Dead Again

The Woman in the Woods

The Woman in the Woods investigates the mysterious deaths of Mindi Kassotis and her husband Nick, whose lives unraveled after she claimed to

Key takeaways

• Mindi's sudden disappearance and return from hiding raised red flags among close friends.
• Nick Kassotis may have been a fabricated identity, as his first wife, Heather Thomas, confirmed he had previously married her.

Main topics

• Unexplained deaths
• Identity fraud

Notable quotes

"I honestly was in a bit of disbelief. How was it possible that Mindy Kasotis could have died not once, but twice?"

Conclusion

The episode reveals a chilling possibility: Mindi may have been murdered or

Transcript preview

Speaker 5 (0:00) They say that some people kind of have that light that just attracts you to them. That's how Mindy was. Speaker 5 (0:08) It was just hard to believe that someone we loved, you know, was in this type of situation. Speaker 3 (0:16) Angela Wynn had gone years without seeing her dear friend Mindy Kasotis. Mindy had told her friends that she and her husband were on the run from a threat connected to his high-security, top-secret work. She was exhausted. She was tired. She was just ready for everything to be over. But in the summer of 2022, Mindy told Angela she might finally be able to come out of hiding and they could celebrate some good news. Mindy was pregnant, she said. She and her husband, Nick, were expecting their first child. And maybe, just maybe, their lives could finally go back to normal. She's Speaker 5 (1:00) going to have her husband. They'll have the baby. They'll be, you know, she was coming to see Speaker 3 (1:05) me. Mindy was 40 years old, a striking brunette with beautiful eyes and a boisterous laugh. Angela couldn't wait to catch up with her old friend and her husband. They were both very happy to be expecting. When is the last time you had contact with her, Angela? Speaker 5 (1:25) That October. Speaker 3 (1:27) But weeks passed without any word from Mindy. That's when Angela messaged Mindy's husband, Nick. She got a response on Instagram. He was like, hey, can I call you? And I'm like, you don't have to ask that. Just Speaker 5 (1:42) pick up the phone and call. And so he called me, and that's when he told me that Mindy was gone. Gone? that she Speaker 3 (1:54) had died in the hospital. He was crying. Nick told Angela that Mindy had suffered a brain aneurysm and that they'd lost the baby. There would be no funeral arrangements, he said. Angela offered to help him organize any celebration for Mindy, but didn't hear back from him. He just dropped off the face of the earth. Angela couldn't let it go and reached out to Mindy's family. What was happening? She received a message from Mindy's mom in February 2023. And her mother tells you what? He Speaker 5 (2:34) had gotten into an accident and succumbed from his injuries two days later in the hospital. Speaker 3 (2:38) Now Nick was dead too? Speaker 3 (2:42) The idea that Mindy and her husband had died within months of each other just didn't add up for Angela. I'm Speaker 5 (2:51) going to be perfectly honest in saying that at that point, I did not feel comfortable with what I knew. And I said to myself, like, what do you do when you're in a situation and you feel like something is wrong, but also... The entire story is so crazy, who's going to believe you? And then a month later is when I got a call from Detective Stantz. Speaker 3 (3:17) Law enforcement had found human remains in the woods outside of Savannah. They believed it was Mindy Kasotis. I Speaker 5 (3:27) honestly was in a bit of disbelief. Speaker 3 (3:30) How was it possible that Mindy Kasotis could have died not once, but twice? Speaker 5 (3:37) I had been lied to for years. We had all been lied to for years. Speaker 3 (3:42) I'm Erin Moriarty. From 48 Hours, this is The Woman in the Woods. A strange mystery where the dead reappear, the living disappear, and at least one man may have never existed at all. Episode 1, Dead Again. Speaker 7 (4:09) I met Mindy in high school in about 1996-ish. Speaker 3 (4:15) Morgan Paddock first met Mindy when they were teenagers. Speaker 7 (4:19) She had moved to Louisiana, and we went to rival high schools, but we were in the same youth group together. Speaker 3 (4:26) Mindy and Morgan were part of the same church youth group in Covington, Louisiana. Morgan remembers that Mindy never missed Bible study. She Speaker 7 (4:37) was raised in a Christian home. Her dad was a music minister. We sang in youth choir together. She loved to sing. She had a beautiful voice. One of the things I remember about her, Mindy, if you heard her laugh, you knew it was her. Like she had this incredible laugh. Speaker 3 (4:57) Before moving to Louisiana, Mindy had grown up in Florida. She was the oldest of three, a big sister to two brothers. I Speaker 7 (5:08) always say Mindy was the thread between high school and college, my high school friends and my college friends. Speaker 3 (5:14) Morgan was about a year older than Mindy and in some ways felt like her big sister. I moved Speaker 7 (5:21) to Savannah after high school. Mindy came to visit and... She loved it, and she ended up moving here. Speaker 3 (5:29) Mindy received a bachelor's degree in Savannah, Georgia, at Armstrong State University, before she moved to Washington, D.C., to work as an assistant at a prestigious law firm. And that's where she met Angela Nguyen. We met on Speaker 5 (5:47) the first day of our very first jobs right out of college. In Speaker 3 (5:52) 2025, Angela, Morgan, and I sat down together in Savannah as they shared memories of their friend. She was this Speaker 5 (6:02) southern belle who was excited to be moving to the big city, and I was a single mom, grateful for a job that allowed for me to be able to take care of my kids. Speaker 3 (6:13) But they connected. Mindy would step up whenever Angela needed her. Speaker 5 (6:19) When