A Florida plastic surgeon faces the death penalty for murder a lawyer and dump his corpse in the trash
The authorities claim that the Dr. Thomas Kosowski 44, killed attorney Steven Cozzi of the firm Blanchard Lawin the law firm’s bathroom, moments after the two participated in a March 21 conference call about a lengthy legal battle over medical billing, the outlet reported. Local 10 News.
According to court documents, Kosowski took the call from a Toyota van outside the office and had supplies to commit the murder, including garbage bags, a syringe with a paralyzing drug and a cart to transport the corpse outside.
Although Cozzi’s body was never found, investigators used cell phone recordings and surveillance video to trace Kosowski to a remote area west of Miami on the Tamiami Trail, also known as US Highway 41.
That’s where they believe Kosowski dumped the body into a container that ended up being emptied by a garbage truck. The driver noticed an unusually “vile” odor at the stop, authorities said.
“Video from the garbage truck shows a large bag falling in a manner inconsistent with normal garbage,” prosecutors said in a motion asking a judge to hold Kosowski without bail.
The shape of the package and the way it fell appeared to contain a human body, they said.
A police dog trained to detect dead bodies indicated that there might be a body in the dumpster.
Trash from the route is normally hauled to a Collier County landfill, but authorities who searched for Cozzi’s body on the property said the facility routinely compacts her trash, “making recovery efforts nearly impossible.”
This new information came to light ahead of a hearing set for July 17, when Kosowski’s lawyers plan to request his release on bail.
In Florida, anyone charged with first degree murder is generally jailed until trial unless the defense can show a compelling reason which there shouldn’t be.
Kosowski pleaded not guilty. The doctor has been specializing in breast reconstructive surgery for eight years.
His lawyers maintain that the prosecution is weak, that Kosowski does not represent any threat and that he will not try to evade justice. If he goes free, the man plans to stay at his multimillion-dollar waterfront home in Tarpon Springs.
The law firm Blanchard Law, where the victim worked, had been representing Kosowski’s former employer and his co-workers in a lawsuit against them four years ago.
In the lawsuit, Kosowski said she began working for Laufer Institute of Plastic Surgery in 2016, primarily doing breast reconstruction surgery, and alleged that the woman the center assigned to do its insurance billing failed to file claims and lied to her patients, which which cost him tens of thousands of dollars and resulted in negative reviews of him being posted online.
The defendant left that clinic in 2018 and established his own business.
