On March 21st, 2023, the legal community in Largo, Florida, was rocked by the mysterious disappearance of Steven Cozzi, a beloved and well-respected attorney. While external security camera footage showed Steven entering the office building, there was no evidence that he had ever left the building. Blood was found in the employee restroom and Steven was never heard from again. The circumstances of the disappearance were puzzling and raised many questions among local authorities and the general public. Chiefly, how could a man seemingly vanish into thin air? When Steven's boss told officers that he knew of only one person who may have held a grudge against Steven, the young and successful self-proclaimed "Dr. Tampa Bay," it added a shocking twist to the case, prompting detectives to dig deeper into the doctor's background. As the investigation unfolded, sinister and unsettling details emerged that would cast suspicion on the doctor's possible involvement in Steven's disappearance. Prior to 2012, Steven Randall Cozzi worked in theater as a wardrobe designer. He held positions in Portland, Maine, New York City and Manassas, Virginia. Despite some success in this field, Steven felt unfulfilled and wanted to do more with his skills. So he relocated to Florida in early 2012 and enrolled at the Stetson University College of Law. In May 2016, Steven earned the distinguished William F Blews Pro Bono Service award after performing over twice as many pro bono hours than required. He graduated soon after that and was admitted to the Florida Bar in October 2016. For the past four years, Steven has been employed as an associate attorney at the Blanchard Law Office in Largo, Florida. According to the firm's website, Blanchard Law is a bankruptcy-focused law firm with a business background. Steven handled cases in bankruptcy, foreclosure, debt settlement and negotiation, and business and civil litigation. According to his employer, he had a record of exceeding client expectations and was considered an asset to the law firm. He was also thought by many, including his boss, to be a genuinely kind man. You don't know why somebody would hurt somebody as nice as this guy. Nobody, I mean, this is the nicest guy, the sweetest guy. His loved ones knew Steven as a brilliant, easygoing, compassionate person who adored animals, particularly his cat, Saffron. He was enthusiastic about running marathons and had a strong bond with his family. In October 2020, Steven tied the knot with his partner of two years, Michael Montgomery, and it seemed that everything was going right for him. Steven was thriving in his personal and professional life and was considered a budding star in the legal field. On January 26, 2023, Steven attended a deposition hearing at Blanchard Law Office, which is located in a multi-business office complex with shared common areas like restrooms and a utility closet. Although Steven had conducted many deposition hearings before, this one was different. The opposing counsel was a physician representing himself in a civil matter. The doctor became highly agitated with the frequency and the nature of Steven's objections. Despite being described as calm and kind in his personal life, Steven was considered highly competent and firm in business matters. After the hearing, the physician confronted Steven at the men's restroom and accosted him. He did so again on his way out of the office. No formal charges or complaints were filed as the firm considered it a "heat of the moment" dispute. Both parties simply moved on. Several weeks after the initial incident, on March 14th, another peculiar event took place at the office complex. An employee from a different business located within the complex discovered that the door to the utility closet was left open. As she approached the door to close it she encountered an unknown man lurking in the darkness, attempting to hide behind the door. The man was described as wearing jeans, a loose t shirt and a surgical face mask. The man quickly left the room and was seen getting into a gray pickup truck in the parking lot. The employee contacted the police, who arrived and took a report. Thursday, March 21st, began like most others for Steven. After his morning routine, he headed to work to prepare for a 1030 remote hearing. Steven was captured on an external security camera entering the Blanchard Law Office at 8:37 a.m. According to police records, Jake Blanchard, the firm's managing partner, said Steven went to the restroom around 9:50 a.m., and did not return. Although he did not observe Steven heading to the bathroom, he later discovered the door sensor alarm to Steven's office, recorded an opening and closing event at 9:50. As Jacob approached Steven's office he noticed a peculiar sight. All of Steven's personal belongings, including his wallet, car keys, work, laptop, tablet and cell phone, were left unguarded on his desk. His cell phone continued to play music, and it appeared as though he was in the middle of responding to an email. Curiosity got the best of Jake, and he ventured into the men's bathroom where he was met with a shocking discovery. A red smear was visible on the bathroom door and small amounts of blood were on the stall wall and near the toilet's base. Subsequent forensic testing confirmed the presence of a significant amount of blood in the same bathroom. The bathroom also had a pungent chemical odor. Jake later recounted his observations to WFLA TV. Did you see bleach? I smelled it. And I could ... somewhat, I could see, like, a splotch on the wall next to, to the toilet where ... Where there was like someone tried to clean it. Looked like clean it with bleach, but it took the paint off. Coworkers contacted family and friends, but no one had seen or heard from Steven, including his spouse, Despite an important court hearing scheduled at 10:30 a.m., the usually reliable Steven never showed up or called, and that's when Jake realized something was wrong. At around 11:40 a.m., the police were contacted. The concern was obvious. What happened to Steven in such a short period of time? The police arrived at the office complex on South Belcher Road at 11:46 a.m.. Upon reviewing the camera footage, they found no evidence of Steven leaving the building. Unfortunately, there was no internal surveillance footage to aid their investigation. The officers conducted a thorough search of the surrounding area and contacted nearby hospitals, but were unable to locate Steven. His vehicle remained in the parking lot untouched. At 2:33 p.m., Steven was officially declared missing. Continued analysis of the security camera footage revealed a possible lead, an unknown man in a gray Toyota Tundra arrived at the office parking lot at 8:32 a.m.. He was wearing a long sleeved white shirt. No one in the complex could account for this person. 2 minutes later, the man is seen exiting his truck and entering the building, wearing gloves, carrying a large cart on his shoulder and sporting a backpack. He opened the door through the main entrance and walked into the lobby. 3 minutes later, Steven is seen entering the building at 10:22 a.m.. Surveillance video shows the unidentified man exiting the building. However, detectives found it suspicious that this individual had changed clothing and this time was clearly struggling with the weight of the cart. He placed the cart next to a gray Toyota Tundra and entered the vehicle where he remained until 11:05 a.m.. Who was this man and what was he doing at Blanchard Law? The unknown man was then seen struggling to lift the cart onto the bed of his pickup at 11:15 a.m. The subject changed shirts yet again. He entered the truck and began driving north. The tundra was last captured on a solar-powered FLOCK safety camera heading north at 11:51 a.m. with an invalid New Jersey license plate. Officers said there was an image of a red bag or blanket in a cart that appeared to contain what resembles a human body located in the bed of the truck. The pickup arrived at a waterfront home in Tarpon Springs at 11:58 a.m. Deputies said later that day that a red Toyota Corolla was seen leaving the same home around 5 p.m. and was later detected by TAG readers in Miami. Largo police detectives began looking for a suspicious person and vehicle that were spotted at the office building at the time of Stephen's disappearance. During their investigation, detectives were informed of a heated deposition in January between Stephen and a doctor at Blanchard Lot, whom they later identified as Dr. Tomasz Kosowski. Additionally, they learned of an unusual incident on March 14 in which an unknown individual was observed hiding in a utility closet. A forensics team was called in to examine the utility closet door, and they discovered a latent print of the left index finger belonging to Tomasz Kosowski. Upon reviewing camera footage from March 14, investigators noted that the vehicle of the suspect seen in the utility closet matched the truck at the scene of Stephen's disappearance. With this information, Dr. Kosowski became a person of interest, but the question remained who is he and what motive could he have had for harming Stephen? As the police delved further into the investigation, what they uncovered about Dr. Kosowski was alarming and puzzling. Hello, my social media army. This is Dr. Tampa Bay. We've had some awesome cases this week. If they're still up, check them out on Snapchat. As you can tell, the latest trend in plastic surgery is to put in these ultra high profile implants. And you saw us put in the Mentor device as well as the Allerden device into patients this week. But if you're interested in a breast augmentation with me, we're not just limited to this stuff here. If you're if you want the old fashioned saline, we can do that, too. If you're into gummy bears, we do those, too. We even have this half silicone, half saline in hand called the "Ideal Implant," available to you for you to choose from. So if you're interested in consultation with me, please call the number below and some exciting news. There's a special coming out on breast augmentation later on today. 44 year old Dr. Tomasz Roman Kosowski is a Polish-born US citizen who prefers to be called Tom. He's a plastic surgeon with over 16 years of experience in the medical field. He specializes in facial plastic surgery, body contouring and breast reconstruction techniques. Dr. Kosowski completed medical school at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. According to the Florida Department of Health, Dr. Kosowski elected not to carry medical malpractice insurance. Instead, he provided the department with an affidavit of financial responsibility. Additionally, according to an article by the Daily Beast, Dr. Kosowski has never been board certified, which is not a requirement, and his eligibility for board certification expired in 2019. After achieving his medical degree, Dr. Kosowski completed a residency program from 2008 to 2014, followed by three plastic surgery fellowships between 2007 and 2015. He practiced for some time in Atlanta, Georgia, before relocating to Florida. He worked at the Laufer Institute of Plastic Surgery in Dunedin from 2016 to 2018, but left in 2018 after a business dispute. He then joined the group practice named Xiluet Plastics Surgery, located in Miami. Xiluet has had its share of issues from an F rating with the Better Business Bureau to recently being the subject of an investigative probe by a local news station. It was a total $10,000. I had paid a total of $20,500 on it. I am owed 600 by Xiluet and I have spent over 3000 out of my pocket. Just a few of the women who tell Local ten news they paid toward procedures at Xiluet plastic surgery but got nothing in return. No return calls, no returned emails. I've been completely ghosted. They do not take your phone calls. They do not return phone calls. It turns into emotional distress at this point. Joanie Camden flew to South Florida from Georgia in December to get cosmetic surgery at the clinic on Southwest eighth Street. But once there, Camden says, staff told her the doctor she chose wasn't available. Everyone wanted him. He was being overbooked. She says the clinic tried to push her to have surgery with a different doctor who she later learned recently had a patient die. There ended up being a serious situation that took place. The death of the client that had BBL. BBL, short for a Brazilian butt lift. In September, a patient of Xiluet Dr. Stephanie Stover, died from the procedure. While Dr. Kosowski had no criminal background and was not directly implicated in the news investigation, he was no stranger to controversy. In or around July or August 2019, Kosowski ran a promotion through Xiluet for a Brazilian butt lift procedure. Hello, smug babes. I know you've been thinking of that Brazilian butt lift. And guess what? We have an amazing special just for you. You can now get your BBL for only $4,850 here at Xiluet plastic surgery with our amazing Dr. Tom Kosowski. Around that time, Dr. Kosowski sent an unsolicited direct message on Instagram to a random 19 year old woman offering to perform a discounted Brazilian butt lift. The woman agreed to the terms and Dr. Kosowski performed the procedure. However, there were complications soon after and the patient complained of a poor outcome. In January 2021, the patient filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against Dr. Kosowski for what she claimed was a botched surgical procedure. The complaint alleges Dr. Kosowski over injected the patient's buttocks with fat, which led to a large, open, painful wound and infection. Recent court records show this case was settled out of court on December 23, 2022. Dr. Kosowski left the Xiluet Group to open his own practice in Miami. In 2019, Dr. Kosowski filed a lawsuit of his own. This action was against his former employer, the Laufer Institute for breach of contract and Misrepresentation, and he asked for relief of $15,000. The Associated Press reports that the case centered on Medicaid insurance billing issues. The suit alleges that the office's insurance billing practices enraged patients, costing him tens of thousands of dollars and resulting in negative reviews of him to be posted online. One patient even called him a butcher. Dr. Kosowski relied heavily on online reviews and social media to expand his client base and had a sizable following. Hi, Instagrammers. I just wanted to let you all know we hit 4000 followers last night, which is awesome. Thank you. Thank you so much for all your love and support you guys mean the world to us. Please encourage, tag, let your friends know about us because once we hit 5000, we're going to have a huge party and a big giveaway here. While Kosowski had retained counsel in the dispute against Laufer, the attorney representing his former employer was none other than Steven Cozzi. It turns out Steven and Dr. Kosowski were quite familiar with one another. Court records show that the dispute was not going Dr. Kosowski's way. At some point Kosowski's attorney decided to withdraw from the case. Dr. Kosowski subsequently decided to represent himself as of March 23, 2022. It was then that his animosity towards Steven began to surface. At one point, Dr. Kosowski filed a motion to remove Steven from the case. He also filed a motion for sanctions against Blanchard Law, in which he attempted to recover such costs as attorney fees. In response, Steven delivered a letter to Dr. Kosowski, skillfully challenging each of Dr. Kaspersky's arguments. As an example, Steven stated in the letter, "You seek fees of $51,250 for which you have no basis and no proof. It should be further noted that pro se litigants are not entitled to attorney's fees, as they have no attorney's fees to pay." In another statement, Steven declared, "You seek the highly dubious relief of removal of defendant's counsel, for which you have not provided an actual basis in fact or in law." Steven closed the letter to Dr. Kosowski by threatening to file for sanctions unless he withdrew his motion within 21 days. In a separate court document, Steven asserted that Dr. Kosowski lacked an understanding of legal procedures and was making repetitive requests for information and documents that he had either already received, were non-existent, or was not within his legal right to access. Threatened with sanctions, Dr. Kosowski doubled down. He refused to withdraw his motion, and in turn, Steven followed through on requesting sanctions in mid-February. Now, more than three years into what began as a request for relief of $15,000, Kosowski faced the increasing likelihood of a legal loss. It appears the experienced Steven was beating the legal novice Kosowski at every turn. Attorney Jake Pillsbury, who worked together with Steven on the Kosowski case, said Kosowski was just very unhappy about how much of his questioning was being objected to during the contentious deposition in January. Managing Partner Jake Blanchard also noticed Dr. Kosowski's frustration with Steven. This is the only person that I could think of that had a problem with Steve. Pillsbury stated that as the case progressed and became more hostile, he began to develop a strong aversion to Kosowski. Pillsbury clarified that their dislike of Kosowski wasn't due to him being on the opposing side of the lawsuit. Instead, he attributed it to Kosowski's unpleasant behavior. In an interview with The Daily Beast, Pillsbury stated, I've represented some people accused of some pretty terrible things, and I've become pretty good at identifying people who are dangerous. And I was concerned about this guy pretty early on. Everybody who comes into contact with him feels creeped out. There's something very offputting about being around this guy. Yet, Dr. Kosowski's former medical school classmates had a different viewpoint. They were surprised by the accusations made against the man who they described as kindhearted and amiable. I have never seen him upset, let alone furious, said one friend. "When I was feeling low after my wife left me and I went through my first divorce, Tom was the one who made sure I ate and called to check on me." Dr. Kosowski lives alone in a lavish $1.4 million home he owned free and clear in Tarpon Springs. The home was purchased in 2018 for $1,000,000, and the $950,000 mortgage was fully paid off within four years. Dr. Kosowski was linked to at least two unusual incidents at Steven's workplace prior to his disappearance on March 21st. Two days later, the Largo Police Department informed investigators they'd acquired footage of a gray Toyota Tundra and a red Toyota Corolla on Kosowski's property. The footage came from a neighbor's surveillance cameras upon confirming that the cars belonged to Kosowski, officers served a search warrant for Kosowski's home. Inside the garage they found the gray Tundra with what appeared to be blood present on the truck's bed, driver's side, headrest, floorboard and garage floor. These findings led to probable cause for a search and arrest warrant for Tom Kosowski. Detectives immediately put out a BOLO for the red Corolla. On Saturday, March 25th, Tom Kosowski's red Corolla was pulled over by police upon his return to Tarpon Springs. As officers searched the vehicle, they hope to find some proof connecting him to Steven's disappearance. Instead, officers discovered a bonanza of incriminating evidence. According to the arrest affidavit, officers found a Taser, brass knuckles, masks, duct tape, intravenous sedatives, including succinylcholine, with syringes and a ballistic vest covered in a substantial amount of blood. They also found multiple firearms, a license plate flipper, nearly $290,000 in cash and bags of evidence in his possession. The discovery of the items in Kosowski's car sent shockwaves throughout the quiet town of Tarpon Springs. As news of his arrest spread, rumors and speculation began to swirl about the gruesome details of the case. People couldn't help but wonder what kind of person would carry such an arsenal in their vehicle. The blood on the ballistic vest was sent for forensic testing. The license plate flipper suggested that Kosowski had been trying to evade the police, and the large sum of cash only fueled speculation that he was involved in some kind of criminal enterprise. But perhaps the most chilling discovery was the syringes and intravenous sedatives. It seemed that Kosowski had been prepared to incapacitate his victim before carrying out his gruesome plan. The idea that someone could be so calculating, so methodical was almost too much to bear. Kosowski was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in connection with Stephen's disappearance. He was taken to the Pinellas County jail, where he was booked at approximately 4:15 a.m. on Sunday. Kosowski's attorney, Bjorn Brundland, known as the "Natural Bjorn Acquitter," asked media members not to rush to judgment. As you know, keep an open mind. These are very, very serious charges. He is presumed innocent as he's currently sitting in jail. We're conducting our own investigation. And, you know, as it develops, we'll try to keep you updated, but just keep an open mind and keep in mind the fact that he's he's a doctor and he's presumed innocent, despite the nature of the charges. [Reporter] - Can you talk about the relationship between the victim and your client that you know about. I'm not going to comment any further on that. [Reporter 2] - Why push back the bail hearing today? Because we weren't going to get a bail today. There's a lot of factors involved and we need to explore a few things and then we will address that in the near future. [Reporter] - In terms of them finding a body, is he cooperating with investigators or ... I have no no comment whatsoever on that. I have no information on that. [Reporter] - Has he entered a plea? We have. I filed a notice of appearance and there are no formal charges as of yet. And so at this point, the not guilty plea is not filed. It will be filed if and when there are formal charges filed with the court. Okay. Thank you. All right. Thank you. On March 26, the police notified Steven' spouse and family members that he was presumed dead. Three days later, family members, friends and members of the community gathered for a vigil to honor Steven's memory. Hi. Yes, I'm Michael Montgomery. I'm the person that Steve asked to spend the rest of his life with a few years ago. My heart's broken, you know, it's. But it's being held together by tape and by sticks and all that stuff. Can't see the bigger picture in this yet, but I would like to just tell his story, you know, and just continue to tell it. And people can fall in love with him the way that I fell in love with him. Kosowski entered a plea of not guilty through his attorney at his initial appearance on Monday, March 27, in the Sixth Judicial Circuit Court. Do you have any questions right now, or would you like to just reserve those for your lawyer? Reserve for my lawyer please. According to a probable cause affidavit, police believe Kosowski murdered Steven because Steven represented Kosowski's former employer, the Laufer Institute, in a business dispute. As Steven proved to be highly capable, he was viewed as a threat and a target by Kosowski. They believe Kosowski murdered Steven in an office bathroom after using a paralyzing agent to subdue him. Police allege that Kosowski transferred Steven's lifeless body from the office to his Tundra using a cart. He then moved the body into his Corolla before driving to Miami. That drive would have taken him along the Everglades Parkway, also known as Alligator Alley, a remote stretch of I-75. One theory is that remains may have been disposed of along the way. Several questions remain unanswered regarding the murder of Steven Cozzi. The investigation is ongoing and additional information may become available in due course, including the perpetrators method of removing Steven's remains from the office complex and the exact motive for the killing. The incident prompted speculation as to why someone with the means and competence of Kosowski would choose to jeopardize his established life and career over a relatively minor legal dispute, as the accused remains in custody pending trial and the case winds its way through the criminal justice system, one can only hope that justice will prevail for Steven Cozzi and his family.