Husband Accused of Cruise Ship Murder Back in Court

A lawyer formerly of Mission Viejo is back in court today on an indictment for murdering his ex-wife for financial gain by strangling her to death and throwing her overboard while on a cruise in Italy.

A grand jury indicted Kocontes Friday.

He had been arrested in Florida in February at the request of the Orange County Sheriff's Department. In May, after deciding Orange County prosecutors lacked jurisdiction in the case, a judge ordered Kocontes to be freed.

But Deputy District Attorney Susan Price immediately filed a new case against the him, so Kocontes will remain jailed without bail. 

Lonnie Kocontes met paralegal Micki Kanesaki in the early 1990s, and the couple was married in 1995. Although they divorced in 2001, the couple lived together on and off in their Mission Viejo home.

The alleged victim wrote a letter to a co-worker complaining that Kocontes wanted to take her parents' retirement money from her. Here is that letter, as reprinted by law professor Colin Miller:

"After the past few weeks of arguing with LK [Kocontes], I have decided to cut-off his access to my parents' money. He even tries to control their money. You know they asked me to hold on to it and I can use it for safer investments. They know that the amount of money they have may not last for the rest of their lives, so they moved into that retirement place because they don't want to burden me-and asked me to hold/utilized the money for their and my benefit. I'll be dammed if I'm going to let LK tell me how I should invest/spend my parents' money. He tells me, we should invest it so we can have more money when we retire. Yeah right, you mean so he can have more money and access to my parents' money? ? ?!!!  

"I really understand why you and many others keep their money separate from their spouses. Money and infidelity = No. 1 reasons for marriage dissolution.  

"You know, I can't even buy any big ticket items because LK doesn't want to spend the money-and we can afford it and we would be paying cash. Spending the money doesn't affect our financial ability to save for our future, or meet our expenses in life. He just cant part with the because it would decrease the balance. I have to put up a big fights/arguments before I can buy anything for my house. The fighting takes all the fun out of my home projects...."

Here is a description of what prosecutors suspect happened:

On May 21, 2006, the defendant is accused of flying with Kanesaki to Spain and boarding a cruise. On May 25, 2006, the couple took a day-time excursion and toured the town of Messina, Italy. The couple returned to the ship and Kanesaki was last seen alive at approximately 11:00 p.m.

Late on the night of May 25, 2006, or early in the morning of May 26, 2006, Kocontes is accused of murdering Kanesaki by strangling her to death and throwing her body overboard into the ocean. He is later accused of reporting her missing. 

On the morning of May 27, 2006, Kocontes returned to California. Kanesaki's body was discovered floating off the coast of Paola, Italy, later that day on the afternoon of May 27, 2006. 

Kocontes is accused of financially benefiting from the victim's murder by being the beneficiary of several of their bank accounts and property and receiving the proceeds from the sale of their home.

In 2008, Kocontes is accused of attempting to move over $1 million between various bank accounts with his new wife, Katherine K. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), who had investigated the death of Kanesaki, began investigating the money transfers for possible illegal activity and the United States Attorney's Office (USAO) ultimately seized the money from Kocontes' bank accounts. A civil asset forfeiture case was subsequently filed in the US District Court for the Central District of California. 

In 2010, USAO discussed the potential criminal case with the Orange County District Attorney's Office (OCDA) for possible review. In 2012, the OCDA requested additional investigation on the case from the Orange County Sheriff's Department (OCSD), who discovered additional evidence related to the murder.

The OCDA filed the murder case against Kocontes Feb. 13, 2013. OCSD, US Marshals Florida Regional Fugitive Task Force, and Pinellas County Sheriff's Department investigators arrested the defendant in Safety Harbor, FL, on Feb. 15, 2013.

The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with additional information is encouraged to contact Supervising District Attorney 

Investigator Randy Litwin at (714) 347-8492 or OCSD Investigator Don Voght at (714) 647-7051.