When Steven Cozzi sat down to dinner with her husband, Michael Montgomery, she liked to tell stories about her work as a lawyer.
Some of these stories centered around plastic surgeon Tomasz Kosowski, a man Cozzi referred to as the “mad doctor.” Kosowski was suing a plastic surgery practice and Cozzi represented some of the defendants in the case.
But after a particularly controversial statement in January, where Kosowski followed Cozzi into the bathroom during a break and called him a “scandal,” Montgomery began to worry about her husband’s safety. Montgomery fixed the security camera in her home and encouraged her husband to bring pepper spray as well as hire outside security the next time Cozzi and her boss, Jake Blanchard, met with Kosowski.
“I just had a bad feeling this was escalating,” Montgomery said from the witness stand in a Pinellas courtroom Tuesday.
Montgomery was one of four witnesses called by prosecutors Tuesday during a hearing to determine whether Kosowski, who was charged in Cozzi’s death after the lawyer disappeared in March, should be granted bail. The judge denied the defense’s motion to set bond for Kosowski, meaning he will remain in the Pinellas County Jail while awaiting trial.
A photo of missing Pinellas attorney Steven Cozzi is photographed during a vigil held by friends, family and members of the legal community in March in St. Petersburg. [ MARTHA ASENCIO-RHINE | Times ]
Police arrested Kosowski on March 26 on a charge of first-degree murder. Cozzi’s body has not been found.
Authorities reviewed surveillance footage from Cozzi’s office building that showed a man entering and exiting the building with a cart large enough to hold a body. Another surveillance video obtained by police showed the man driving a truck to Kosowski’s home in Tarpon Springs.
While serving a search warrant at Kosowski’s home, investigators found blood in his garage and in the truck that was captured on surveillance footage. When Kosowski was arrested, police found a bloody ballistic vest, as well as a Taser, brass knuckles, sedatives and masks, including a Guy Fawkes mask and a ski mask.
Debra Henrichs, a security guard at the office building where Cozzi worked, testified Tuesday that she had found Kosowski in the building’s puzzle room about a week earlier. He said he was there because there had been a power outage.
Henrichs was skeptical. She followed him outside, where she saw him drive off in a gray Toyota Tundra, she said. He then got a manager to check if there were bombs in the building and call the owner of the building. No one had called for service, the owner said. They decided to file a police report.
After the incident, Henrichs found a box in the room containing a wagon.
Henrichs thought he recognized Kosowski a week or two earlier. He had seen a man looking through the windows of the law office where Cozzi worked one morning and told him the office wasn’t open yet.
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“Something didn’t feel right,” Henrichs said.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Blanchard, who owns the law firm, recalled the day Cozzi disappeared.
Cozzi had gone to the bathroom while at work and never returned to his desk, leaving his wallet, keys and cellphone behind. Blanchard went to check it out. She didn’t find Cozzi, but she did find blood in the bathroom and a strong smell of bleach.
“It was a scary sight,” Blanchard said. “I got worried.”
During Tuesday’s hearing, Kosowski’s defense team argued that he was not a flight risk and could be released from prison with an ankle monitor and confined to his home while awaiting trial.
“I believe that there are indeed conditions that could be created that would ensure that Dr. Kosowski would appear in court appearances as needed and that he would not be a danger to the community,” said Bjorn Brunvand, Kosowski’s attorney.
However, prosecutors argued that Kosowski would be a danger to the community if released. Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Joseph Bulone agreed, ruling in favor of the state.
“If the allegations here are true, then anyone involved in this civil case or anyone involved in this case could be in mortal danger,” Bulone said.
