The Woman Who Died Twice | Post Mortem | Forensic Files

Hello, I'm Anne Marie Green and welcome back to Postmortem. This week we're discussing the case of Mindy Meg Ben
Cosgrove, whose dismembered remains were found in the woods near Savannah, Georgia on December 2nd, 2022. [music]
Now, it took 5 months to identify her remains and when her family and friends found out, they were shocked by the
discovery because Mindy's husband, Nick Cosgrove, had told them that Mindy died in the
hospital in December and that her body had been cremated. When investigators zeroed in on Nick
Cosgrove, he denied any involvement in Mindy's murder but told them a real sort of detailed story about how he and Mindy
had been targeted and harassed by shadowy figures for years. So, joining me today to give us some
insight into this case, this very unusual case, is 48 Hours correspondent Erin Moriarty. Thank you for joining us,
Erin. >> Well, it's a thrill to be here, Anne Marie, and I have to agree with you.
We've never really had a case like this where there really were two realities. So, if you look at the evidence the cops
did, it's an ordinary, well, ordinary premeditated murder. But, if you listen to Nick Cosgrove, he's a former naval
officer and lawyer, he tells a very different story. So, the bottom line was who do you believe?
>> So true and so many people believed him for years. Before we get into it, a quick reminder,
if you haven't watched or listened to the 48 Hours episode, The Woman Who Died Twice,
check it out and then come on back and join us for this conversation. So, let's dig into these two realities
as you've put it. Um, Mindy and Nick Cosgrove started dating back in 2015. They got married in 2016 and at first it
really seemed like a fairy tale marriage. But, at some point in 2018, Casares started telling Mindy that they
were being surveilled and harassed by shadowy figures, and they went on the run. They basically went into hiding.
Aaron, can you break down just what was happening in the couple's lives in those
months leading up to Mindy's murder? >> Okay, so by June of 2022, they were living in an Airbnb in
Savannah, Georgia, and they were living with Mindy's parents, who also believed Casares's story that they were being
surveilled, harassed. Mindy had told some of her friends about the harassment, and she told them it was all
connected to her husband and some of the classified work that he had done when he
was in the Navy. And according to her friends, there was no question Mindy believed it and was truly scared for her
life. And here's the evidence we found of that. This was time we did not put in the show, but that Airbnb was just
blocks from where Mindy's best friend from high school, Morgan Paddock, lived. But Mindy apparently was so afraid to
leave the house, she never even told Morgan that. She never reached out to her. And Morgan had no idea she was
there, because they had stopped communicating at this point. And that really gives you an idea of just how
scared Mindy seemed to be. >> Right. Clearly, she believed what her husband was telling her about these
shadowy figures. And in a way, I can understand it, especially if he's cutting off, you know, her connections
to other people, right? We've seen that before, Aaron, where people, you know, their world becomes so small that they
become almost completely dependent on this one person that's misleading them. But what I don't get is that even
Mindy's friends and, you know, members of her family, they didn't question this outlandish story.
>> So, that's the question I asked people. I would ask her friends, "Why you ask more questions?" And they
said that they did think the story was crazy, but because her husband had such an impressive background, they believed
him and they didn't ask a lot of questions. Keep in mind, Emery, Coutsodios had been a lawyer in JAG, the
Navy's Judge Advocate General Corps, which is basically the Navy's legal arm. I don't know if I ever mentioned to you
that before I went to law school, I thought about being a JAG because they pay for your way into law school and it
is considered to be one of the best ways. It's a military lawyer. And so, he was highly respected, he was a naval
officer, and he had served all over the world. So, not only Mindy believed him, all her friends did, too. It also
occurred to me that because of the internet and there's so much talk about conspiracies, I think people are more
open to this kind of story that he was telling. >> That is such an interesting observation.
I I think you're probably right. Um but then we circle a step further, right? Because in December of 2022, Coutsodios
told Mindy's friends and family that she died from a sudden medical issue. And that, you know, there's no body because
she had been cremated. I can maybe understand Mindy's friends accepting that story because they
weren't around her, but her own parents didn't question this. >> You know, this is still kind of a
mystery to me, Emery. Um her parents did not speak to us, but the investigators told us they did love
their daughter. Still, we know that when Coutsodios told Mindy's parents that their daughter had
died and that he didn't get her body and couldn't tell them where it was. And oddly, they seemed to accept that. You
know, you would think they would maybe call the cops. They did not. I should also point out they were all
living in the same house. Um but they went away to visit her brother, their son, during Thanksgiving.
And when they got back, that's when Casorla said that he had taken Mindy to the hospital and that she had died. And
then here's the weird part of the story, right after >> Okay, this is the weird part of the
story? >> Yeah, well, all right, it's getting weirder. >> Right. >> So, right after
Casorla told them that Mindy died, but he, you know, couldn't show them the body or anything, then he disappeared.
He disappeared and again, they still did not call the cops. And 2 months later, in February of 2023,
Mindy's parents got an email ostensibly from the company that Casorla claimed he
worked for saying that he had been in a car accident. We know that they wanted to go see him, but then they get another
email saying that he had died. >> Mhm. >> Even then, even then, Mindy's parents don't seem to realize that they were
being bamboozled. >> So, when Mindy's dismembered body was found in the woods, investigators were
unable to identify her at first and they released two sketches of her face. Casorla's first wife, Heather Thomas,
discovered that sketch and then made an anonymous call to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation saying that it looked an
awful lot like her ex-husband's new wife, Mindy Casorla. What's interesting about Heather is that
when she spoke to you about Casorla, she said at one point that, you know, they were best friends, uh that they remained
friendly after the divorce. When did things sort of break down between them? >> Well, initially it was amicable. Um she
said they had become roommates, not husband and wife, and that's why they broke up. Also, Heather and Kusotas had
shared two dogs, so they stayed in each other's lives, and and she says they were friendly during that that time, but
there was one really big issue between them. Apparently, Kusotas owed Heather money from the divorce, and he was
supposed to pay off That's a lot of money, $1.5 million for the mortgage on the house. He also
owed her lawyer's fees and interest and compounding. And the only reason why Heather really
was upset about it, why she became upset about it, was she also worked for the government and had a security clearance,
and she was worried it would be denied if she had large debts. What's interesting is that Mindy, who is now
married to Kusotas, knew nothing about any of this debt. Her friends say that Mindy heard a totally different story
from her husband. He told her that Heather was crazy and was trying to >> steal from him.
>> Wow. I mean, people believe Kusotas, except for, luckily, investigators. Um they didn't buy his story at all. When
they brought him in for questioning, he told them uh the same tale about being pursued and harassed by unknown
individuals, and also said that uh for his family's protection, he gave complete control to a mysterious FBI
agent. He said his name was Jim McIntyre. Of course, he said that he didn't kill Mindy and that uh he didn't
know who did, but he thought maybe Jim was responsible. Uh let's just listen to a clip from the hour of the Georgia
Bureau of Investigations agent Tracy Sands asking Kusotas about Jim McIntyre. >> If Jim told you to jump off a cliff, you
were going to jump off a cliff? >> Yes, sir. For For years, for years we did exactly what Jim told us to do.
>> So, you >> He wanted full access to our lives. He said he was keeping us safe.
>> Unfortunately, we did not get to sit down with Tracy Sands um during the hour, um, even though he was so
important to this investigation, the DA, Billy Joe Nelson, told us, and I'm quoting, that we might not be
sitting here today without Tracy Sands. That's how important he was. We could have had an unsolved death on our hands
without Tracy Sands. In fact, Sands led both interviews with Casodotis after Casodotis' arrest, and he worked with
the FBI to try to find the mysterious Jim McIntyre. But sadly, this was Tracy's last case.
He did agree to sit down with us. He would have been in our hour for an interview, but he died unexpectedly
right after the trial. But this is why Tracy Sands and investigators didn't believe Casodotis the way all of
Casodotis' friends and family did, because they had been investigating him for weeks as soon as they were able to
identify that woman found in the swamp as Mindy. And investigators told us they couldn't
find any evidence to back up Casodotis' story, and they tried hard, they say. They even wanted to find the mysterious
Jim McIntyre. Um, and they did. They found a Jim McIntyre. He was an older man who managed a company that sold
dental implants. He was not a federal agent. Uh, what they did find though was surveillance footage of Casodotis' car,
and it was very close to the hunting grounds where Mindy's body was found. And they were able even to find the
evidence that Casodotis had bought the same kind of knife that was found at the crime scene. So, in February of 2024,
just a little over a year after Mindy's death, Casodotis was indicted for his wife's
murder. >> So, let's talk about the trial. More than 2 and 1/2 years after Mindy
Cassotis' murder, her husband, Nick Cassotis, is charged with her murder and appears in a Georgia courtroom.
I could not help but to notice just how different he looked from his police interview. He looks like a completely
different person. It really made me question, like, who is this guy? >> I mean, that was the big question I had
all the way through this. Um Sadly, we don't know a lot about Cassotis' upbringing or even his
background before he went to law school and got all his legal training. His parents decided not to talk to us,
but we did see them in the courtroom to support him. Um and here's something that we didn't tell you in the hour,
which I think is so interesting, is that at some point, Cassotis, and I don't think this should surprise anyone who's
listening, he began to write fiction. He'd actually published a short story on Reddit. I
should tell you what the name was. It was called "My Mother-in-Law Was Poisoning Me, and Then I Found Out Why."
>> Oh my gosh. >> And and get this, Sony Pictures paid him $400,000 for the story, right?
>> You're kidding me. >> And then here's a weird thing that we did tell you in the hour, but after
Mindy died, which did not make Cassotis look so good, he ended up getting married quickly to another fiction
writer that he had met online. He lied to that wife, also. He told her he was a widower, and that was at a time when
Mindy was still alive. >> Mhm. Oh my gosh. >> saying. >> I mean, this is really an unusual case,
but another reason why it was unusual is Nick Cassotis testified in his own defense. That doesn't happen frequently,
even though I know, if you watch 48 Hours, you see it frequently enough, but in general, it doesn't happen. Um
he testified for more than 3 hours and he repeated to the jury this story about Jim McIntyre insisting that McIntyre
offered him and Mindy protection and controlled every detail of their lives. So you spoke to Cosgrove's defense
lawyer, Doug Weinstein. What was his reasoning for putting his client on the stand?
>> I was curious about the same thing. Weinstein is a very good trial lawyer. He says, and I think he's right, his
strongest defense was that this case was entirely circumstantial. Nobody saw Cosgrove kill his wife.
>> Yeah. >> There was zero evidence of how or where Mindy was killed. And investigators
never found any of Cosgrove's DNA near Mindy's body. But Doug Weinstein told us that in fact he had never ever put a
client on the stand before and would never want to, but he did because remember, his client was a lawyer and
that lawyer insisted he wanted to testify. It was all Cosgrove who decided he wanted to to testify. And I think
what's interesting about that is, and this is just my feeling, so many people have believed Cosgrove. I
think he thought the jury would, too. >> Right. >> I was in the courtroom I when Cosgrove
testified. I did not want to miss it. He was calm, unemotional, and when I thought about it, this was his wife and
her death. If he's insinuating that someone else did it, you would think that he would be more emotional.
I was also surprised when the prosecutor did not go harder on Cosgrove in cross-examination
because I thought she would. I think everybody in the courtroom thought she would. But later that prosecutor, Lori
Baugh, told me that she thought he had sunk himself and she thought it was better just to let the jury see that.
>> The prosecution did present a really strong circumstantial case including the surveillance footage of
Kusoldas' car near the hunting grounds, the evidence that Kusoldas had bought the kind of knife that they found at the
crime scene, and then records from his cell phone and the car GPS showing both traveled to the exact location in the
woods where Mindy's body was found. It's hard stuff to refute, but what they were
not able to do, and they don't have to, but it helps, is they didn't really present a clear motive. They could not
tell us why he would kill his wife. >> Lori Beyo, the prosecutor, felt that she needed to answer that for the jury. But
she says that to this day it's the hardest question to answer. Um her theory is that Kusoldas really wanted a
family. We know that Mindy and Kusoldas had told Mindy's family and her friends that she was pregnant.
But after her remains were found, the death certificate revealed that she hadn't been and wasn't pregnant within
the past year before she was killed. So did she lie about it? Did she lie to her husband about it? The prosecutor
thinks that Kusoldas might have killed her when he found out that she wasn't pregnant and maybe lying about it. Mindy
was stabbed in the abdomen. Um and that is really why Lori Beyo thinks that. Um there's more evidence to show that he
really did want to have children. At least the story that Heather told us is that when Heather had been married to
Kusoldas she had really tried to get pregnant and he wanted her to. Uh they didn't have children. And then
when she remarried she had a child really quickly afterwards and she says that Casados saw her pregnant and that
she thought he looked really freaking and uncomfortable. So that kind of supports that theory too.
>> Mhm. Um when you spoke to the district attorney Billy Joe Nelson, he had another theory about Nick Casados'
motive. Um I want to play a clip from the interview that was not in the hour. >> I believe if you look at the evidence in
this case uh ultimately the defendant, Mr. Casados in this case, was looking for a way out of his current situation.
Why that had to end uh with the death of Mindy Meads Meven we'll never know unless he decides to
tell you why he did it. Uh but at the end of the day if you look at the evidence, I think he
was planning an escape out of the life he was living. >> That is the theory I kind of go with,
Emery. I really do. Can you imagine how many people he had told this story to? It must have been really hard to keep it
up and keep all the details. Um he had already met the woman who would become his third wife a couple of
months before he killed Mindy. So it's possible that getting rid of Mindy would let him run away from his past life and
have a new wife. It's also possible, we don't know because we can't ask Mindy, maybe she was beginning to question
those stories toward the end. But these are all just theories >> Mhm. >> and as the prosecutor said, unless
Casados decides to tell us we'll never know for certain. >> We'll never know. The jury deliberated for just a little
over an hour before finding Casados guilty of all charges. Uh clearly there wasn't a lot of debate uh
in the in the jury room there. But when you think about it, he really came very close to getting away with a perfect
murder. If Mindy's body had not been found, could Kostas have actually gotten away with this?
>> I actually think he he could have. >> Mhm. >> If he had not left Mindy at that hunting ground,
because he didn't realize how often people were there, we might never have heard about this case.
If you think about it, all her friends thought she had died in the hospital. Her own parents thought she had died in
that hospital. None of them were questioning it. If he had left her someplace where there
weren't people all the time, he really could have gotten away with it. The other problem, of course, was driving a
car that was a cell phone and getting caught on video. So, his car was identified very close to where her body
was. That Those were the two big mistakes he made. >> You know, often when you discover that
someone you trust and like has lied to you, it rocks you a little. Like, you start to reassess just how you view the
world. You start to reassess the other people that you have believed and trusted. I'm just curious how the people
who he lied to are How are they grappling with all of this? >> Everybody feels so betrayed. Kostas's
first wife, Heather, especially. She has what she's been calling survivor's guilt. Cuz she said to us, "Look, there
were more reason to kill me. You know, he owed me so much money, but I survived and Mindy didn't." And Mindy's friends
say, even though they're really devastated by what happened, they're happy to know what really happened to
Mindy and that there is some sense of justice. I I just want to let you listen to something that Angela Wynn, one of
Mindy's closest friends, said to us. >> I was very upset. I was very distraught.
But I also felt like I'm finally going to get the closure that I needed because after that December
I I didn't I wasn't even able to to see her to say goodbye to her. And so for me it was I cannot believe this has
happened. But then on the other side of that, I'm so glad that we now know and that he can be held accountable for it.
I had been lied to for years. We had all been lied to for years, right? Um her parents her friends, his friends, his
family. I mean, he spun a web of lies a a web of lies that touched every single person that he knew.
>> Isn't that moving? He gaslit everyone. >> Yeah. How many people were damaged by
this man's lies? The other thing that kind of I keep thinking about is we have done stories on people who are scammers
or liars or And and usually they're kind of failing through life. But here's a guy who is
actually quite successful. And if he just kind of continued along that path, he would have the life that he always
wanted. He didn't need to do any of this. >> I also wonder whether when he left the
Navy, maybe things didn't come as easy for him. And so maybe he had to create this interesting life because he never
had a great job after he left the Navy. So I wonder if that's part of it, too, that he became kind of a legal Walter
Mitty. >> That that's actually a great observation. I don't know if we'll ever really know who Nick Kessidis really is.
Um but this was a fascinating hour. Um Aaron, [music] thank you so much for talking to us today.
Thank you, Amory, always. And thank you all for listening. If you like this episode, [music] please rate and review
on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

48 Hours correspondents Erin Moriarty and Anne-Marie Green discuss the murder of Mindi Kassotis on "Post Mortem." Her dismembered remains were discovered in the woods in 2022 after her husband told family and friends that Mindi had died in a hospital.

Crime. Social justice. Impact. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

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Brief Summary

The episode covers Mindy Cosgrove's murder, her husband's conflicting stories, and the investigation leading to his conviction.

Key points

The Case of Mindy Meg Ben Cosgrove. Mindy's dismembered remains were found, leading to shocking revelations about her husband.
Nick Cosgrove's Alibi. Nick claimed Mindy died in the hospital, but the truth was far darker.
The Trial of Nick Cosgrove. Nick's trial revealed conflicting narratives and circumstantial evidence against him.
The Web of Lies. A deep dive into the extensive deception by Nick Kessidis that affected many.
The Mystery of Identity. Exploring the enigma surrounding Nick Kessidis and his true self.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Who do you believe?

Discussion about conflicting narratives in the case.

1:25WatchMar 14, 2026

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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