Florida plastic surgeon charged with murder over lawyer's disappearance

AndTampa plastic surgeon He is accused of murdering a lawyer who has been missing since last week and who belongs to a law firm that represents former co-workers whom the doctor has been suing in a business dispute.

Tomasz Kosowski, 44, was arrested this Saturday and faces accusations of first degree murder for the disappearance of Steven Cozzi, an employee at the Blanchard Law firm, who was last seen on Tuesday at Blanchard Law, the firm where he worked, according to a news release.Associated Press.

Police said Sunday that although Cozzi's body has not been found, they have evidence that he was murdered by the surgeon.

According to the police investigation, Cozzi's wallet, phone and keys were found in the law office, along with a significant amount of blood in the bathroom.

They also added that a suspicious person and the car were seen at the office, which led them to Kosowski, also known as "Dr. K." Subsequently, a search of the doctor's home in Tarpon Springs found evidence that led to his arrest.

The law firm Blanchard Law has been representing Kosowski's former employer and his co-workers in a lawsuit he filed against them four years ago that is ongoing.

Jake Blanchard, a senior partner at the firm, did not immediately respond Sunday to an email and phone message seeking comment, media reports said.

In the lawsuit, Kosowski said he began working for Laufer Institute of Plastic Surgery in 2016, primarily doing breast reconstruction surgery, and alleged that the woman the center assigned to do its insurance billing failed to file claims and lied to her patients, causing which cost him tens of thousands of dollars and resulted in negative reviews of him being posted online.

Dr. K's promising young career "has been essentially erased" by the woman's actions, Kosowski's lawsuit says. "Through no fault of his own, his career was directly put in jeopardy and his reputation has been deeply tarnished."

Since 2018, when he left the Laufer Institute, he had established his own practice.

"Dr. K" remained detained without bail this Sunday in the Pinellas County Jail. Court and jail records do not indicate whether he has hired an attorney.

Several murder-related crimes have recently come to light in Florida.

Earlier this month a man was arrested on suspicion ofresponsible for murdering his daughter15 years old and three other people inside a home in the Canaveral Groves neighborhood, in Brevard County, Florida.

A woman and a man arrested forstabbing murder of Cuban Gianni Coto They were transferred to Florida, the state where the crime was committed at the end of January.

Trinity Bownes, 31, of Tamarac - who was the deceased's legal wife - was booked into the North Broward Department Jail on Wednesday on charges of first-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence.