Miami, Florida - A 48-year-old man is to be executed by lethal injection in Florida on Tuesday for the 2000 murder of a newspaper employee who was abducted while on her lunch break.

Michael Tanzi is scheduled to be put to death at 6:00 PM ET at the Florida State Prison in Raiford for the murder of Janet Acosta (49).

Tanzi would be the third Death Row inmate to be executed in Florida this year and the 11th in the US.

Tanzi confessed to the murder of Acosta, an employee of the Miami Herald newspaper, and was sentenced to death in 2003.

Justice Mikal Mahdi to be executed by firing squad in South Carolina

He kidnapped Acosta while she was eating lunch in her van, forced her to withdraw money from ATM machines, and sexually assaulted her before strangling her and dumping her body.

He also confessed – but was never charged – with the murder of another woman, and a police detective described Tanzi to the Miami Herald as a "fledgling serial killer."

Tanzi's lawyers have tried to halt his execution, arguing that there could be problems with the lethal injection because he is "morbidly obese," but their appeals have been rejected.

His execution is one of two scheduled to be carried out in the US this week.

Mikal Mahdi (42) is to be executed by firing squad in South Carolina on Friday for the 2004 murder of an off-duty police officer.

Mahdi would be the second person executed by firing squad in South Carolina this year.