Ex-OC attorney accused of killing ex-wife testifies to waking up on a cruise ship to find her missing

A former Orange County attorney on trial for the alleged murder of an ex-wife on an Italian cruise ship testified on Friday to waking up to find the woman missing and denied attempting to have another former wife killed to prevent her from testifying against him.

Lonnie Kocontes said his last memory of Micki Kanesaki was her telling him she was leaving their cabin on the Island Escape on the night of May 25, 2006 to get some tea while he was falling into an Ambien-induced slumber.

“I remember saying ‘hurry back’ and that was the last I saw of her,” Kocontes said.

Prosecutors allege that Kocontes strangled Kanesaki, his second wife, and threw her body into the Mediterranean Sea. Kocontes denies killing Kanesaki, and during his testimony Friday instead recalled waking up early the next morning to find Kanesaki missing.

The previous day Kanesaki had been quieter than usual, Kocontes said, as the pair took a tour through Messina, Italy followed by a dinner on the cruise ship and a visit to a comedy show on the vessel. Both of them had a glass of wine at dinner and a second in their cabin, Kocontes said, but he didn’t know if Kanesaki took an Ambien.

Kocontes said he became increasingly concerned when employees on the cruise ship were unable to locate Kanesaki, and felt he wasn’t being given enough information about the search when it was taken over by Italian law enforcement and coast guard.

“I became immediately concerned when I woke up and she wasn’t there,” Kocontes said. “When they told me they had searched the entire boat and she wasn’t there I was concerned she went overboard.”

After spending a night in a hotel room provided by the cruise ship company, Kocontes said he decided to leave Italy, feeling he was not being provided with information from authorities. An officials from the American consulate had already told him that Kanesaki was likely dead, Kocontes testified.

“He said ‘sorry for your loss, there is no way she could be found alive due to the length of time she had been in the water,’” Kocontes said. “He said it would be a miracle if they found her.”

Nearly two days after her disappearance, the crew of an oceanography research vessel spotted Kanesaki’s body and pulled her out of the ocean. Prosecutors say an autopsy found that 52-year-old Kanesaki was dead before her body hit the water.

Earlier in his testimony, Kocontes described having a rocky relationship with Kanesaki, saying she was often-depressed, at-times suicidal and could become violent when she drank. After their break-up – and during Koconte’s subsequent marriage to and divorce from another woman – Kocontes and Kanesaki remained financially intertwined through a Ladera Ranch home, which he said she refused to sell.

“Was she violent with you the last night she saw you alive?” Assistant District Attorney Susan Price asked.

“No,” Kocontes replied.

Kocontes attorney, Denise Gragg, has contended that Kanesaki could have died in an accidental fall from the ship rather than from foul play.

“I don’t believe she was strangled,” Kocontes said during his testimony. “And of course she could not have strangled herself.”

Kocontes’ third wife, Amy Nguyen, testified earlier in the trial that Kocontes told her prior to the cruise that he was going to have a friend find someone to kill Kanesaki on the ship and provide him with an alibi. Nguyen said Kocontes later told her that he would “have to take matters into his own hands.”

Kocontes has denied ever threatening to kill Kanesaki or saying anything about “eliminating” his ex-wife. He also denied allegations by prosecutors that while awaiting trial he solicited two inmates to kill Nguyen in order to prevent her from testifying in the murder trial.

“I never said anything like that to either one of them,” Kocontes said.

Due to social distancing policies related to the coronavirus pandemic, only jurors, court staffers and direct participants in the trial were allowed in the courtroom, with Kocontes’ testimony live-streamed to provide public access. He is scheduled to continue testifying on Monday.