Once upon a time, Anita Lopez and Michael Keane had a lifetime of smooth sailing ahead of them.
“It was like love at first sight.”
“She thought that he was the guy. He was the one. And she wanted to be married and live her life with him.”
“He was lovable. He made her happy.”
But only three months later, their perfect world was capsized.
“Mayday!”
“Truth is stranger than fiction.”
“The detectives were just as shocked and surprised as anyone else.”
“You can’t do this. You’re going to sign your death sentence.”
“It was terrifying. It was really, really chilly.”
For this couple, the honeymoon was over.
In Broward County, Florida, Anita Lopez and Michael Keane celebrated their first night as husband and wife.
The 22-year-old aspiring model was head over heels for her 33-year-old successful businessman.
“Anita had this glow around her when she was around Michael. She had this smile from ear to ear. She finally found love in her life.”
“My new family.”
“A wedding day is a day of new beginning. It’s a day of hope. It’s a day of optimism. It’s a day of a fresh start onto a new life. I’m sure that Michael and Anita were feeling thrilled to begin their new life together and build a family.”
For Anita, it was the culmination of her American dream that began when her family moved to Miami from Cuba.
“Her parents had come here looking for this better life and she seemed to be living it. She was married to this good guy. He seemed to have plenty of money. They had a nice house. She was happy being a wife and she was looking forward to being a mom.”
Michael swept her right off her feet.
“Anita was the type of person that loved to dress up and go out dancing and have fun. And I think what she saw in Michael was a person that she could have fun with, that she could fall in love with and live the lifestyle that she didn’t have in Cuba.”
She was exactly the type of woman he had been searching for — gorgeous, with a drive to succeed in modeling.
“I think that he saw in my sister that she was a very beautiful woman that was going to do something with her life. My sister would do everything that she had to do to get ahead in her life. She was a go-getter.”
Michael was just as ambitious.
“At the time, he was in a sign business selling big neon signs and so forth for several companies.”
“Neon lights in South Beach.”
It was safe to say this couple could afford the good life.
“And these newlyweds have even more reason to celebrate. The bride is newly pregnant.”
“She was excited to be a new bride and also a mother.”
“Everything was going their way. They seemed to have the perfect life and they were crazy about each other. They’re floating on cloud nine.”
But just three months later, those dreams were slowly sinking.
From a dock in Broward County, Michael and his friend Vince Mabberry placed a frantic call to the Coast Guard.
“Mayday!”
“In the initial call, the report was essentially there is a lady overboard. She’s missing. We don’t know where she is. It could have happened anywhere from the intercoastal to miles out in the ocean. We’ve discovered that she’s missing and we need your help.”
“My wife is missing.”
Michael explained that he, Anita, and Vince had been out boating all day and into the night.
“They’d gone out about 15 miles offshore.”
“You having a fun drive?”
“Yeah.”
“They were just enjoying themselves, enjoying the day.”
“The water was like glass.”
“And just enjoying a great day.”
“All right, where we at, guys?”
“At some point during the boat trip, Anita didn’t feel too well.”
“I’m just going to go ahead down.”
“She went downstairs in the cabin cruiser and said she was going to take a rest.”
Michael and Vince continued talking on deck, but just hours later they returned to shore and discovered Anita was gone.
“They go back to shore and when they pull up at the dock, they go down into the cabin cruiser and Anita’s not there. She’s missing.”
“Anita, my wife Anita is missing. She’s not on the boat.”
They searched the entire boat, but she was nowhere to be found.
“Hurry. We are down at the marina. Please hurry.”
Could Anita have fallen overboard? And if so, where? They had covered at least 15 miles of ocean since the last time anyone had seen her.
“Very little chance of survival. If you are out in the ocean, miles and miles away, particularly at night, you probably never will be discovered.”
But no one was ready to give up hope just yet. The Coast Guard sprang into action as everyone prayed Anita was alive.
Anita Lopez, also known to loved ones as Anna, was born in Cuba to a loving family.
“There was always cooking. There was always Cuban food, Cuban coffee. That was the biggest thing. Had to have your coffee. And my mom and my sister would love to cook.”
But life in Cuba wasn’t easy, and Anita’s parents dreamed of something better for their children.
“They had been under a dictatorship and they wanted a new life, freedom.”
“America was thought of as the land of opportunities, better education, better life, freedom most of all, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, everything else.”
And so they came to the United States. They settled in Miami, Florida in 1971.
Anita blossomed in America.
“Oh, she wanted to model. She wanted to dance because she loved dancing and just create her family here and enjoy the American dream.”
With her talent and good looks, everyone knew she would go far.
“She would come into the room and she was a gorgeous person inside and out and all the heads would turn. It’s just something about her, like an aura around her the whole time. I don’t know what it is. I don’t know where it comes from, but she had it.”
While Anita did some local modeling, she supported her dream with an office job at a tractor company.
But a successful career wasn’t the only thing she hoped for.
“Oh my God. Are you engaged?”
“Oh my God!”
“Anita was a very big romantic. She was into the Romeo and Juliet kind of thing, love at first sight kind of thing.”
“She’s getting married.”
“Congratulations!”
“Her plan was to have a big family because we were a small family. So she wanted to have kids, just be a mom, have her family and watch her kids grow.”
In North Carolina, Michael Keane also knew he was going places. Even as a young boy, it was evident he would be a big success.
“He had a reputation for being an overachiever. He got good grades, played on the football team for high school, played the piano very, very well. He was an all-around good student, good performer.”
After college, Michael took a job selling commercial signs in Miami. With hard work and natural charm, he became a lucrative salesman.
“He had a nice life. He owned his own home. He had a boat. He had a nice car. He had a good business. He was known as a generous person to his friends and to anybody that he really interacted with.”
“I like that.”
“I like it. I love it. So, we have a deal.”
In 1980, Michael stopped by Anita’s workplace to close a business deal. When they met, sparks began to fly.
“She always turned heads when she walked into a room. Very beautiful.”
“But people said that she was also beautiful inside, that she was very trusting and a very caring, loving kind of person.”
“Being a businessman and having a business of his own, I think that was a big attraction. And he was charming.”
“So, do you think I could get your number? Maybe take you out to dinner sometime?”
“Okay.”
“Yeah?”
The attraction between them was undeniable.
“Michael could seriously be a good boyfriend. He was educated. He was affluent. He was the kind of guy that could make a girl swoon. This could be the start of the fairy tale romance Anita has always dreamed of.”
But now Anita might be lost at sea. Authorities questioned the men, hoping to find out exactly what happened.
“Did you hear a splash? Did you see anything?”
“She’s pregnant. I don’t know what happened to her.”
“Michael and Vince stated that she wasn’t feeling well, that she went into the cabin.”
“Could she have come back up and fallen overboard?”
If so, Anita could be somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean desperately clinging to life. It was a dire situation, and Coast Guard officials had to work fast to save Anita and her baby.
“I’m going to go lie down so you guys can…”
Pregnant newlywed Anita Keane vanished sometime during a night of sailing.
Now her husband Michael and their friend Vince Mabberry were working with the Coast Guard to find her.
“She’s pregnant. I don’t know what happened to her.”
“If your spouse, if someone you know is missing, you know you’re frantic. They want you to tap into satellite cameras, tell us what happened. Go out there and find this person.”
Officials assured Michael they would do everything they could to locate Anita.
It was assumed she went overboard, but if so, where? It could have happened at any point during their roughly 15-mile trip back to shore.
“The typical method for searching for bodies over a large area of water is to set up a matrix system of some sort based upon charting how the flow of the water goes, where the person was missing, and keep eliminating certain sections of that matrix until you either get a result or you don’t.”
“They used a helicopter, they used boats, they used whatever radar they had, and they made sure they had the most current and accurate weather reports. They know the currents, how the currents are moving. So they’ll do the mathematical equations as to the time, the distance.”
“They used whatever techniques they could use to try to determine where possibly this could have occurred. They quartered off the areas and did the best they could for hours to locate her.”
It was a desperate situation made worse by the fact that Anita was four months pregnant.
“The Coast Guard and the police did not give up on it, but there were very few leads and it’s really like looking for a needle in a haystack. It’s going to be very hard to track them down.”
As the Coast Guard continued their search, all Michael could do was wait for news on his missing bride.
It was hard to believe just over a year earlier, he and Anita had been falling madly in love.
“How are you?”
“You look beautiful.”
“Thank you.”
“Strawberry margarita.”
“He was very attentive to her. He introduced her to his friends. They hung out. It seemed like a good life.”
“The decade was the 80s. A lot happening in South Florida. The dancing, the dinner, the drinking, the partying lifestyle. He embraced that and brought her along for the ride.”
Michael was everything Anita had ever dreamed of.
“He was a hardworking guy. He was lovable. He made her happy. He bought her gifts, was helpful around the house. Normal little details that women see when they’re in love.”
“Michael was Anita’s Prince Charming from the beginning. He wined her, he dined her, he took her on beautiful romantic nights. This was the prince she’d always been waiting for so that she could complete her fairy tale.”
And he had always wanted to find a woman who shared his love of the good life and his determination to succeed.
“Ambitious people attract ambitious people. Their goals are the same. Anita and Michael both wanted a nice lifestyle. That meant material things, a beautiful house, nice cars, and so they united in a way over these shared values.”
It seemed Michael and Anita had found their perfect match.
“They were really in love. They spent a lot of time together. They spent a lot of time with friends. They both seemed to enjoy the same things.”
Soon, Anita moved in with Michael and his best friend, Vince. Their gorgeous home became the setting for family gatherings.
“It was always a fun time when I was with Michael and Anita. I thought my sister was a little lucky with Michael because that’s what she wanted. It was happiness. So she finally found the happiness that she wanted.”
“Most young women enter a cohabitation relationship because they believe it is a stepping stone towards marriage. It’s a step towards the kind of union that they want for the future. So I’m sure it felt great for Anita. It’s all coming together for this happy couple.”
But now those loving times were a distant memory. As the Coast Guard continued to search for the pregnant newlywed, everyone who knew her was deeply affected.
“People were very concerned. She was this beautiful young woman. People were worried. People wondered what had happened to her.”
“When a tragedy is happening in a community, there is a positive byproduct in that neighbors come out of their houses, they bond over a common loss really. It brings a big sense of community even though they are bonded through tragedy.”
“We didn’t really have any means or way of going out there and we knew that the authorities were doing the best possible for the search. The only thing we could do was pray. Pray that everything would be okay.”
“The family kept their hopes alive for a while, but really within a matter of hours, you start to really worry that the person has not made it.”
Hours turned into days, but authorities kept searching.
“If you’re floating and you’re not expending too much energy, the water is not that cold in South Florida in this area. You could survive for a day or two, and it’s been known to happen.”
Could she still be in the Atlantic Ocean clinging to life? Or was her fate much worse?
Days into the search for missing bride Anita Keane, the Coast Guard was no closer to finding her.
“She’s not down there.”
But her husband Michael had reason to keep hope alive.
“Michael said she had superior swimming skills and that she knew how to float on the water, which was one of the reasons why they were out there so long because she was a survivor and she knew how to survive.”
“Here you go. These will help find her.”
But sadly, after four days, the search ended.
“Excuse me. Can I have everyone’s attention? Unfortunately, I just found out they will be calling off the search for Anita.”
“No.”
“Finally, they gave up. The Coast Guard, the sheriff department, they gave up because they couldn’t find a body.”
“They figure out the likelihood of the person surviving has gotten to the point where you can’t really justify the manpower anymore.”
“The Coast Guard obviously exhausted their means. They exhausted what they had to do. They say, ‘Okay, it goes back to the sheriff’s office to continue the investigation. Call us if you uncover any additional information.’”
“No, no, no.”
Anita and her unborn baby were gone.
“Michael was grief-stricken. He was crying. He seemed to be a little bit withdrawn. The things that you would expect for a person who had just lost his wife and child.”
“My mom broke. She broke. She couldn’t handle it. From that moment on, my mother just died. Completely, physically died. She didn’t want to do anything.”
With the water search called off, deputies turned their attention to the last place anyone saw Anita — the couple’s boat.
“Well, the very first thing is they’re going to do an inspection of the boat. They’re going to go on the boat. They’re going to look in the boat. They’re going to see if there’s any possible way someone could fall out of that boat. Is there a hole in the side of the boat? You think of anything and everything.”
There were no physical signs of a struggle. There was no damage to the boat.
“It was a mystery.”
“The stern of the boat is fairly wide open and the side railing is low. There are plenty of places where a person could fall or jump off without the people on the bridge noticing.”
Detectives also had to consider that this might not have been an accident. They questioned the family about Michael and Anita’s relationship.
“My family didn’t think that Michael would do anything harmful. He was such a charming person. You can never ever think in a million years that anything would happen like that.”
Investigators continued digging into Anita’s background, hoping to find answers.
Just over a year earlier, Michael and Anita’s love had been on display for all to see.
“There was a lot of physical touching, a lot of public displays of affection. This is one way that our bodies start to release dopamine in our brain and we start to get that lover’s high. And they were doing it to the hilt.”
“It’s always good to see your siblings are happy. To us, it was like, wow. Anita didn’t have many boyfriends. When we saw her serious and obviously happy, we thought, ‘We’re happy for you that you finally found your mate and your plans are going to come true.’”
And after only a few months, Michael was ready to take their relationship to the next level.
“Michael had to come and ask for Anita’s hand, which is the right thing to do in a Hispanic family.”
“My daughter has helped me decorate. She’s done a great job.”
“If anybody is going to get engaged with a girl in the family, they have to come and ask for their hand.”
“Anita, I’d actually like you to translate something to your father for me.”
“Mr. Lopez, I would like to ask for permission for your daughter’s hand in marriage.”
“Anita had to translate that to my father because my father didn’t speak English.”
“And my father agreed.”
“She was very ecstatic about it.”
“Will you marry me?”
“Yes.”
“This was a dream come true for Anita. She meets a man who was not only suave and charming, he was educated and had money and now he was proposing to her. It’s like a dream come true.”
But now that happiness had been washed away. The once vibrant bride was presumed dead, her body lost at sea.
“We knew she was dead, but we didn’t want to admit it. That was mostly the whole thing in the family. We didn’t want to admit it.”
Instead, they decided to honor her life.
“My mom, my dad, and some friends decided to do a little memorial.”
The family asked all attendees to wear white.
“White is for peace. It’s a symbol, the white dove. You have a white dove, you release it, and peace will come to you.”
At the station, detectives tried to piece together exactly how Anita was lost so tragically.
They questioned Michael’s friend Vince, hoping he would remember something about that fateful night on the boat.
“Vince was the type of person that was very quiet, didn’t say much.”
“He was always around Michael. It was Michael’s good friend.”
“We didn’t always see eye to eye.”
Investigators learned that Anita and Vince had a strained relationship.
“That’s definitely not something that I knew about.”
“Anita, although she was happy with the marriage, she was not happy with the living arrangements having a third wheel in the house. That being Vince.”
“It was a little bit of an odd arrangement. It was a little kind of Three’s Company or something like that.”
She loved her husband’s generosity, but felt Vince was taking advantage.
“Michael was always taking care of Vince. Bought him a new car, gave him a place to stay, lent him money. Michael was always around Vince. They were like two peas in a pod. So wherever Michael went, Vince went.”
Anita made it clear she was unhappy with the situation. But that didn’t mean Vince had anything to do with her disappearance.
Or did it?
“There were three people who went out on that boat as far as anybody knew, and two of them came back. And the two people who came back were pretty much telling the same story. But who knew if they were telling the truth?”
Investigators looking into the possible drowning of Anita Keane wondered if Michael’s best friend Vince Mabberry had anything to do with it. But the two men’s stories matched, leaving deputies with little to go on.
Three years passed with no new leads. Anita’s family remained in a constant state of anguish.
“My family went apart. We all did go apart. My father lost a lot of weight. My mother got ill, got sick, she had a stroke because of that. It had been a very difficult time that they didn’t find the body and because of that my mom was tormented by that.”
But finally, a break in the case.
“We got a phone call from an insurance investigator stating that their home office in Orlando had received information from a person involved in the disappearance of Anita Keane.”
“I have pertinent information regarding…”
“…who stated that the case was not a missing person’s but in fact a murder and they would share their information for $50,000.”
“I’m willing to go to the police with this and I’m not saying anything else until I get my money.”
“He simply said that he had information that could prove that this was a homicide or murder.”
“First, we were excited that, hey, we may have an opportunity to solve this case.”
Who was this caller and what did he know? Investigators wanted answers about what happened that terrible night on the water.
Three years earlier, Anita wasted no time planning the happy couple’s upcoming wedding.
“Anita wanted a big wedding. She was into fashion and always liked throwing big parties.”
“Hi.”
“And I know Anita wanted a big Cuban wedding. It was kind of her style.”
“I’m looking at some centerpieces for a wedding. Sit down. Sit down. Look. I found these beautiful centerpieces that I just absolutely love.”
But Michael had other plans.
“You know, I love you. I do not want to disappoint you.”
“Michael disagreed. He wanted a smaller wedding.”
“And he had compromised because she was in love with Michael.”
“And you can pick out anything you want.”
“Anything?”
“Anything.”
“She really got something very condensed. It was something a little strange that she didn’t have the big wedding that she wanted.”
“I’m sure Anita thought maybe an intimate wedding might be better. It might have no meaning. I’m sure she settled in just fine with the decision.”
In August of 1981, Anita and Michael exchanged vows in an intimate ceremony.
“I, Michael, take you, Anita, to be my lawfully wedded wife.”
“Well, Anita and Michael, they went to a notary.”
“And they had their little ceremony.”
“Husband and wife.”
Afterward, they threw a small celebration.
“He was very charismatic. He was very friendly with everybody, smiling, having a good time.”
“Anna usually has this glow about her and that’s exactly what she had the day of her wedding.”
Shortly after the wedding, the newlyweds shared their big news.
“She gave me a hug and says, ‘You’re going to be an uncle.’”
“And I’m, ‘Oh, I’m so happy for you. Beautiful. Beautiful.’”
“Rubbed her belly. She didn’t have much, but she was thrilled about the idea that she was going to become a mother pretty soon.”
“She always inspired to be a good mother, to have several kids.”
“And be the mother that my mother was to her.”
Anita couldn’t wait to begin preparing their house for the baby.
But there was one thing she wanted changed first.
“Michael, we had reservations. Did you forget?”
“Hey, I don’t remember the reservations.”
“What? Are you drunk?”
“We had reservations at 7:30. Guys’ night. We’re going out.”
“She was not all that fond of having Vince living with them. She was looking forward to having a child and them growing as a family.”
“So at some point they asked the friend to move out of the house.”
But as soon as Vince left, Michael began to change.
“Hey, baby.”
“I need to pick up some more things for the baby.”
“She needed baby clothes and bottles and all sorts of things for the baby.”
“Well, I only need a couple more things.”
“I’m not going to say no again.”
“She would go to Michael and Michael wouldn’t give her any money for the baby.”
It seemed Michael didn’t want to spend a dime.
But when it came to a new life insurance policy, his wallet was wide open.
“Too low. I think we need to go with the higher plan.”
“I think it’s best for the baby, don’t you?”
“My mom and I went to visit my sister Anna.”
“My mom asked Anna, ‘What are you doing?’”
“And Anna said, ‘Well, mom, it’s an insurance policy for me and the baby.’”
“For what?”
“My mom looked at Anna and says, ‘You can’t do this. You’re going to sign your death sentence.’”
“And Anna’s like, ‘Oh no. Don’t worry about it. Michael loves me. He loves me and the baby. This is only protection.’”
“Anita was in love. And Anita thought that her husband was taking good care of her, that he was making sure that everything would be okay for their lives if something terrible befell one of them.”
“The highest option is the best option.”
And that terrible something happened just months later.
Now authorities needed more information from the mysterious caller who claimed Anita’s death was a homicide. It turned out he was a relative of Michael’s.
“Matthew Keane.”
“Trust me, it’s what happened.”
But Matthew wasn’t saying anything else until he got his money.
“I abruptly said, ‘Look, I have nothing to do with the money, but we’re not going to get anywhere unless you give me something that’s worthy.’”
So he began to talk, and what he had to say was terrifying.
“He planned to have her killed. He planned this entire scheme.”
It had been three long years since Anita Keane’s disappearance.
“He’s always had this plan.”
Now her in-law Matthew Keane claimed she was murdered.
“Michael planned to have Anita killed.”
“He told me that Anita’s death was not an accident, that it was a planned murder, that it was designed by Michael.”
“This opened up the door but didn’t get me inside. We knew we had to peel the layers of the onion.”
So investigators re-interviewed Michael’s friend Vince Mabberry. He was the only other person on board the night Anita went missing.
“I told him that we reopened the Anita Lopez Keane investigation.”
“The color left his face and I could tell from the facial expressions they were more or less lines of, ‘Oh God.’”
“Without any compulsions whatsoever, he admitted and broke down and became emotional that he participated in a homicide.”
Vince said Michael came up with a plan to kill Anita and ordered Vince to help.
“The original plan was to push her off a building. They scoped out some buildings, but there was nothing tall enough that they could actually access where that would happen.”
“They scrapped that idea and this plan was the one that was concocted, and that was to push her overboard at sea and have her drown.”
But why would Vince go along with such an evil plan?
“Michael threatened him. He was afraid of Michael.”
“Michael had threatened Vince that Michael was going to kill his grandparents.”
And Michael had other leverage against his friend.
“Vince was indebted to Michael. His debt was owing Michael money and the money came from living arrangements, loans and so forth that Michael had given him over the years.”
“Vince was the perennial sidekick.”
As a result of his cooperation, authorities decided not to prosecute Vince in Anita’s death.
Detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Michael Keane, charging him with first-degree murder. They found him in another city in a familiar living arrangement.
“We have Michael Keane living under a different name with an engaged woman and a third wheel living in the house. The same setup as he had with Vince and Anita.”
“And insurance was again discussed. Life insurance was again discussed with the new fiancée.”
Three and a half years after Anita’s death, Michael went on trial for her murder. Matthew and Vince both took the stand against him. They said he plotted Anita’s death before he even knew her.
“Michael had a plan. He wanted to retire by the age of 40.”
“And the way he wanted to achieve that was he was going to meet a young naive girl, court her…”
“Will you marry me?”
“Yes.”
“…marry her, buy life insurance on her, and then she was going to meet with an accident.”
“He would cash in and he would be able to invest the proceeds and retire and live well for the rest of his life.”
And how much was that insurance policy he thought would make him set for life? A measly $200,000.
“Well, I only need a few more things.”
“Maybe that’s why Michael didn’t want to spend money on a big wedding or a new baby.”
“Here’s this poor young woman who set her sights and her dreams on this guy not knowing that she’s just a piece of a puzzle and everything from the day he said, ‘Hey, do you want to go out?’ to the last breath she ever took was a complete lie.”
Prosecutors laid out what they believed happened on her last night.
“Michael came up behind Anita, pushed her into the water, and then moved the boat away from her and would not go to help her. Would not give her any kind of assistance at all.”
“Just circle around, circle around, watching her in the water.”
Anita spent the final hours of her life watching the man she loved with all her heart — the father of her unborn child — cruelly let her drown.
“The jury convicts Michael of first-degree murder. He is sentenced to life in prison.”
“It was called the coldest crime in the history of Broward.”
For Anita’s family, moving on was a slow process.
“To hear those kind of details about your own family member going through that horrific moment totally devastated my family that all of this was for money, that my sister’s life meant nothing to this man.”
“You feel like it’s not fair and it hurts. It hurts twice as much. It’s not easy.”
“I think my mom till the day she died always had that thought that Anna was always alive, maybe not in body but in spirit, that she was always around us, that she was a protector of the family, the precious keystone of the family trying to keep the family together.”
“It’s such a tragedy that she’s not here with me, but you don’t forget. It’s within you. It’s near.”
