Mission Viejo attorney allegedly killed second ex-wife, tried to kill third

SANTA ANA, Calif. (KABC) -- A former Mission Viejo attorney awaiting trial for allegedly strangling his second ex-wife and tossing her overboard during a Mediterranean cruise allegedly tried to hire two inmates to kill his third ex-wife. His third ex-wife, identified only as Jane Doe, is a witness in his upcoming murder trial.

Lonnie Loren Kocontes, 57, allegedly strangled Micki Kanesaki for financial gain in 2006. He has now been charged with trying to have his third ex-wife killed.

Prosecutors accuse Kocontes of soliciting two inmates to try to get Jane Doe to sign a letter that he drafted. The letter allegedly stated that she lied to the Orange County grand jury in 2013.

"In reality what he wanted her to do was to say that he did not tell her that he wanted to kill his ex-wife prior to going on the cruise and that she was threatened by law enforcement to make that statement, and he was willing to pay her $2,000 in exchange for that statement to be written and signed," said prosecutor Susan Price.

Prosecutors say one of the inmates, through his attorney, reported the alleged crime to the Orange County District Attorney's Office. That investigation revealed what Kocontes was allegedly offering the two inmates.

"He was offering them a sum of money, a different sum of money for each, but several thousand dollars for the signing of the letter and a lot more than that if they were to make her disappear," Price said.

Kocontes now faces two counts of solicitation to commit murder and one count of solicitation to bribe a witness, on top of the murder for financial gain charge he already faces in the killing of his second ex-wife.

If convicted, Kocontes faces up to 11 years in prison on the new charges and a maximum of life in prison without parole on the murder charge. He's expected to appear in court on June 5.