Former friend testifies Orange County man falsely claimed he was involved in killing of ex-wife on cruise ship

A private investigator testified Monday that he was concerned to learn that his close friend, a former Orange County attorney accused of strangling an ex-wife and throwing her body off a cruise ship, had falsely implicated him in the alleged killing.

Bill Price, a former police officer who said he once considered Lonnie Kocontes the closest thing to a brother, took the stand as a witness in Kocontes’ murder trial, having played a key role in his criminal indictment.

Micki Kanesaki’s body was found in the Mediterranean Sea in May 2006, more than a day after Kocontes reported her missing from an Italian cruise ship. Kocontes has denied playing a role in the death of Kanesaki, his second wife, and his attorney has contended she could have died from a fall from the ship rather than foul play.

Bill Price testified that prior to Kanesaki’s death, Kocontes, then an Orange County attorney, was worried that he would have to split half of his financial assets with Kanesaki. Despite divorcing, and Kocontes marrying another woman, Kocontes and Kanesaki remained financially intertwined through a Ladera Ranch home they owned.

“Lonnie felt he worked hard and he didn’t want to give up half,” Price said. “Lonnie felt the assets he shared with Micki were primarily his.”

Amy Nguyen, the woman Kocontes married after divorcing Kanesaki, previously testified that Kocontes told her before the cruise that Bill Price was going to find someone to kill Kanesaki by throwing her from the ship and providing Kocontes with an alibi.

Prosecutors don’t believe that Bill Price played any actual role in Kanesaki’s death. Price said the first time he learned of the allegation that he was involved in the death was in 2009, when Price and his partner, another private investigator, carried out a recorded conversation with Nguyen.

“Did you hear statements that concerned you?” Assistant District Attorney Susan Price asked.

“I was being implicated in her death,” Bill Price responded.

Kocontes told him not to worry about it, Bill Price said, since Nguyen already had testified before a federal grand jury and told them she knew nothing about Kanesaki’s death. Nguyen, in testimony during the current criminal trial, has alleged that Kocontes pressured her to lie to the FBI and the federal grand jury.

In order to protect himself, Bill Price said he turned the recording of his conversation with Nguyen over to law enforcement. In that recording, Nguyen also alleges that Kocontes had told her that Kanesaki also had access to a document showing that Kocontes had “embezzled” up to $500,000 from his law firm, an accusation that Kocontes has denied.

Armed with the recording, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office subpoenaed Nguyen. Nguyen changed her story and implicated Kocontes in testimony before the Orange County Grand Jury that indicted him.

Kocontes’ attorney, Denisse Graggs, described Nguyen as having a “vengeful nature,” and challenged the multiple, conflicting accounts she has given over the years. The defense attorney has alleged that Bill Price was angry at Kocontes and pressured Nguyen into testifying against him.

During cross-examination by Graggs, Bill Price agreed that Kocontes was not an “emotional person,” and acknowledged that Kanesaki could become “angry, nasty, emotionally wrought” when she drank. Bill Price also acknowledged getting angry with Kocontes when Kocontes made money on an investment he didn’t include Price on.

“Did he ever tell you he killed her?” Graggs asked.

“No,” Bill Price responded.

If convicted, Kocontes faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.