Husband convicted of murdering wife on romantic cruise – Everything Law and Order Blog

In this episode of Crime Watch Daily Updates: Is there a better place to rekindle a broken relationship than the Mediterranean?

Micki Kanesaki and Lonnie Kocontes’ story began at a big law firm in Los Angeles where Lonnie worked as an attorney and Micki as a paralegal. Lonnie, already once divorced, fell in love, and married Micki. But the two split up years later amidst allegations that Lonnie wasn’t faithful.

Lonnie exchanged vows with another woman soon after their divorce, but then split up with her and went back to Micki. Despite their reconciliation, Micki and Lonnie’s relationship was hardly smooth sailing.

On May 21, 2006, Lonnie and Micki traveled to Spain for a cruise around the Mediterranean. Lonnie, unfortunately, had ulterior motives.

About five days after the voyage began, Lonnie claimed Micki went to the canteen, and never returned. He flew back to Los Angeles amid the investigation into his wife’s disappearance, and right into the arms of his third wife. Then, on May 28, 2006, researchers on a vessel off the coast of Italy found Micki’s body floating in the water.

The autopsy determined Micki was strangled to death and thrown into the water.

Federal officials charged Lonnie with Micki’s death, but a judge rejected the case, claiming there wasn’t enough evidence linking him to the crime.

Six years after the murder, Lonnie had married his fourth wife and moved to Florida. It was around then that his third wife changed her tune. She came forward and said Lonnie urged her to lie during the FBI investigation and that he planned for Micki to die on the cruise. He was arrested in 2013.

Lonnie was eventually charged with Micki’s death, and in June 2020, he was convicted of murder with the special circumstances of murder for financial gain. He was sentenced to life in prison in September 2020.

Let’s look back at the ruse of a romantic getaway orchestrated by a husband who only wanted his wife out of the picture.

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37 thoughts on “Husband convicted of murdering wife on romantic cruise”
  1. I was working onboard when this happened. My first cruise ship job and I remember all the crew were woken up in the early hours by the crew alarm to do a sweep of the whole ship looking for her and then in the morning we heard her husband was put in the jail on board and arrested when we arrived in port.

  2. How does that female attorney live with herself? She knows this guys guilty. You don’t just go on a cruise with somebody that you’re having relationship problems with right after signing a wheel and all of a sudden she just falls overboard after being strangled?
    So it’s obvious he did it from the beginning, but now they have all the additional evidence, including the fact that she was physically strangled without being robbed so it had to be somebody with a personal relationship.
    And then the wife actually turns a man and or still weaseling out of it?
    That poor woman didn’t deserve that. If the guy didn’t wanna be in a relationship with her, he should’ve left if he wanted money he should’ve gotten a job.

  3. Is the brother an idiot? Why would think Alaska is better than Mediterranean cruise? I just got back from one with the wife. Is that suspicious? Idiot. Of course, he says this all AFTER the fact. lol.

  4. Yes, never try to make up or reconcile with someone you break up with. Change your number, get a restraining order and only communicate with them through your lawyer. Get a large guard dog, buy a gun and keep it within reach at all times.
    Then get treatment for ridiculous paranoia about very rare situations seen on some sensationalist human horrors show and act like an adult instead of a coward afraid of life

  5. This show comes across like some neighbor calling for a video chat about local gossip. The home in the background makes her look too broke for studio time. It could be a better show with professional presentation

  6. I knew Lonnie , he grew up in Sidney Nebraska . My sister was married to his brother for a few years . And I even dated for a short time in my teen years . He moved to the Lincoln / OMAHA area and was arrested 2-3 times for dealing drugs . He spent time in prison in Nebraska. I don't understand how he could become an attorney . He and his brother were both intelligent. , but no scruples .

  7. I feel things like this would happen less in our society if our schools taught basic psychology and philosophy in high school instead all that obsession over triangles. Ask a recent high school grad what empathy means. I'll bet you 85% of them have no idea. Learning to how to give and receive empathy is the key to all healthy human relationships. This is way more important for a human being to learn than geometry. Very few of us are going into architecture and engineering.

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