Dateline: Unforgettable will chronicle Micki Kanesaki’s tragic murder case while she was on a cruise. The episode is titled “Open Water” and it will air on Oxygen this Wednesday, November 22, 2023, at 8 p.m. ET.
The official synopsis says, “A Mediterranean cruise meant to rekindle the love between a woman and her ex-husband leads to her disappearance; the investigation reveals secret recordings and an undercover hitman; Josh Mankiewicz reflects on the cold-blooded crime.”
In May 2006, Micki Kanesaki went on a cruise with her ex-husband, Lonnie Kocontes, but she strangely went missing. The duo was reportedly reconnecting at the time. Two days later, a research vessel crew found her body floating off the coast of Paola, Italy, in the Mediterranean Sea. A subsequent autopsy revealed that the 53-year-old died of strangulation.
Micki Kanesaki’s killer: Who murdered her and why?
According to Sportskeeda, Micki Kanesaki boarded the cruise ship with her ex-husband and former Irvine lawyer Lonnie Kocontes on May 21, 2006. She went missing in the early hours of May 26. Kocontes claimed they spent the night together before he took a sleeping pill and went to sleep. He even suggested that she might have fallen overboard.
U.S. Sun reported that as per NBC Los Angeles, a research vessel crew found Kanesaki’s body in the Mediterranean Sea near Italy on May 28. The 52-year-old’s cause of death was later declared to be strangulation. Moreover, the autopsy stated that her lungs “were completely free of water” and she had “severe hemorrhaging around her neck, consistent with strangulation.”
The outlet further reported that the ex-husband, Lonnie Kocontes, “strangled the victim before throwing her overboard.” This was confirmed by Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. He further mentioned that “there was no way for her lungs to fill up with water.” Hence, “the body floated instead of sinking, allowing it to be found.”
According to NBC Los Angeles, Kanesaki and Kocontes had divorced in 2002 but were disputing over the sale of their Ladera Ranch home. Senior Deputy District Attorney Susan Price alleged that before the murder, “Kocontes then had new wills drawn up for himself and Kanesaki.” He was the executor of the victim’s estate when she died.
In June 2020, the case against Kocontes resulted in his conviction “with a special-circumstance allegation of murder for financial gain.” That same year, in September, he received a life sentence in prison without the possibility of parole. The New York Post stated that he committed the crime to inherit up to $1 million, as per the Orange County DA Office.
