CLEARWATER, Fla. (Court TV) — An Ivy League-educated plastic surgeon is acting as his own attorney in a case that could end with the death penalty, as prosecutors say that he killed an attorney whose body has never been found.
Dr. Tomasz Kosowski listens to the prosecution’s opening statement on Sept. 14, 2026. (Court TV)
Tomasz Kosowski, 47, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the death of attorney Steven Cozzi, 41. Kosowski dismissed his attorneys before waiving his right to a jury trial. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Kosowski if he’s convicted; Kosowski has said he does not intend to present any mitigation in a potential penalty phase.
Assistant state attorney Alexandra Spadaro said that while Cozzi seemingly disappeared in March 2023, “the evidence will show that he didn’t disappear on his own terms.”
“He was murdered,” she said. “He was murdered in the bathroom of his law firm. His body was then placed in a wagon and it was drug out to the parking lot where it was loaded onto a gray Toyota Tundra. And ultimately, his coffin was a dumpster, his hearse was a dump truck and his burial site, where he lies to rest, in tiny unidentifiable pieces, is at the Collier County landfill. He was thrown away like garbage.”
At the time of his disappearance, Cozzi represented several clients Kosowski had sued. Kosowski was representing himself in that case, as well. “He made it contentious,” Spadaro said of the defendant. “He made it personal. Particularly between him and Steven Cozzi.”
Spadaro said that Kosowski spent time plotting Cozzi’s death; cellphone data shows the defendant’s phone connecting to Cozzi’s law firm’s Wi-Fi on days when Kosowski had no reason to be on the property. The law firm’s maintenance woman reported finding the defendant “peeking through the law firm window” and then “hiding in a dark utility closet” wearing a surgical mask in the weeks before Cozzi disappeared.
Investigators said surveillance video shows Kosowski driving a truck to Cozzi’s office on March 21, 2023; after the truck arrives, video shows a man matching Kosowski’s description entering the law office building. Hours later, the same person leaves, wheeling a heavy wagon to the back of the Tundra.
Cozzi was allegedly killed inside the communal bathroom in his office. After he seemingly disappeared, co-workers looking for him went into the bathroom, finding blood everywhere. “There’s blood on the toilet seat. There’s blood on the wall. There’s blood on the floor,” Spadaro said. Testing revealed a mixture of the defendant’s and the victim’s DNA.
When police served a search warrant at Kosowski’s home after tracking his truck to the property, he wasn’t there. Cozzi’s blood was found inside and outside of the Tundra, but police still couldn’t find the victim.
Kosowski packed up his dogs and drove south to Miami in a Toyota Corolla registered in his name, Spadaro said. When police eventually caught up to the vehicle and pulled Kosowski over, they found a black ballistics vest covered in blood and blood in the trunk of the car; the blood on both matched Cozzi’s DNA. “One of the scariest things that was located in that vehicle, and there’s really no other way to categorize it, other than what I like to call a ‘murder bag,'” Spadaro said. “It was a black duffel and inside of it, amongst other things, but most notably, were lighters, a Taser, scissors, brass knuckles, a crowbar, ski masks, a Guy Fawkes mask, a 3cc syringe needle and a vial of succinylcholine.”
Spadaro said investigators found that Kosowski had researched succinylcholine, which is a paralytic used by anesthesiologists. “This paralytic can be lethal at the right dose, but at a lower dose, what it does is it affects the ability for someone to resist,” she said. “It weakens their body. It affects their ability to fight back. But they are cognizant of everything that is going on. They can feel everything that happens to them.”
Kosowski, sitting in custody in a police car, continued to try to destroy evidence, Spadaro said. Police handcuffed the defendant’s hands behind his back, but he allegedly was able to maneuver them around to his front, and brought his hands to his face. “After he hears that the body warrant is in process en route, one by one he starts to meticulously suck on each of his fingers. He’s using his tongue and getting up underneath it and slurping,” Spadaro said. “He’s using his teeth almost as a nail file, trying to destroy any trace of evidence that might bring him to Steven Cozzi, because again, he still hasn’t been located.”
While Cozzi’s body has never been found, Spadaro said that investigators tracked the path of Kosowski’s drive after the killing and determined that he had stopped at a dumpster. The dumpster was emptied at the Collier County landfill, but despite a number of searches, the victim’s remains were never found.
Kosowski declined to offer any opening statement.
Before his arrest, Kosowski worked as a plastic surgeon after graduating from Dartmouth Medical School. He said in court that he has a degree in music from the University of New Mexico, and also has a BS in biochemistry, an MA in biomedical sciences and an MBA.
