Tomasz Kosowski

Introduction

Tomasz Kosowski is a former plastic surgeon, known to patients as “Dr. K,” who practiced in Florida and graduated from Dartmouth College. In September 2026, a Florida judge found Kosowski guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Steven Cozzi, a 41-year-old attorney whose body has never been found. The verdict, delivered on a Wednesday following a roughly week-long bench trial, came after Kosowski insisted on representing himself and waived his right to a jury — a move legal experts described as exceedingly rare in a capital case. He now faces a sentencing proceeding in which prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. Kosowski maintains that it is uncertain what happened to Cozzi and says he did not kill him.

Background Information

Kosowski, 47, holds several advanced degrees, including a medical degree from Dartmouth College, and worked as a plastic surgeon with practices connected to the Tampa Bay area; he lived in a multimillion-dollar waterfront home in Tarpon Springs, according to trial coverage.

In 2019, he sued former colleagues over a billing dispute, and in 2022 he began representing himself in that civil litigation, putting him in direct dealings with the opposing firm’s attorneys — among them Steven Cozzi, who worked at the Largo, Florida law firm Laukaitis & Malkus. Prosecutors said the dispute over medical billing fueled a yearslong animus: Kosowski allegedly called Cozzi a “scumbag” months before the killing and was the only person investigators could identify as having a problem with him.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Adjudicated vs. alleged. Kosowski’s conviction of first-degree murder in the death of Steven Cozzi was entered by Pinellas County Judge Joseph Bulone on September 23–24, 2026, after a bench trial, and is a matter of court record; his sentence has not yet been decided. Accounts of the killing beyond the bare verdict — including the claimed abduction and disposal of Cozzi’s body — come from prosecutors’ case presentation, which the judge accepted in finding guilt, and Kosowski continues to dispute them, telling the court it is “entirely uncertain” what happened to Cozzi.

On March 21, 2023, Cozzi walked from his office to a restroom down the hall, leaving an email draft open and music playing from his phone, and never returned; colleagues reported him missing hours later. Prosecutors alleged that Kosowski had slipped into the law firm that morning, waited for Cozzi, and killed him in the restroom before dragging the body out of the building in a cart. A colleague who later checked the bathroom testified it smelled overwhelmingly of cleaning products, with blood on the walls, the toilet seat, and the floor.

Surveillance footage assembled from Flock cameras showed a man entering the building and, hours later and in different clothes, hauling a wagon to a gray Toyota Tundra and struggling to load its contents. Prosecutors said Kosowski joined a 10:30 a.m. virtual hearing in the civil case from the law firm’s parking lot minutes after the wagon left the building, then drove home, transferred the body to another vehicle, and stopped at a remote dumpster; pings from his cellphone tracked that route. The dumpster’s contents were emptied at a landfill two days later, and despite days of searching, no remains were recovered.

Kosowski was arrested four days after the disappearance with nearly $300,000 in cash, two passports, and, in his trunk, a duffel bag prosecutors called a “murder bag” containing masks, brass knuckles, a Taser, a crowbar, and a syringe with the paralytic succinylcholine, Assistant State Attorney Alexandra Spadaro said in opening statements. Cozzi’s blood was found in the restroom, in the bed of Kosowski’s pickup, and on a ballistic vest in his second car, according to DNA evidence presented at trial.

At trial, Kosowski presented no defense case but delivered a roughly 20-minute closing argument in a soft voice, arguing prosecutors had failed to prove the elements of first-degree murder: no body, no death certificate, and, in his telling, a physically impossible disposal scenario. “No one heard a thing. No one saw anything,” he said, adding, “I also do not leave a speck of DNA in that bathroom.” Judge Bulone deliberated for about 15 minutes before announcing the guilty verdict.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The verdict drew wide national coverage, much of it focused on the self-representation gambit. “I don’t anticipate me disagreeing with myself that much,” Bulone quipped before stepping away to deliberate. Death Penalty Information Center executive director Robin Maher told CNN that pro se representation in capital cases is rare and “typically doesn’t end in a favorable outcome for the defendant,” noting most such examples end in convictions and death sentences.

Assistant State Attorney Nathan Vonderheide urged the death penalty, saying the evidence showed Kosowski “had the obsession, and he prepared, and he had a plan, and he effectuated that plan, and murdered him.” Cozzi’s husband, Michael Montgomery, testified before the verdict about the family’s lack of closure: “The most unbearable part is that we were never able to bring Steven home.” Kosowski, in an orange jail jumpsuit, showed almost no reaction as the ruling was read.

Current Status

Kosowski has been held in jail since his March 2023 arrest. The case has moved into the penalty phase, where Judge Bulone will decide between life in prison without parole and death; Bulone noted one aggravating factor proven beyond a reasonable doubt is enough for a death sentence, but also said the absence of a body means the killing’s heinousness cannot be proven as an aggravator. His next hearing is scheduled for October 8, 2026, and the judge asked whether Kosowski wanted an attorney for the penalty phase. Cozzi’s remains have never been found; investigators suspect they were buried under thousands of tons of landfill garbage.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Kosowski’s medical career is over: the conviction caps his transformation from a Dartmouth-educated plastic surgeon into a convicted murderer whose sentencing choice is life or death. The killing and the three-year legal saga destroyed two families’ lives in different ways — Cozzi’s husband and mother mourned without remains to bury, while Kosowski lost his freedom, his fortune (much of it spent on years of self-directed litigation), and, in all likelihood given the penalty phase, possibly his life. The case is already cited by legal commentators as a cautionary example of self-representation in capital trials.

Sources

• New York Post, “Plastic surgeon who insisted on repping himself found guilty of murdering attorney — now faces death penalty”, Sep. 24, 2026. source
• CNN, “Tomasz Kosowski found guilty of murder after representing himself in death penalty case”, Sep. 23, 2026. source
• Fox News, “Florida plastic surgeon Tomasz Kosowski guilty of first-degree murder”, Sep. 24, 2026. source