Florida prosecutors seeking the death penalty for a plastic surgeon accused of killing a lawyer and dumping his body in the Everglades have laid out their case in new court filings, the AP reports. Authorities say Dr. Tomasz Kosowski killed attorney Steven Cozzi in the bathroom of Cozzi's law office moments after both participated in a March 21 conference call about a lengthy, acrimonious legal battle over medical billing. Prosecutors said in court documents that Kosowski took the call from a Toyota pickup truck outside the office and that he had supplies to commit the killing, including trash bags, a syringe containing a paralyzing drug, and a wagon to haul the corpse out.
Although Cozzi's body has never been found, investigators used cellphone records and surveillance video to track Kosowski to a remote area west of Miami on the Tamiami Trail, also known as US Highway 41. That's where they believe Kosowski tossed the body into a Dumpster that was eventually emptied by a garbage truck. The driver noticed an unusually "vile" smell at the stop, authorities said. "Video from the garbage truck of the Dumpster being emptied into the garbage truck shows a large garbage bag falling in a manner inconsistent with normal trash," prosecutors said in a motion asking a judge to hold Kosowski without bond. The parcel's shape and the way it fell looked consistent with something that might hold a human body, they said. A police cadaver dog also indicated a body had been in the Dumpster, according to court documents filed Friday.
Trash from the route is typically hauled to a Collier County landfill, but authorities who searched the property for Cozzi's body said the facility routinely compacts its trash, "making recovery efforts nearly impossible." Kosowski, 44, has pleaded not guilty. A graduate of Dartmouth College medical school, he has specialized in reconstructive breast surgery for eight years, according to papers filed by his lawyers. The missing lawyer represented a medical practice based in Dunedin, Florida, that Kosowski alleged shorted him thousands of dollars in billings and damaged his reputation as a doctor. The dispute got so heated that Kosowski tried to get Cozzi removed from the case and at one point allegedly called Cozzi a "scumbag" during an encounter in the same law office bathroom where prosecutors say the attorney was slain. (More Florida stories.)
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