A Deadly Obsession: The Murder Trial of Dr. Kosowski

48 Hours

This episode dissects the chilling murder trial of Florida plastic surgeon Dr. Tomasz Kosowski, who was convicted of first-degree murder for the disappearance and killing of attorney Steven Cozzi. The case hinges on overwhelming circumstantial

Key takeaways

• Dr. Tomasz Kosowski represented himself in a bench trial for first-degree murder but waived his right to call witnesses or testify on his own behalf.
• Investigators found a 'murder bag' containing $280,000 in cash, brass knuckles, a ballistic vest stained with Cozzi's blood, a Guy Fawkes mask, and succinylcholine (a paralytic agent).

Main topics

• No-body homicide investigation
• Self-representation in capital cases

Notable quotes

"I would say that the criminal act that the state accuses me of perpetuating is physically impossible."

Conclusion

The episode underscores how a professional dispute over online reviews escala

Transcript preview

Speaker 4 (0:04) I would say that the criminal act that the state accuses me of perpetuating is physically impossible. It is physically impossible to transfer a body in the manner the state suggests. Take into account what they're proposing. 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. Speaker 4 (0:34) That's physically impossible. I mean, maybe not for like an Olympic caliber deadlifter. And Mr. von der Heyde knows this very, very well. And that is why he refused. to lift up that cart yesterday. Speaker 1 (0:49) That was former Florida plastic surgeon Dr. Tomasz Kosalski representing himself in court after being charged with the murder of 41-year-old attorney Stephen Causey. Despite his arguments, and he made some good ones during a six-day trial, Dr. Kosalski, age 47, was found guilty of first-degree murder on September 23rd. The doctor, who now faces the possibility of the death sentence, not only represented himself in court, but he waived his right to a jury. So instead, asking for a bench trial. So he's leaving it up to a single judge alone to decide his fate, whether he'll live or whether he'll die. To understand how this case came about, you do need some history. The two men met because of a legal conflict. Dr. Kosowski had sued his former employer, the Lawford Institute of Plastic Surgery, and some of the people associated with the institute over a negative online review and a medical billing dispute. Stephen Causey just happened to be the lawyer for the defendants for the other side. But things apparently got so heated between the two men that in January of 2023, during a deposition, Kozlowski confronted Kazi in his law office's bathroom, calling him a scumbag. And that matters because it was in that same bathroom, three months later, that authorities believe that Dr. Kozlowski came back in and killed Stephen Kazi. He was then arrested a few days later in a traffic stop with $280,000 in cash, brass knuckles, a paralyzing agent, a medication, and a ballistic vest that was stained with Kazi's blood. Here's the important part for this case. Kazi's body has never been found. I'm 48 Hours correspondent Erin Moriarty, and this is Case by Case. Returning to the show today is 48 Hours consultant Herman Weisberg. Herman is a private investigator, former NYPD detective, and he's also the managing director of Sage Intelligence Group, where he oversees investigations. Thank you, Herman, for being back with Case by Case today. Speaker 2 (3:20) Thanks for having me, Erin. I'm really honored to be working with you. I'm a big fan. And yes, this is a heck of a case. Speaker 1 (3:27) Herman, I first have to ask you your impressions of Dr. Kosowski in court. You have seen individuals represent themselves. I think he's a little different. He's incredibly educated. He seems sometimes even smug. I mean, do you think he was really prepared for what he did, defending himself in a death penalty case? No, Speaker 2 (3:55) not at all. He was, to me, I was transfixed watching this. He looked like a deer in the headlights half the time. I don't know what he was thinking, representing himself. The old expression comes to mind, you know, a fool for a client. But I would seriously rather see a lawyer perform surgery on himself than to watch a surgeon practice law or what he thought was practicing law. He didn't do himself any justice, literally. Speaker 1 (4:24) Well, what troubled me, why I keep calling this a troubling case, is that there are a lot of people in this country who dislike lawyers, but this seemed to go beyond that. This was an obsession. for this plastic surgeon. But there did seem to be some warning Speaker 8 (4:42) signs. As you know, Kazi's husband, Michael Montgomery, had actually feared for Kazi's safety. He bought Kazi pepper spray and he testified that he fixed their home security system. And I think it was a smart move because a week before Kazi Speaker 1 (5:02) disappeared. Kosowski was found out of business near his law office, and he was hiding in an electrical closet with a torchlighter and a wagon, what's called a guerrilla wagon, identical to the one that investigators believe he later used to transport Cosby's Speaker 8 (5:20) body. So it seems like everyone should have known that Kosowski was a threat. Do you Speaker 1 (5:27) think it's just that people didn't realize how far he would go? Speaker 2 (5:30) for the husband to react by improving their security system and getting the mace and taking those steps. I really do think that Kazi was concerned about it, but not to this extent. Speaker 8 (5:39) Have you ever seen grudges play out quite like this in all your years Speaker 2 (5:44) as Speaker 8 (5:45) a detective? Speaker 2 (5:46) Not like this one. I think this doctor, they often, you've heard the expression, God complex. I think he was not used to losing at all. or ever being wrong. And this got to him and then he got fixated on it. This is a man that clearly snapped. I've seen a lot of litigation get out of control. I've seen really messy divorces. I've seen business breakups, grudges get held and the lawyer sometimes take the brunt of it, but not to this extent. This is really one really bizarre and extreme case to me. It definitely seems like Speaker 8 (6:25) that. What kind of sticks out, though, about Kowalski is that he had no criminal history, right? I mean, why risk all of this? I Speaker 2 (6:37) think something really, really big was going on. And the disadvantage here is that he represented himself. He didn't have an attorney to step in and make those evaluations for him. Speaker 1 (6:48) I have to say, you know. Speaker 1 (6:52) What's really important in this case is the fact Speaker 8 (6:55) that it's a no body case. Doesn't the fact that you have no body, you don't have a cause of death, you don't have a weapon, make the circumstantial evidence in this case that much more significant, Speaker 1 (7:07) right? What they know is that Stephen Causey. disappeared, literally disappeared from his office on March 21st, 2023. He went to the bathroom. He left an email unwritten, left his phone behind. But then he's never seen again. Can you talk about some of the evidence that then led investigators to look at Dr. Kozlowski? Speaker 2 (7:31) As we all know, the first 48 hours are extremely crucial in these cases. And I think the police did an appropriate job here. They definitely pounced on this and they got right into preservation and collection of evidence in the video, which is kind of unusual. These no body cases, they usually take a long time. It starts out as a missing person and then it proceeds to be a homicide investigation. In this case, I think they were looking right away as. possible abduction or and or um an assault or homicide Speaker 8 (8:05) Well, yeah, because I think Kosciuszko made an error by being Speaker 1 (8:12) found a week before. You believe, then, that the circumstantial evidence is very powerful in this case. Speaker 2 (8:20) Very, very powerful. You know, the stalking, the confrontation. You know, Kosciuszko went back and obviously told his husband that he was concerned about this. So you've got that. You've got. You know, probably a limited amount of people that were looking to harm Kazi. You know, he's an attorney doing civil work, civil litigation. This is not somebody that's, you know, going around making enemies as far as I'm concerned, or as far as I know. 10.22 that morning, surveillance video outside that law office shows someone who really appears to be Kazowski wheeling out a heavy wagon and then struggling to put it in a truck. It doesn't take a Sherlock Holmes level investigator to figure out something's happened and that he's either been abducted or murdered. Speaker 8 (9:05) Right. I mean, it was clear that Kozlowski was going to be a suspect. I still