Tomasz Kosowski on trial Sept. 15. (Screenshot via CourtTV/YouTube)
EDITOR’S NOTE: Watermark Out News cautions this story contains graphic content.
TAMPA BAY | The trial of Tomasz Kosowski began Sept. 14, more than three years after the former plastic surgeon was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Largo lawyer Steven Cozzi.
Cozzi was last seen on March 21, 2023. That’s when he was reported missing from Blanchard Law, his workplace that was representing a medical practice being sued by Kosowski.
“Someone that he worked with messaged me and asked if I had picked him up for lunch,” his husband Michael Steven Montgomery told Watermark Out News in 2023. “I knew something was wrong right away.”
Cozzi’s coworkers contacted Montgomery after determining his husband was no longer in the office. His wallet, phone and car keys remained, however, and law enforcement found blood in the building’s public restroom.
They also found “a strong chemical odor” and forensics determined that “a large quantity of blood that had been cleaned up from the bathroom floor.” The Largo Police Department arrested Kosowski March 25, 2023 after reviewing video surveillance linking him to the crime scene.
Officials searched his Tarpon Springs home and vehicle as well, concluding Cozzi was “deceased and the defendant intentionally, by a premeditated design caused his death.” His body has not been found.
Prosecutors, who are seeking the death penalty, detailed this and more as they made their case against Kosowski.
Assistant State Attorney Alexandra Spadaro said Cozzi “was murdered in the bathroom of his law firm. His body was then placed in a wagon. And it was drug out into the parking lot, where it was loaded onto a gray Toyota Tundra.
“And ultimately,” she continued, “his coffin was a dumpster, his hearse was a dump truck and his burial site where he lays to rest in tiny, unidentifiable, little pieces is at the Collier County landfill.”
Montgomery testified in the trial Sept. 14, sharing details about the last day he saw and communicated with Cozzi via text. Kosowski, who is representing himself after the departure of multiple defense teams, did not cross-examine him.
Cozzi “was so brilliant, loving and caring,” Montgomery remembered his husband in 2023. “He could also be really tough when he needed to be, because he was an attorney, but the side I saw of him was soft and vulnerable.” Read more about him here.
Kosowski’s trial continued Sept. 15. A judge will decide the outcome of the case as he has waived the right to a jury.
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