Police imagine Plastic Surgeon accused of murdering lacking lawyer was in Miami-Dade
NBC Miami- A Tampa-area plastic surgeon who’s been charged with homicide following the disappearance of an lawyer could have traveled to Miami-Dade after the lawyer vanished final week, police mentioned Tuesday.
Miami-Dade Police officers mentioned in a press release that their chilly case unit is helping the Largo Police Division of their investigation into the disappearance of lawyer Steven Cozzi.
Largo police arrested Dr. Tomasz Kosowski on a first-degree homicide cost on Saturday within the disappearance of Cozzi, who had been representing former colleagues the physician is suing and was final seen March 21 at Blanchard Legislation the place he labored.
Of their assertion, Miami-Dade Police mentioned investigators imagine Kosowski and his pink Toyota Corolla had been within the Miami-Dade space between March 21-26. The automobile is in police custody in Largo.
Cozzi’s physique hasn’t been discovered, however prosecutors mentioned in court docket paperwork that they’ve blood, video and different proof linking Kosowski to Cozzi’s killing.
Safety video confirmed somebody driving Kosowski’s pickup truck the morning of March 21 outdoors the legislation agency the place Cozzi labored. The individual went inside sporting a backpack and gloves and carrying a big field, prosecutors mentioned.
Nearly two hours later, it seems the identical man exited Blanchard Legislation sporting totally different garments, pulling a big cart containing one thing in a bag or coated by a blanket. He struggled with its weight as he pulled it close to the truck, prosecutors mentioned. The person then stops.
At about this time, Kosowski, 44, dialed right into a phone convention about his lawsuit. Cozzi had been anticipated on the decision, however missed it. As quickly because it ended a half hour later, the individual within the surveillance video started loading the cart into the physician’s truck, once more combating its weight, prosecutors mentioned.
Blanchard Legislation has been representing Kosowski’s former employer and associates in an ongoing lawsuit he filed in opposition to them 4 years in the past. Kosowski, who started working for Laufer Institute of Plastic Surgical procedure in 2016 doing breast reconstructions, mentioned within the lawsuit that the lady Laufer assigned to course of his insurance coverage billing didn’t file claims and lied to his sufferers, costing him tens of hundreds of {dollars} and leading to adverse evaluations on-line.
The day Cozzi disappeared, a colleague searching for him found his pockets, keys and telephone in his workplace and a considerable amount of blood within the constructing’s public lavatory.
A couple of half an hour after the truck left the legislation agency, a license plate reader close to the physician’s dwelling confirmed it arriving within the neighborhood and acquired a shot of what seemed to be a physique coated by a bag or blanket within the truck mattress, prosecutors mentioned.
The license plate reader detected the truck leaving the neighborhood about 5 hours later. It was subsequent seen by a license plate reader in Miami, a 300-mile journey that doubtless would have gone by the Everglades.
Police executed a search warrant at Kosowski’s dwelling Thursday and located blood each within the mattress of his pickup mattress and its cabin, in addition to within the storage, prosecutors mentioned. They stopped the physician Saturday in one other automobile and located a ballistic vest with a considerable quantity of blood on it and a bag containing brass knuckles, a stun gun, syringes containing a paralyzing agent and different sedatives, duct tape and masks.
Kosowski, who goes by “Dr. Ok,” was arrested shortly after and was being held with out bond on the Pinellas County jail. His lawyer, Bjorn Brunvand, mentioned Monday that he has filed a not responsible plea on Kosowski’s behalf and requested a jury trial.
Miami-Dade Police are asking anybody who could have are available in contact with Kosowski and/or his Corolla with Florida tag EMFK38 between March 21-26 to name Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS.