An Ivy League-educated surgeon who insisted on repping himself at his first-degree murder trial over the killing of an attorney has been found guilty — and now faces the death penalty.
Tomasz Kosowski, 47, was convicted Wednesday for killing lawyer Steven Cozzi, 41, in the bathroom of his Clearwater, Florida, office, and disposing his body in a dumpster near a highway in March 2023.
Prosecutors argued Kosowski, who was known as “Dr. K,” had acted in a “cold, calculated and premeditated” manner and he was found guilty just 15 minutes after Pinellas County Judge Joseph Bulone retreated to mull over the arguments, rather than a jury, following his near-week-long trial.
“I don’t anticipate me disagreeing with myself that much,” the judge quipped before retreating. “So we’ll take a 15-minute break and I’ll be back.”
Kosowski and Cozzi were locked in a legal dispute over medical billing and prosecutors claimed the shamed plastic surgeon murdered the attorney for “financial gain.”
Kosowski, a graduate of the prestigious Dartmouth College, had called the lawyer a “scumbag” just months before the killing.
Prosecutors also pointed how Kosowski researched his victim online and kept a so-called “murder bag” containing a Taser, brass knuckles and a crowbar.
He also looked up the paralyzing drug succinylcholine, asking questions such as how long it lasted.
Cozzi’s blood was not just found in the bathroom — spatters were also discovered in the killer’s car used afterward.
“The overwhelming totality of the evidence in this case demonstrates that he had the obsession, and he prepared, and he had a plan, and he effectuated that plan, and murdered him,” Nathan Vonderheide, the Assistant State Attorney, said, advocating for the death penalty.
“This man murdered Steven Cozzi and he murdered him in a violent way, leaving his blood in a multitude of locations.”
But Cozzi’s body has not been found and Bulone said it cannot be proven the killing was heinous because of this – an aggravating factor for a death sentence.
The death penalty has not been taken off the table, however, as only one aggravating factor has to be proven beyond reasonable doubt. Kosowski’s next hearing is scheduled for October 8.
Before the judge delivered his ruling, Cozzi’s family testified how they’ve not yet had closure.
“The most unbearable part is that we were never able to bring Steven home,” Michael Montgomery, his husband, said.
“I cannot describe the horrors this has brought me, and all of Steven’s loved ones. It brings me more anger than I can put in words.”
Kosowski even tried to distance himself from the killing – even though investigators found a mix of his and his victim’s DNA outside the bathroom door.
“It is entirely uncertain of what happened to Steven Cozzi in that bathroom,” he claimed.
“No one heard a thing. No one saw anything. I also do not leave a speck of DNA in that bathroom.”
A man was seen walking into Cozzi’s law office at 8:30 a.m. on the day he was last seen.
Around two hours later, a man was seen wheeling a heavy wagon out of the building and struggling to pull it onto a gray Toyota Tundra truck.
“It is physically impossible to transfer a body in the manner that the state suggests,” Kosowski said, as he denied claims one man could move someone who weighed 190 to 195 pounds single-handedly.
“The wheelbase of that Gorilla Cart is much, much shorter than the height of the tailgate of that truck
“You take that full weight, that 200 pounds in a big and bulky cart. You take that, you lift it up straight in front of you and you get it onto that truck.
“That’s physically impossible. I mean, maybe not for, like, an Olympic-caliber deadlifter.”
Cozzi’s body was never found despite several searches.
Investigators suspect his remains were put in a dumpster before being moved to a landfill.
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