Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Florida Doctor Accused of Murdering Lawyer in Bloody Scene

Episode Date: June 16, 2025

Tomasz Roman Kosowski was working as a plastic surgeon when prosecutors said he murdered Steven Cozzi, a lawyer representing plaintiffs suing him over billing. Cozzi’s body has never been found but he went to work in March 2023 and was never seen again. Largo police say video and blood links Kosowski to the murders. Law&Crime’s Angenette Levy goes through the case in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: If you’re ever injured in an accident, you can check out Morgan & Morgan. You can submit a claim in 8 clicks or less without having to leave your couch. To start your claim, visit: https://www.forthepeople.com/CrimeFixHost:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest: Philip Dubé https://www.instagram.com/philip.dube/Producer:Jordan ChaconCRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this law and crimes series ad free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple podcasts or Spotify. To the hour today, we're doing a high smash facelift. Check this out. No, check this out. That was a Florida plastic surgeon before he was accused of murdering a lawyer. Minutes after they were supposed to be on a call together and the lawyer's body has never been found.

I take you through the twists and turns in the death of Stephen Casi and the wild decision the doctor charged in his murder has made. All right, Mr. Kostaski, any progress on dating the lawyer? No, sir. Well, why not? Well, I'm sorry. I'm still interviewing people. So. Well, I'm sorry, I'm still interviewing people.

Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Anjaneet Levy. Stephen Kazee went to work on March 21st of 2023, and he was never seen again. The case is eerie, and it's incredibly sad. Kazi was an attorney working at a law firm. The firm was in Largo, Florida, south of Clearwater, and court documents say that Kazi went to the restroom at his law office and never returned to his desk.

That part is incredibly terrifying. One of Kazi's coworkers called police after discovering his wallet and phone on his desk. An affidavit states, the victim was in the process of responding to an email and music was playing from his phone. The complainant discovered the victim missing and while searching for him entered the public bathroom to the office building. While inside he noted blood smeared on the bathroom door, as well as blood on the stall wall and the bottom of the toilet. The victim's vehicle also remained in the parking lot. Largo police started an investigation immediately. This was strange to be sure, but the clues came

together pretty quickly. The affidavit states, while reviewing surveillance, officers learned that a gray Toyota Tundra arrived at the office building at 832 hours. At 834 hours, an unidentified white male is seen entering the building wearing gloves, carrying a large box and wearing a large backpack, shortly after the victim arrives at the building at 837 hours wearing a red sweater. At 1022 hours, the subject who has a similar build to the first subject wearing the same backpack

exits the building and appears to have changed clothes. He is seen pulling behind him a large cart that appears to be heavy and have a red bag or blanket. It should be noted that the subject struggled with the weight of the cart while transporting it to the Toyota Tundra. Now, one of the first clues that surfaced, Stephen Causey missed a conference call that was supposed to take place

with Dr. Tomas Roman Kosowski. Police say it was a civil case where Stephen Causey was representing the plaintiff and Kosowski, a doctor, was representing himself as his own lawyer. It was contentious. An affidavit states, the victim missed a 1030 telephonic court hearing that was supposed to be held with the defendant. The defendant attended the telephonic hearing from 1028 to 1104 hours.

As soon as the defendant disconnects from the court hearing, video captures the subject at the crime scene beginning to move again. Specifically at 1105 hours, the subject is seen positioning the cart by the crime scene beginning to move again. Specifically at 1105 hours, the subject is seen positioning the cart by the tundra. The subject is later seen struggling to get the heavy cart into the bed of the truck on surveillance. The victim is never seen exiting the business on surveillance. Police say the subject in that video was Dr. Kozowski and that he killed Stephen Kozzi

in the bathroom of his law office building and then moved his body to his pickup truck outside. The affidavit states on 3 25 20 23, the defendant responded back to Pinellas County and was stopped by the Tarpon Springs Police Department. A search warrant was served on a Toyota Corolla. During the course of the search, a ballistic vest was found in the trunk of the vehicle with a substantial amount of blood located on it.

Red fibers were also located on the ballistic vest as well as white fibers. A bag containing masks, a taser, brass knuckles, duct tape, and intravenous sedatives with syringes was found on the passenger floorboard of the vehicle. The world can be a really scary and unpredictable place, and that's where our partner and sponsor, Morgan & Morgan, comes in. They're a law firm with more than a thousand lawyers because they win a lot. In the last few months alone, Morgan & Morgan has secured a $9.3 million verdict for a car crash victim in Florida, a $5.6 million verdict for a car crash victim in Florida, a $5.6 million verdict for another car accident victim in Atlanta, not to mention a $1.8 million verdict

in Kentucky after the insurance company offered them a mere $5,000 in that case. Can you believe it? Even if you think your case is not worth millions, why not start a claim and fight for what you deserve? Morgan & Morgan makes it really easy. You can start a claim from your phone in just eight clicks. So if you're ever hurt, you can easily start a claim at ForThePeople.com slash CrimeFix or click the link in the description and pinned in the comments. Police would later say they used cell phone tower data

to track down Kosowski and that they found one of his fingerprints in the law office building, and there was more. The affidavit states, or large enough to conceal a human body, and the victim was never seen exiting the business on surveillance, it is believed that the victim is deceased and the defendant intentionally by a premeditated design caused his death. So where is Stephen Kazee's body? Detectives would later say they believe Kosowski drove to the Everglades Conservation and Sportsman Club near the Everglades and dumped Kazi's body in a dumpster there. Detectives said they spoke to the garbage truck driver who said that dumpster was heavier than usual when he picked up the trash on March 23rd and what usually smelled like camp trash smelled vile.

Detectives said video surveillance showed the dumpster being emptied and something long wrapped in trash bags coming out of it and it didn't look like normal trash. Tomasz Kosowski was charged with first degree murder and prosecutors decided to pursue the death penalty against him. But to this day, Stephen Kosy's body has not been found. So Kosy has been in jail awaiting trial for more than two years. He appeared in court in February as his attorneys prepared for trial. The interesting thing about Ms. Heinrich's testimony is she in fact did not outcry that

she could identify Dr. Kozowski until she was here for the Arthur hearing. She actually stood in this vestibule looking through the glass and she told me in a very colorful way that she had identified Dr. Kozowski as the person that was in the closet the week before that she chased out of the building. I immediately disclosed that to Mr. Bruinvon using a direct quote from Ms. Heinrich in the colorful language.

I said, here's the disclosure. She said she can identify her client. That's the first time it came up. That was July, I believe, of 2023 when we had the Arthur hearing. So that was the prosecutor talking about a witness that they have who will testify. Kozowski's trial was supposed to begin in May of this year. And then guess what? His attorneys withdrew. They said they learned from jail calls that Kozowski planned to not pay them and then

sue them. So he started representing himself at a hearing in the spring. Okay. You understand you have the right to a lawyer if you cannot afford to hire your own lawyer and I will appoint one to represent you. You understand that? Yes. Okay. And the state of Florida will pay for your lawyer if you cannot afford that hire one. You understand that? Yes. state of Florida will be paid for your lawyer if you cannot afford that higher one. Do you understand that? All right, here are some of the advantages of having a lawyer to represent you and you just want to represent yourself for what motions?

The motion for continuance and what else? The motion for a re-hearing of the motion to suppress and the motion to continue. Lawyers' legal knowledge and experience may favorably affect your result in regard to your motion for continuance and your motion for re-hearing. Since they are lawyers, they have gone to law school, they have experience with dealing with legal issues and may be limited in that regard. Do you understand that?

Yes, sir. As it is almost always unwise to represent yourself in court, let me tell you a few of the disadvantages of representing yourself in court. You understand that you will not get any special treatment from the court just because you are representing yourself. Yes, sir. You understand that you will not be entitled to a continuance simply because you wish to represent yourself. Yes, sir. And you're ready to go on those motions today, right? Yes, sir. All right. And if you aren't in custody, obviously, it's more difficult to do legal research, but you're ready to go now, right? Yes, sir.

Then last month, Kosowski was back in court and the judge wanted an update. All right, Mr. Kosowski, any progress on getting a lawyer? No, sir. Well, why not? Well, I'm sorry, I'm still interviewing people. Okay, so have you interviewed them in person? Have they been on video? Have you been calling them? I've interviewed them in person. Okay, so there are people who want to take your case, but you're still deciding who you want. Yes.

Story. All right. Are we going to have that figured out this week? I don't think so. Well, why not? What are you doing? An investigation of these people? Well, I think it's pretty important that I get the right lawyer, don't you? All right. So when are you going to have a lawyer? I don't you? Right. All right. So when are you going to have a lawyer? I don't know.

So this was back on May 14th, and the judge is basically saying, what have you been doing? Because at this point, Kozowski's trial is days away from starting. Take a look. Well, since the trial's Monday, don't you think it's a good idea to get one sooner rather than later? Sure. Okay. So why do you think you can do that this week?

Because I haven't found the right lawyer. How many lawyers have you interviewed? Two. Okay. And they seem okay to you? They seem okay. Did you pick the better one? No sir. You didn't want to keep them under them? I did not. OK. All right. Well, what says the state? State you would just go ahead and have a trial on Monday? Well, Your Honor, yes. I mean, that's my proposal to have a trial on Monday.

But here's the problem. There's some issues with that. First issue is Mr. Kizowski. I'm sorry, Dr. Kizowski. When he was here on Friday, he said he was prepared to represent himself solely for the purposes of those motions, two motions being the motion for rehearing

and the motion for continuance. I think more broadly, whether you wanted to represent him for self or trial, I think that was an open question. Or in fact, I think he decided to say that he did not want to represent himself for trial. So before we were to proceed to trial on Monday which is going to be I anticipate having had a preview of a lot of the questions that I believe Dr.

Kosowski will ask because they were already asking the depositions that we're probably looking at a minimum six-week trial to resolve this case and jury selection I am unable to predict how long that will take because I don't know how Dr. Kozowski would approach what year. So I think the first inquiry we have before anything else is whether Dr. Kozowski must represent himself for trial. The prosecutor goes on to say that they've checked and Dr. Kozowski has had the discovery in the case and used a laptop at the jail for more than 200 hours to review it.

It almost sounds like the prosecutor wants Kosowski to represent himself. So I think he's been pretty active in this litigation from the beginning. I think there's probably homicide cases in this very building that have been tried where the defense team has not invested 229.5 hours in reviewing. There are homicide cases in this building where the prosecution may not have invested 229.5 hours in reviewing the discovery of this particular case.

So it's my belief that Dr. Kozowski, and I spent a lot of time going through the civil record where he represented himself. And Dr. Kozowski's a very smart man. He has an MBA and a medical degree from Dartmouth. His writing reflects that. It's very articulate. It's better than some lawyers that I've litigated against.

So I think if we have our first threshold inquiry of whether Dr. Kosowski is writing for trial on Monday, we probably have to do that for a forensic inquiry to whether he wants to represent himself. So right there, the prosecutor points to an instance in a civil case where Kosowski represented himself. The prosecutor then went into some details about the case. I will say this, Gusebidaro and I have been ready to try this case since that

morning in April of 2023 when we received Dr. Kosowski's phone records and I charted them on a Google map. And the cell tower that he was at for 30 minutes for a court hearing while Stephen Kazi's body was in a wagon was right next door to the Blanchard Law Group for 32 minutes, banging off the cell tower. We were ready to try it that day. But then we had some more things come in since that day.

We had cell phone records. And then we had DNA. And the DNA is a damning for Dr. Kozowski. It's in his truck, in his toilet-a-tundra, it's in his house, it's in his Corolla. We were ready to try it that day. That just happened to be the grand jury. We were also ready to try this case in July of 2023

when Dr. Kozowski asked for bond before the score. And we filed a pretrial detention motion, laying out literally the entire case. After David's sworn to by two lead detectives in this case, laying out the evidence against Dr. Kozowski and the testimony. Do you want to represent yourself for trial or are you going to hire a lawyer for that?

No, sir, I do not want to represent myself for the trial. Do you want to represent yourself for your motion to continue or I guess it was Mr. Frontbott's motion? I'll represent myself for that. Alright, so what do you want to say in regard to that motion? Well, discovery is not complete, depositions aren't complete, pending motions aren't complete, and I'm not sure whether forensic testing is complete. So there are lots of things that aren't done in this case and no matter what Mr. Vonderheide tells you.

So. All right, well there are a whole lot of things that haven't been done. There's a whole lot more things that haven't been done than things that haven't been done. So we're really close to getting ready on this thing. And the main reason that we're not ready is that you don't have a lawyer. But you're gonna get one soon, because you don't have a choice. Then Judge Boulogne gently laid down the law. Or I can set a free trial here for a couple of weeks. You're gonna have a lawyer here within two weeks, right? I don't know, sir. Well, work on it, okay? If you already have two lawyers that you've interviewed, that's pretty good, right?

So I can reset the free trial here for May 28th. That's two weeks, that's plenty of time, all right? And obviously I'm giving you plenty of time to retain the lawyer, but we're going to go on forever with this. We're not going to have the case just going absolutely nowhere. We have to move things along. And we're almost done, we're almost at the finish line. It's almost everything's been done, there's just a few things here and there that need to be done, and you need a lawyer. So your lawyer has to go over everything. You have to find a date when the state's ready and your lawyer's ready.

So make a good faith effort to retain the lawyer. All right, and then if you're not making a good faith effort, I'll just point one at 40. So guess what happened. On May 28th, the judge appointed a public defender to represent Tomas Kosowski. But now the public defender's office has filed a motion to withdraw, saying they've determined there's a conflict involving a witness in the case. So they're back to square one. So I want to bring in Philip Dubay. He works as court appointed counsel in California.

He has been representing people for years and years. He's also a great legal analyst. Philip, Dr. Kaczowski is somebody whose case could have landed right in your lap. So first off, your thoughts on this case. He's accused of doing something really calculated and horrible, going into a law office, probably using a stun gun and some drugs

to maybe like kidnap somebody and put them in a container, kill them and then taking their body to the other glades and dumping it in a dumpster. Yeah, the problem for the good doctor is they don't even need a statement from him. The forensics speak loud and clear. They have, first of all, they have him making a call to the victim, Mr. Causey, and he's apparently right out front where the law practice is, where Mr.

Causey's office is, and it looks like it's a lying in wait type situation where they're having a conference call, presumably with all the regalia in his car, such as the syringe, the cleanup materials, a dump bag, whatever else he needed to get the job done. And then what do they find? They find the good lawyer's DNA in the men's room of the office. But worse yet, they have the good doctor on video with some type of rotating device to block and unblock his license plate.

And then they have the attorney's DNA, and I believe it's serological evidence, in the doctor's garage. So as far as I'm concerned, this is a one and done it. The only issue is whether or not he dies. And unfortunately, they are seeking death. They are proceeding under a theory that this was planned and premeditated, that it was for financial gain, that it was heinous and atrocious. And truthfully, I don't know why they don't add that he was lying in wait, because lying in wait for that ambush is also grounds to seek death. The only thing he has going for him, if there

is any hope at all, not to walk, but to have a different housing environment, to go from a death row maybe to maximum security, is that there was a change in the law in Florida that I believe is unconstitutional. The eight to four? Yes. They only need eight jurors now to say that the person should be sentenced to death. That was in response to the Perkland school shooting. Correct. Terrible.

The US Supreme Court has already held on this. I think it was back in 2016. It was called HURST, H-U-R-S-T, I think out of Florida, ironically, where first of all, you're entitled to a jury to decide all the facts, such as the aggravators, unanimously, not just a judge. So the fact that they've already made that pronouncement, that it must be unanimous, tells me that if anybody is sentenced to death, where at the penalty phase, fewer than 12 jurors came back with that recommendation,

I predict they're all coming back on appeal, because I think it's unconstitutional. It violates all kinds of rights. Number one, it's cruel and unusual, all right? Number two, it also violates your right to have a jury trial on the issue. Essentially, what Florida is saying is that you have four voiceless jurors. And Anjanette, in California, you only need nine jurors to reach a civil verdict. And it's so unpalatable to hear that the state of Florida only requires

unpalatable to hear that the state of Florida only requires eight people, it's less than a civil standard, to execute someone. Now I realize it's a different conversation, we're going far afield from whether or not this man should be convicted, but when you look at the stakes and the outcome, there is a lot to be said for him on his behalf, at least in terms of penalty, but my only two words for him as far as guilt, get comfortable, because you are never, ever getting out. Now there have been some hiccups in the case, though. Whether he's ultimately convicted,

or there's a death sentence, or what have you, he doesn't even have a lawyer right now. Philip, he was caught on jail calls, I guess, according to his former lawyer, saying, we're going to're gonna like fire him and sue him and get, you know, not pay him and all of this crazy stuff, according to the lawyer. Then he goes back and forth like, oh, you know, this whole thing with the judge, like, yeah, I'm still interviewing people. Finally, the judge appoints counsel for him, the public defender, and now the public defender is like, well, we're out we're out we have a conflict

We're not going to say who the witness is. We have a conflict. So Now they now this trial is going to be on hold for a while because now a new lawyer will be appointed And has to get up to speed Well, there's no rush look the man's not going anywhere It no harm no foul in aging the case a little bit. And if we're really honest, this is more of a cop case, even though you have a civilian victim, this is all about how law enforcement worked it up.

The cops will always be there to testify and get a conviction. But I will tell you that for me, the message to the private bar out there of attorneys is get your money up front. Because if you make some type of an arrangement where your client is going to pay you on the installment plan and they stop paying, you're going to end up working for free and you have to withdraw.

And if a judge won't let you withdraw because it could prejudice the rights of your client, you could end up stuck having to defend somebody gratuitously. You've got to get it up front. So it probably not the year is he got tapped out, he ran out of money, and maybe he cajoled the next attorney to take the case. And of course, when that didn't bear fruit, that lawyer substituted out. And then if you are legally indigent, yes, you get the public defender. But we are bound by ethical rules, meaning that we cannot represent anybody where there is a legal conflict of interest. You cannot have concurrent representation of a defendant and

a name witness in the same case. It's disloyal to both of them, so you have to get off both of them. Well, not to fear, because all states, including Florida, have what's called the Not to fear because all states, including Florida, have what's called the Conflict Panel or Alternate Council Panel, where they have lawyers standing by ready to take these cases when a conflict is declared. The benefit of that is they're not paid by the client. They don't have to worry about ever getting paid. They don't have to worry about clients threatening to fire you, do all that stuff, because in the end the attorney is still the captain of the

ship. The only real decisions that are to be made by a defendant in a criminal case are A, will he testify? B, does he want a jury or a judge? And C, at least in Florida, do you want lethal injection or electrocution? Those are the only three choices he gets to make. Well, it'll be interesting to see how it pans out. The next step is getting him another lawyer, they'll, they'll point what you just said, you know, the counsel who's on the panel, and then that person is going to have to get up to speed. But

man, it's a, it's a really sad, horrific case. And I feel bad for Stephen Kazee's family. We'll keep an eye on it because he's going to be in court. There's another hearing this month where the judge is going to give him another lawyer. Philip Dubay, thank you so much, as always. Heather Goodwin. When the trial finally starts, the state says it plans to call 56 witnesses. And that's it for

this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.