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More than a dozen years after Lonnie Kocontes, a former California lawyer, strangled his ex-wife Micki Kanesaki on a cruise and dumped her body in the ocean off the Italian coast, he was convicted with a special-circumstance allegation of murder for financial gain in June 2020 after a months-long trial. Afterwards, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Kanesaki went missing while on a cruise with Kocontes in late May 2006. Her body was found two days later, and an autopsy revealed that she had been strangled to death while being dumped in the ocean. Prosecutors believed Kocontes planned his ex-wife's murder for financial gain because he was to inherit over $1 million from her bank accounts and the sale of a house they shared.
According to reports, Lonnie Kocontes is currently serving time at the RJ Donovan Correctional Facility in California.
This Sunday, May 14, an all-new NBC Dateline episode, titled Open Water, will revisit Micki Kanesaki's 2006 murder at 7 pm ET.
The synopsis states:
"A romantic Mediterranean cruise, intended to rekindle the love between Micki Kanesaki and her ex-husband, turns into a tragedy when she vanishes."
Former California attorney Lonnie Kocontes was given life in prison for his ex-wife's murder for financial gain
In June 2020, Lonnie Kocontes, 62, a former California attorney, was found guilty of murdering his ex-wife Micki Kanesaki in 2006 while on a Mediterranean cruise and throwing her body overboard, with a special-circumstance allegation of murder for financial gain. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in September.
The Orange County District Attorney's Office stated that he planned and executed the murder of his ex-wife, then 52-year-old Kanesaki, to be able to inherit up to $1 million and a ranch home property they shared and had been disputing over a few months before the incident.
The New York Post reported that, as per the prosecution's claims, Kocontes strangled the victim and dumped her body at sea either in the late night hours of May 25, 2006, or the early hours of the following morning. He later reported her missing and even suggested that she may have fallen overboard or killed herself. His ex-wife's body was found floating off the shore of Paola, Italy, on May 27.
An autopsy conducted later revealed that Kanesaki's lungs "were completely free of water" and that she had "severe hemorrhaging around her neck." These injuries were considered "consistent with strangulation."
According to the California Department of Corrections, Lonnie Kocontes is currently serving his sentence at the RJ Donovan Correctional Facility in California.
Prosecutors claimed Lonnie Kocontes murdered his ex-wife on cruise after specifically booking "a balcony room"
Reports state that Lonnie Kocontes and Micki Kanesaki divorced in 2002 after seven years of marriage. The former couple continued to live together for some time as they worked to split their assets. But Kocontes married another woman, Amy Nguyen, and moved in with his new wife in 2005.
After moving in with his new wife, Kocontes then filed a court motion to force Kanesaki to sell their Ladera Ranch home, but she refused. He then opted to move back in with Kanesaki, and the two reconnected while also having new wills drawn up, in which the former attorney was named as executor of his ex-wife's estate.
After that, he booked a Mediterranean cruise with Kanesaki, "specifically asked for a balcony room," and returned home to stay with Nguyen after the murder. Two years later, authorities began investigating Kocontes when he attempted to transfer $1 million between various bank accounts. He was only arrested in 2013 in connection with the murder.
NBC Los Angeles reported that Lonnie Kocontes was also charged with attempting to solicit the murder of another ex-wife, Amy Nguyen, while he was in jail. But prosecutors moved to dismiss the charges brought against him in the Nguyen case because he had already been handed a life sentence.
The case against Lonnie Kocontes is set to feature on NBC Dateline this Sunday at 7 pm ET.
