CLEARWATER, FL — A Florida plastic surgeon charged with first-degree murder in the 2023 death of a Largo attorney stood alone at the defense table Monday, representing himself before a Pinellas County judge after firing his legal team just weeks before trial began.
Dr. Tomasz Kosowski, 47, a Dartmouth Medical School graduate who once ran a Miami-area plastic surgery practice, is accused of stalking, ambushing and killing attorney Steven Cozzi, 41, inside the bathroom of Cozzi’s law office on March 21, 2023. Cozzi’s body has never been recovered. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, and the case has drawn national attention because of the volume of evidence investigators say they collected against a well-credentialed doctor with no prior criminal record. Kosowski has pleaded not guilty. He dismissed his most recent defense attorneys roughly five weeks before trial and also waived his right to a jury, meaning Circuit Judge Joseph Bulone will decide both his guilt and, if convicted, his sentence.
Cozzi arrived at work at the Blanchard Law firm in Largo shortly after 8:30 a.m. on March 21, 2023, according to testimony from colleagues and court records. He was preparing for a 10:30 a.m. telephonic court hearing connected to a civil billing dispute in which Kosowski was suing his former employer, the Laufer Institute of Plastic Surgery in Dunedin, and related businesses. Cozzi represented several of those defendants. Paralegal Rebecca Watters testified that she and Cozzi had made plans to go to Wendy’s for lunch after the hearing. Cozzi left his phone — still playing music — his car keys, wallet and coat at his desk, which his colleagues said was completely out of character. Surveillance video, prosecutors said, captured Cozzi walking toward the bathroom. He never walked back out of the building. When Kosowski called in to the 10:30 a.m. hearing, Cozzi did not. Investigators later confirmed that Kosowski’s cellphone connected to a cell tower directly adjacent to the law firm at that time.
Prosecutors say surveillance footage captured a man matching Kosowski’s description entering the Blanchard Law building around 8:30 a.m. that day and leaving approximately two hours later, struggling to wheel a heavy wagon to the back of a gray Toyota Tundra. Assistant State Attorney Alexandra Spadaro told Judge Bulone that forensic testing found a mixture of Cozzi’s blood and Kosowski’s DNA inside the office’s communal bathroom, on the toilet seat, on the wall and on the floor. Employees at a neighboring business reported a powerful odor of bleach coming from the restroom. Cozzi’s law firm boss, Jake Blanchard, testified that when he went to check on Cozzi and entered the bathroom, he smelled a sharp chemical odor that had not been there before and found blood on the door, the toilet and the floor. He said he immediately called 911. Audio of that 911 call was played in court. “He got up to go to the bathroom and he’s gone and I can’t find him,” Blanchard told the emergency operator, his voice breaking. “There’s like blood in the bathroom but I can’t find him. We don’t know what happened to him.” Blanchard wept on the stand as the recording played, and Cozzi’s family members in the gallery lowered their heads.
Prosecutors told the court that Kosowski did not act on impulse. Spadaro said cellphone records show his device connecting to the law firm’s Wi-Fi on days when he had no legitimate reason to be on the property. A building custodian, Deborah Hendricks, testified that she found a man wearing a white surgical mask hiding inside the building’s electrical breaker closet on March 14, 2023 — one week before Cozzi disappeared — and that she later identified that man as Kosowski. She said she followed him to the parking lot and watched him leave in a silver-gray Toyota Tundra bearing a New Jersey license plate. Investigators later learned Kosowski had purchased that truck for $32,000 in December 2022 and attached an unauthorized New Jersey plate before driving it away. Amazon records subpoenaed by detectives showed Kosowski had ordered two folding Gorilla Carts and five rolls of heavy-duty silver duct tape that same month. Inside the closet where Hendricks found him, workers later discovered a cardboard box containing wagon wheels and blue fabric — items prosecutors say match the cart seen on surveillance video the day Cozzi disappeared. Cozzi’s husband, Michael Montgomery, testified that Cozzi had texted him during a January 2023 deposition, writing that Kosowski had confronted him in the men’s room and called him a “scumbag.” Montgomery said he became frightened and bought Cozzi a pepper spray keychain. He suggested the firm hire on-site security before any future meetings with Kosowski. It was never arranged.
After the alleged killing, prosecutors say Kosowski drove his Toyota Tundra back to his Tarpon Springs home, then fled south toward Miami in a red Toyota Corolla registered in his name, taking his dogs with him. Police stopped him during a traffic stop days later. Inside the Corolla, officers found $280,000 in cash, two passports, a black ballistic vest that tested positive for Cozzi’s blood, brass knuckles, a Taser, syringes and a vial of succinylcholine — a paralytic drug used by anesthesiologists that, Spadaro told the court, can prevent a person from physically resisting while leaving them fully conscious of what is happening to them. Investigators said Kosowski had researched the drug online before Cozzi’s disappearance. Prosecutors also told the court that Kosowski’s phone data traced his route to a remote dumpster near Alligator Alley in Collier County, which they believe was used to dispose of Cozzi’s remains. That dumpster was later emptied into the Collier County landfill. Investigators conducted multiple searches of the landfill over several days in the heat but never found Cozzi’s body. Prosecutors believe his remains are there. Fibers consistent with the red cardigan Cozzi was wearing the morning he disappeared were found on the bloodstained ballistic vest recovered from Kosowski’s vehicle, according to court records.
The courtroom heard from Cozzi’s widower, Michael Montgomery, who described the morning of March 21, 2023, as ordinary. Cozzi brought him coffee, kissed him goodbye and left chicken out to defrost for dinner. He was wearing jeans and a red cardigan, Montgomery said, his voice steady as he described surveillance footage from their home showing Cozzi leaving for the last time. “Practicing law is adversarial,” Montgomery testified, “but this did not feel the same as other cases he was working.” Attorney Jacob Pillsbury, who also opposed Kosowski in the civil case, described the doctor’s behavior during court proceedings as “aggressive” and “abusive” and said he had never seen a plaintiff go after opposing counsel the way Kosowski targeted Cozzi. Retired Circuit Judge Patricia Muscarella, who presided over that civil case, testified that discovery had been “pretty contentious” and that she appointed a retired judge to serve as a special master to manage the disputes. The civil case ultimately concluded with a ruling against Kosowski. Cozzi was listed as a legal representative for the winning defendants. Kosowski declined to cross-examine any of the witnesses called on the first day of trial and offered no opening statement.
Kosowski told the court he holds a music degree from the University of New Mexico, a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry, a master’s degree in biomedical sciences and an MBA, in addition to his medical degree from Dartmouth. He has said he will not present any mitigating evidence during a potential penalty phase and will not ask the court to spare his life if convicted. Prosecutors expect to rest their case around Sept. 22. Kosowski is not expected to present a defense case or deliver a closing argument. Judge Bulone will then determine a verdict — and, if Kosowski is found guilty of first-degree murder, whether he will be sentenced to death or life in prison.
