Man denies role in Pinellas slaying

Police investigating a St. Petersburg woman's slaying question a suspect in a South Florida murder case.

By LEANORA MINAI

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 5, 2000

A man suspected of killing two women was in the Tampa Bay area around the time St. Petersburg resident Elizabeth Swanson was beaten to death inside her dry cleaning business.

But in an interview Tuesday in Key West with St. Petersburg homicide detectives, accused killer Michael A. Tanzi of Massachusetts denied involvement in the Feb. 11 murder of Mrs. Swanson.

"He didn't confess to killing Mrs. Swanson, but we're not going to take his word for it," said Sgt. Mike Puetz, head of St. Petersburg's homicide squad.

Tanzi, 23, has not been charged in Mrs. Swanson's murder. Detectives are calling him an "investigative lead," not a suspect.

He was arrested last week in Key West and charged with the April 25 abduction and strangulation death of Miami resident Janet Acosta, 49. He led police to her body in woods off a remote road on Cudjoe Key.

During questioning, authorities said, Tanzi also told South Florida authorities he killed 36-year-old Caroline Holder in August while she worked alone in a laundry service in Brockton, Mass.

Tanzi, who is charged with first-degree murder in the Acosta killing, is being held in the Monroe County Detention Center on no bail. Massachusetts State Police are expected to issue an arrest warrant for Tanzi, charging him with Holder's murder.

A Key West resident who knew Mrs. Swanson read about Tanzi and similarities to the case and called St. Petersburg police.

"What piqued our interest is what Tanzi mentioned to other people about the Brockton incident where it was a woman working at a dry cleaners," said Puetz. "She was alone at the time. There was blunt force trauma used and robbery was the motive."

Mrs. Swanson, a wife and mother, was beaten about the head in daylight and found by a customer in Palms Cleaners and Laundromat in Coquina Key.

St. Petersburg detectives Mark Deasaro and Bob Schock must determine whether Tanzi is linked to Mrs. Swanson, 38.

"You don't want to let yourself get too excited about a single lead because chances are he might have had nothing to do with it," said Jim Myers, Mrs. Swanson's brother.

Detectives have been told Tanzi traveled to South Florida from New York City at the end of January with street musicians.

He attended Gasparilla events in Tampa on two occasions with acquaintances "for periods of three to four days at a time," Puetz said.

The Gasparilla parade was Feb. 5; Mrs. Swanson was killed Feb. 11; the Sant Yago Knight Parade and Family Festival was Feb. 19.

Deasaro and Schock will interview people Tanzi traveled with to the Tampa bay area, check hotel receipts, telephone calls and purchases.

"Where was he at, and what was he doing?" Puetz asked. "If his whereabouts can be accounted for at the time, he'll be eliminated."

If Tanzi does not have an alibi, St. Petersburg police may seek a court order to collect DNA evidence from Tanzi to compare to forensic evidence collected at the crime scene.

While police say Tanzi confessed to killing two women, Tanzi is saying he had nothing to do with Mrs. Swanson's death.

Dr. Randy Borum, a forensic psychologist at the University of South Florida in Tampa, said it is tough to determine whether Tanzi is telling the truth about the Swanson case.

Tanzi might not want to cooperate, Borum said.

"It may be fear," he said. "It may be wisdom he got from a public defender, or it may be that some investigators are better than others. Or, he may not have done it."

The two killings Tanzi confessed to, according to authorities, are similar in that the women were alone, and robbery might be the motive, said Monroe County sheriff's Detective John Shaw.

In August in Brockton, Holder was stabbed to death and beaten while she worked alone in a business that does laundry for elderly housing complexes. It does not have public laundry machines.

Last week in Miami, Acosta, a supervisor in the Miami Herald's layout department, went to lunch in a Miami park but never returned. Police said Tanzi carjacked Acosta and drove her to the Keys in her van.

Detectives traced four or five withdrawals on her ATM card to the Keys, located her van in Key West, and arrested Tanzi when he returned to the van on Duval Street.

"He has absolutely no remorse," said Shaw, the Monroe County sheriff's detective. "He doesn't even see he has done something wrong."

In St. Petersburg, detectives are confident that if Tanzi does not close the Swanson case, another lead will come up.

"We will suddenly hit the mother load and have something to work with," Puetz said.

-- Times researcher Kitty Bennett contributed to this report.

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