Safety Harbor Man Indicted for Murder

A grand jury in California has returned an indictment of murder against a Safety Harbor man accused of strangling his ex-wife and throwing her body from a cruise ship.

The Orange County District Attorney alleges that 55-year-old Lonnie Kocontes tossed his ex-wife, Micki Kanesaki, overboard and later pilfered her personal savings.

NBC News reports that Kocontes faces an indictment that includes one felony count of murder for financial gain.

A California grand jury returned the indictment on Monday, after hearing evidence by the Orange County District Attorney.

The couple was divorced but had taken a vacation cruise together in 2006.

Kocontes is accused of first strangling Kanesaki. Investigators allege that he then threw her body overboard and reported her missing.

Kocontes later purchased a home in the Safety Harbor gated community of Cypress Hollow with his current wife, Katherine Kern, according to Pinellas County property records.

Kocontes' attorney is expected to argue at a June 26 hearing that the California courts do not have jurisdiction over the case, since the cruise was in Italian waters.