A Florida plastic surgeon has been charged with murdering a lawyer who vanished from his office during a bathroom break last week—and who worked for a firm representing defendants in a lawsuit filed by the doctor.
Tomasz Roman Kosowski, 44, was arrested Saturday in Tarpon Springs after police searched his home. Authorities did not say if the body of the attorney, Steve Cozzi, 41, has been found.
“Today, our greatest fears were realized. My husband and best friend was stolen from us,” Cozzi’s husband, Michael Montgomery, wrote on Facebook.
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“Steve Cozzi was the kindest, funniest, and most brilliant man I ever met. I knew he was the one from the day that we had our first date. I only ever wanted to protect him and to make him happy. I know I will see him again one day.”
Cozzi seemingly vanished into thin air on March 21, when he left his desk to use the men’s room at Blanchard Law, leaving behind his keys, wallet, and phone.
Security cameras did not show him leaving the building, but police said “there was a strong chemical odor in the men’s bathroom of the office and small drops of blood.”
“A subsequent forensics investigation revealed a significant amount of blood in the same bathroom,” according to a police statement. “Largo Police Detectives began looking for a suspicious person and vehicle that were seen at the office building the same time as the victim.
“This led the investigation to obtaining a search warrant on... Kosowski's residence in Tarpon Springs. Evidence obtained from the search warrant led to the vehicle stop of Kosowski on Saturday, March 25, 2023 in Tarpon Springs.”
Kosowski, who went to Dartmouth Medical School and specialized in breast reconstruction, was in the process of suing the Laufer Institute of Plastic Surgery for negligence, breach of contract and fraudulent misrepresentation, as the Tampa Bay Times first reported.
The suit alleges that the office’s insurance-billing practices infuriated patients, who then posted negative reviews about him online, even calling him a butcher.
Kosowski—who was sued in small-claims court by one of the disgruntled patients—claimed in his complaint against the company that his “promising young career has essentially been obliterated” and that his income had plummeted.
“It appears the Defendants had some sort of vendetta against Dr. K and may have even conspired together to intentionally harm Dr. K,” the suit claims.
Court records show that Blanchard Law represented the defendants in the suit, though it was not clear if Cozzi was also involved in the case. Cozzi had been an associate attorney at the small firm since 2018, two years after he graduated from Stetson University College of Law.
In the days before the arrest, Cozzi’s mother and husband had taken to social media to ask for help finding him.
“As a family, we are frantic with worry and numb with fear over Steven’s disappearance,” Cozzi’s mother Lois said in statement to WFLA.
“The outpouring of love and support from people who know and care for Steven has brought some comfort,” she added. “Right now, we need information and facts.”
Cozzi’s husband had posted photos of the couple to Facebook.
“My husband, the love of my life is missing since Tuesday. I will not stop until we bring him home,” Montgomery wrote in one post. In another, he said, “I am going to find you.”
