A Tampa, Florida plastic surgeon has been arrested and charged with homicide after a lawyer representing the corporate he was suing disappeared beneath disturbing circumstances — and has been presumed useless.
Attorney Steven Cozzi (pictured above, proper) went to work final Tuesday similar to some other day. But he didn’t return residence on the finish of the day — or ever once more. Cozzi’s mom Lois instructed WFLA:
“As a family, we are frantic with worry and numb with fear over Steven’s disappearance.”
The Largo Police Department instructed Fox13 the lawyer was reported lacking — and virtually instantly foul play was suspected. Video surveillance confirmed Cozzi by no means left the workplace, and he left behind essential private objects — comparable to his pockets, keys, cellular phone, and automotive. It was as if he’d vanished into skinny air — and that didn’t sit proper with investigators.
Related: Dentist’s Wife Almost Solved Her Own Poisoning Murder
A forensics crew working with native regulation enforcement investigated Cozzi’s follow and rapidly seen a really sturdy chemical odor coming from the lads’s toilet. Perhaps as a result of somebody had tried to scrub? There had been a pair drops of blood seen. But upon additional inspection, police had been horrified to discover a “significant” quantity of blood within the toilet. Due to all of the proof left behind at what gave the impression to be a criminal offense scene, they now had a lead and a giant query: who was the final particular person to see Steve Cozzi alive?
Investigators famous the final automotive seen on the lawyer’s workplace and rapidly linked the dots to Tomasz Roman Kosowski (above, left), a 44-yr-previous with sturdy connections to Cozzi. As police regarded via each of the lads’s historical past, they discovered Cozzi was representing the Laufer Institute of Plastic Surgery in a current authorized case — one introduced on by Kosowski. Hmm… very suspicious.
According to The Tampa Bay Times, Kosowski had slapped the corporate — his former employer — with a lawsuit for negligence, breach of contract, and fraudulent misrepresentation. On the very morning Cozzi disappeared, the surgeon had filed motions to compel testimony and a request for last judgment within the case. He was combating a troublesome authorized battle — and Cozzi was the lawyer on the opposite aspect. Then, in any case that, the lawyer immediately vanished?
Everything lined up method too conveniently! So the LPD received a warrant to look the plastic surgeon’s residence — and had been capable of acquire sufficient proof to arrest him and cost him with first diploma homicide! Kosowski was stopped in site visitors and brought into police custody the place he stays. It’s unclear if Cozzi’s physique has been discovered — regulation enforcement hasn’t disclosed precisely what they present in his residence — nevertheless it appears the lawyer’s household is properly on their method to getting closure. And justice.
We’ll you should definitely maintain you up to date as this case continues to develop…
[Image via YouTube/Fox 13 Tampa Bay/Pinellas County Sheriffs Office/Facebook/Steve Cozzi]
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