Plastic surgeon Tomasz Kosowski was allegedly seen lugging a wagon from the building where Steven Cozzi vanished to his vehicle, prosecutors allege
Credit: Facebook; Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office via AP
NEED TO KNOW
- On March 21, 2023, Florida attorney Steven Cozzi went into the men’s room at his law firm and was never seen leaving
- Police found a “significant” amount of blood in the bathroom but no signs of the 41-year-old
- Four days after Cozzi vanished, police arrested plastic surgeon Tomasz Kosowski and charged him with Cozzi’s alleged murder
The trial for a Florida plastic surgeon accused of murdering a lawyer who represented clients he had filed lawsuits against began this week, with the victim’s husband testifying about the last time he saw him.
Plastic surgeon Tomasz Roman Kosowski, 47, is charged with first-degree murder in the 2023 death of attorney Steven Cozzi, 41, who mysteriously vanished on March 21, 2023, after he went to the men’s room at Blanchard Law in Largo, where he worked, prosecutors allege.
He was never seen alive again and his body has never been found.
Kosowski pleaded not guilty and is representing himself in the death penalty case. He waived his right to a jury trial, so a judge will determine his guilt or innocence.
On Monday, Sept. 14, the first day of the trial, Cozzi’s husband, Michael Montgomery, the first witness prosecutors called to testify, talked about the last time he saw Cozzi alive, WTSP reports.
Before Cozzi left for work on the morning of March 21, 2023, “He brought me coffee on the nightstand like he always did, gave me a kiss and was getting ready to leave,” he said on the stand, per WTSP.
Not long after that, just before 10 a.m., Cozzi walked out of his office, headed to the men’s room and vanished, the Largo Police Department said at the time.
His colleagues called the police, who said Cozzi’s wallet, car keys and cell phone were still in his office and that his vehicle was still in the parking lot, and that he was never seen leaving the building.
A “significant amount of blood,” however, was found in the men’s room, police said at the time.
Detectives quickly began looking for a suspicious person and vehicle that were seen at the office building at the same time that Cozzi was there.
After evidence that was allegedly obtained after a search warrant was executed at Kosowski’s Tarpon Springs home, he was arrested during a traffic stop on March 25, 2023, and charged with first-degree murder in connection with Cozzi’s alleged slaying.
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A blood-soaked ballistic vest, a Taser device, brass knuckles, duct tape and intravenous sedatives with syringes were reportedly discovered in Kosowski’s vehicle, according to a probable cause affidavit previously obtained by PEOPLE.
Kosowski’s fingerprint was recovered in the office building’s break room, which is not usually accessible to the public, the affidavit alleges.
A man resembling the plastic surgeon was seen on surveillance video removing “a container large enough to conceal a human body,” it alleges.
Prosecutors, in fact, have said they have surveillance video allegedly showing a person who appears to be Kosowski lugging a wagon from the building from which Cozzi vanished to his vehicle, Fox 13 reports.
Cozzi was reportedly among the attorneys at his firm who had been representing Kosowski’s former employer and co-workers at the Laufer Institute for Plastic Surgery, after Kosowski filed a lawsuit against them in 2019 over alleged billing errors, according to court records cited by Fox 13 and the Tampa Bay Times.
Kosowski left the Laufer Institute in 2018, the AP reported, and began working at Sono Bello Tampa, according to his WebMD profile at the time.
According to his WebMD profile, Kosowski specialized in facial plastic surgery, body contouring and breast reconstruction techniques.
On Monday, Montgomery testified about how he was concerned for Cozzi’s safety because the lawsuit had become so contentious, Fox 13 reports.
He testified that Cozzi texted him when Kosowski called him a scumbag during a Jan. 2023 deposition.
He said he bought pepper spray for Cozzi, and suggested that he hire security if he had to meet with Kosowski again, per Fox 13.
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