t looking for trouble, just a quiet place to relax and read her book before heading back to work. But someone was watching her. Michael Tanzi, who was 27 at the time, was stranded in Miami, broke and desperate. He needed a ride back to Key West, and he needed money. And he was willing to do whatever it took to get both.

 As Janet sat in her van with the window rolled down, Michael walked up and asked her for a cigarette. It seemed like a harmless request, but he had no intention of walking away. The moment she turned to respond, he struck. A hard punch to the face stunned her, and before she could scream or fight back, he forced his way inside the van. Clutching a razor blade in one hand and Janet’s wrist in the other, Michael took control of the vehicle.

 He sped away from the parking lot, gripping her tightly to stop her from opening the door or jumping out. What started as an ordinary lunch break had now turned into a terrifying ride with a stranger who had nothing to lose. By the time they reached Homestead, things had taken a darker turn.

 Michael’s plan had changed and now Janet Acasta was no longer just a hostage. At a gas station, he grabbed some rope from the van and tied her up. He shoved a towel into her mouth to silence her cries, then leaned in close and whispered a chilling threat. If you kick or make a sound, I’ll cut you from ear to ear. With her restrained and terrified, he emptied her wallet, $53 in cash, just enough to buy a pack of cigarettes and a soda.

 But now he had decided that money wasn’t enough. In the parking lot, Michael forced Janet to perform oral holding the razor blade to her throat. When her loose teeth, damaged from his earlier punch, got in the way, he shoved her back in disgust. But he still wasn’t done. He kept driving south with Janet bound and gagged in the back of the van.

 By 5:15 p.m., they reached Tabernet, deep in the Florida Keys. Michael needed more money. Holding the razor to her once again, he demanded her ATM pin. Terrified, she gave it to him. He withdrew money, then made a stop at a hardware store, not to fix anything, but to buy duct tape and more razor blades.

 Whatever was coming next, it was clear he wasn’t planning to let her go. By the time they reached Sugarloaf Key, the sun had started to set. The sky faded orange, but inside that van, the mood had turned pitch black. Janet was a problem now, and Michael knew it. She’d seen his face. She could identify him.

 Letting her go wasn’t an option anymore. So, he made a choice. He turned off the main road and onto Blimp Road, a quiet, remote stretch of pavement in Kudjo Key, surrounded by thick trees and far from anyone who might hear a scream. Inside the van, Janet sat frozen. That’s when he told her she wasn’t going home. She barely had time to react before he wrapped a piece of rope around her neck and pulled.

 She fought back, gasping, clawing, desperate to breathe. But he didn’t let go. When her panicked breathing got too loud, he stopped just long enough to grab the duct tape. He covered her mouth, her nose, even her eyes. Then, with silence smothering the van, he pulled the rope tighter. Her body was shaking.

 Her chest heaved once, then again, and then nothing. He dragged her lifeless body into a wooded area nearby, hidden beneath brush and shadows. He left her there, thinking no one would ever find her. Then he got back in the van and drove straight to Key West like nothing had happened. He used her money to buy food, weed, and souvenirs.

 He laughed with friends, walked the streets, and acted like he didn’t just end a life. He planned to hit another ATM, get a hotel, and keep moving. But what he didn’t know was that police were already closing in. When Janet didn’t show up for work, her co-workers immediately knew something was wrong.

 They reported her missing and police wasted no time. Investigators began tracking her ATM withdrawals, and they quickly found her van parked and abandoned. But instead of towing it away, they set up surveillance and waited. And two days later, Michael walked right into their trap. Officers watched as he casually returned to the van, unaware that eyes were on him.

 When they stopped him, they found ATM receipts in his pocket, the same ones tied to Janet’s stolen card. And Michael, he didn’t even try to deny it. He didn’t run. He didn’t ask why. He just sighed and said, “I know what this is about.” Sitting in the back of a patrol car, he started talking. not just a vague admission.

 He confessed to everything. The kidnapping, the robbery, the assault, and the murder. And it wasn’t just a few words. He repeated his confession multiple times, both on audio and video, laying out each horrifying detail. Then, without hesitation, he led officers to Janet’s body, still hidden where he’d left her.

 Alongside it were the duct tape, the rope, and every piece of evidence he tried to hide. There were no lies left to tell, no excuses to make, and no way out. After his arrest, Michael Tanzi was indicted for one sec-deree murder, carjacking, kidnapping, and armed robbery. At first, he pled not guilty, but as the trial neared, he changed his mind.

 He stood before the court and admitted everything, pleading guilty to every charge. His defense attorneys did what they could to save him from the death penalty. They brought up his troubled past, his mental health struggles, his rough childhood, but none of it mattered. The jury saw the crime for what it was, cold, calculated, and beyond forgiveness.

 On February 19th, 2003, they returned a unanimous recommendation, death. The judge agreed, citing the overwhelming weight of the aggravating factors, the cruelty, the violence, the senselessness. In addition to the death sentence, Michael received consecutive life sentences for carjacking with a deadly weapon, kidnapping to facilitate a felony with a deadly weapon and armed robbery with a deadly weapon.

 Shortly after sentencing, however, Michael tried to take it back. On May 9th, 2003, he filed a written motion to withdraw his guilty plea, and an evidentiary hearing was held in November 2004. But in January 2005, the court denied his request. On death row, he filed appeal after appeal, arguing about his mental health, his past trauma, and his difficult childhood.

 But time after time, the courts rejected his claims. The evidence was overwhelming. The crime was brutal, and the sentence stood. Just days before the execution, Michael Tanzy’s lawyers made one last attempt to stop his execution. They argued that his body might not survive the process the way the state intended. His legal team claimed the sedation drug used in Florida’s lethal injection might not fully work.

 And if it didn’t, he could be paralyzed but still aware, trapped inside his own body while the drugs shut down his heart. Michael would likely suffer pulmonary edema, creating a sensation of suffocation and drowning. If sedated while on his back, he will suffer from reflux and aspiration of vomit. They argued this would be a violation of the eth amendment, which protects against cruel and unusual punishment.

 But in the end, the court wasn’t persuaded, and the execution moved forward. On April 8th, 2025, Michael Tanzi was strapped to a gurnie inside Florida State Prison. According to prison officials, he woke up at 4:45 a.m. and had one visitor, a spiritual adviser. For his last meal, Michael requested a pork chop, bacon, corn, ice cream, and a candy bar.

 When asked if he had any final words, Michael spoke in a barely audible voice. He said, “I want to apologize to the family.” And then recited a verse from the Bible before the drugs began flowing. Once the three drug protocol began, his chest rose and fell for about 3 minutes, then stopped. A corrections officer shook him by the shoulders and called his name twice to check for consciousness.

 He did not respond. After almost 25 years on death row, Michael A. Tanzi was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. He was 48 years old.