8th August 2025
Case Background:
A Pennsylvania man named Nicholas Kassotis was arrested and charged for the killing of his wife Mindi Kassotis, he was extradited from Lancaster County to Georgia to stand trial. The prosecution and the defense presented their theory of the case in the trial and a few witnesses took the stand and we shall be going through key parts of their testimony.
Case Info
Courthouse: Liberty County, Georgia
Charges:
- Malice Murder – Guilty
- Felony Murder – Guilty
- Aggrevated Assault – Guilty
- Concealing The Death Of Another – Guilty
- Possession Of A Knife During Felony – Guilty
- Possession Of A Tool during a Crime – Guilty
- Removal Of Body Parts – Guilty
- Tampering With Evidence – Guilty
- Verdict Rendered: 14th August 2025
Judge: Charles Rose Jr.
Prosecutor: ADA Laurie Baio, ADA Billy Joe Nelson
Defense Attorneys: Douglas Weinstein
The Deceased: Mindi Kassotis
Today’s witnesses:
- Witness #18 – Dr. Edward Mondor – Antimologist
- Witness #19 – Morgan Paddock – Friend Of Mindi
- Witness #20 – Samantha Kolesnick – Nicholas 3rd wife.
- Witness #21 – Tracy Sans – Lead Investigator
Witness #18 – Dr. Edward Mondor – Antimologist
Direct Exam
- He was tendered as an expert. He explains the role he played in this case. He also testifies you cant determine a time of death in his role but he can determine the life of an insect and use that to judge how long it would take an insect to live till the moment it was found.
- This mans he can speculate to relevant questions regarding his knowledge on insects. [My Thoughts]
- He testifies that there was insect activity on the thigh and there was only one species of blowfly that was found there. He estimate that these species could have originated on the 27th, 28th and 29th November 2022.
- The state highlights that the dates of where the remains were found; December 3rd other leg was found, 2nd December Torso was found, 5th December head was found. November 29th 2022 motor vehicle at the hunters club.
Cross Exam
- Defence highlights ways that his analysis and methods could be inaccurate such as how the weather could affect the analysis.
- DefenCe highlights that the dates of origin is just an estimation and not entirely accurate.
Redirect Exam – Nothing of Note.
Recross Exam
- He testifies that if the remains have been wrapped or moved then it could affect results.
Witness #19 – Morgan Paddock – Friend Of Mindi
Direct Exam
- She testified to knowing Mindi since high school. She says that she met Nick after Hurricane Savannah hit, this was in October 2016.
- She testfied that Mindi had told her that Nick was involved in some sort of software development that could result in life changing sum of money.
Cross Exam
- She testified that Mindi told her they had to communicate via the signal app and was in fear for her life.
- She testified that Mindi was not the one was having meetings with the security but it was only Nick saying that he would say Nick said etc.
No redirect exam
Witness #20 – Samantha Koliesnik – Nicholas 3rd wife.
Direct Exam
- She testifies to living in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, she testifies to being a writer of fiction in the horror genre. She explains what a pen name means
- This sets the foundation for why Nicholas Kassotis could’ve changed his names. [My Thoughts]
- He testifies that Nicholas had used the name Nicholas Starke and was in Pennsylvania and meeting him in December 16th 2022 and testifies to sending selfies and sent license etc to prove his identity.
- She testifies that Nicholas sent her a document saying he was Killian Stark this was around January 2023. A document was sent of him working for a company called Apis Limited.
- She testifies that he had told her that he was a widower and his wife was dead. She found out this was the case when the police arrested him in May. These communications happened before the arrest and visit to his from Agent Sands on May 11th 2023.
- She testifies to sending a message to her via DMs on twitter on September 24th 2022 and was aware she was going through a divorce. It was highlighted that he had lost his wife in the twitter message. This was in a twitter message on the 18th October 2022.
- She testifies that he told her that the wife had died in the hospital due to a heart issue. On october 22nd 2022.
- She testifies that he told her he was going to go to Delaware working on a merger and acquisition for the company. She also says that he stayed in Air BnBs when he was visiting her.
- She testifies that he told her on 5th Nov 2022 via twitter that he was going to put things in pods.
- She testifies that he had an horrible upbringing, he was abused and that he was adopted.
- 10th November 2022 she testifies that he was going to go on a road trip and says that they didnt use signal app to communicate. She also says that he never told her he was confined.
- He testifies that this was his second marriage and was issued April 10th 2023. Says that Edward Williams was his father and Susan was his biological mother. She also described their situation before they got married that it was fairly quick.
- March 20th 2023 was when they went looking for a house and found a couple of properties. She says that this was a traumatic day for him. She testified that he had a ford explorer and was green like an SUV.
- She said that he got a call from Nick saying that his car had gone up in flames and had said that Nick was going to the bank to pick up the money.
- She testifies to speaking to an EMT regarding the fire and says that his eyebrows were slightly burnt. She testifies that she had taken him to hospital. He was admitted into the hospital on 20th March 2023 according to his hospital hand brace.
- She testifies that the car was burnt down completely and it made sense to her why the paramedic was smirking. She also said he told her that he was debt free and had money
- She testifies that they planned to get pregnant.
- She testifies that the marriage was annulled due to the fact he committed fraud for the marriage and said that the cheque burnt in the fire.
Cross Exam
- The defense highlights that Nick put a down payment on the house that they were going to buy.
No Redirect Exam
Witness #21 – Tracy Sands – Lead Investigator
Direct Exam
- He testified that Agent James was with him during the police interview. They introduced that they were there to talk about the death of Mindi. He says that Nicholas was mirandized (read his rights) before the interview started.
- The interview was played for the jury.
- He introduces himself as Nicholas Stark.
- He says that he forgets the year and the date that the reserve discharged him.
- He says that he was contacted by someone who was part of the FBI and said their lives were in danger and Wayne his father was at the center of it.
- He says he moved to Hilton Head, North Carolina in December 2019.
- He says that he started moving from 2018 from Alexandria to Charlottesville because he had received anonymous emails that their lives was in danger. He reported it to FBI not local law enforcement.
- He says that Wayne had told them that he was working for the FBI, this is the biological father who works for the FBI and Jim McIntyre was working for Microsoft.
- He said that he didnt know when he was discharged from the Navy.
- He testified to working on a piece of software on advise from an adviser. He says that the person advising him was Jim McIntyre but he said he had lied to him multiple times.
- He said that Mindi was pregnant in July 2021 and says that Mindi was bleeding so they went to the hospital in a military unit and says dont say anything about the miscarriage to Mindi to tell her parents that everything was fine and still pregnant.
- Says that Jim had told him to change their plans and travel to Missouri and says he had told them to contact with people. He says that they were driving a white SUV and says this was the day a hurricane was to hit Savannah so this was likely August, September 2022.
- He also details what had happened to the wife at hospital saying they had told him they would get her blood pressure under control and how they had been looking for a place without stairs due to Mindi’s dad hip replacement surgery.
- He says that Jim had helped him procure some money and had wired him bank account and then he got a cashiers cheque.
- He says that around thanksgiving when Mindi was in hospital. He says that he got a call to pick her up on Thursday and was given an address. They told him that Mindi had passed away, says it was a doctor and had a lab coat. Said he had paperwork that Jim had made him sign.
- He says that he had been told she had a stroke. He says that he was contacted saying that the body was cremated and that the fee was $5000 in cash so he withdrew it and paid.
- He says that he never enquired about a death certificate after he had met the people in the white SUV likely Jim McIntyre and he should have asked. He says that he was in St. Louis to change his name to Nicholas Killian James Stark and says he doesnt know how to get in touch with Jim McIntyre, and that he would message him and his number would change.
- On February 2023 he says that Jim told him something was suspicious and then next he was driving and his car just went up in flames.
- He says that there were multiple recalls of ford explorer and said the vehicle fire was started in the passenger side. He said insurance company “Cure” thought it was a mechanical fault.
- He says that Jim was white male in his late 40s and 5’10 and six foot very slim when he first came about in Alexandria. He says that Jim was basically doing all of this for free and was offering security for free. Says he had showed up at the house and started talking to Mindi and he was at work.
- He said he was creating an AI program software and had majored in computer science in college before switching to Pre Law
- He lets them know he was married. He also says he was willing to give them a DNA sample.
- This could be very key, especially if they are unable to now tie him to the crime even with his DNA. [My Thoughts]
- He says that Mindi did advocacy work for Atis a plastic bag company and they had met through an online app.
Court adjourned for the day and Witness #21 testimony continues on Day 5!
Hope you are now caught up with the substance of what happened in court on Day 4.
Thanks for reading xo
Sources:
Trial Footage, Available on Youtube via @TheTrialChannel_ , Youtube playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLq-6my_qlf9vhXw9gMoqIo3Fv4xMbs1W&si=MzCUlpWmKdK6mrjn
All court filings pertaining to the trial courtesy of @Happily_Angry_Lawyer aka Jim Robichaud, Available online, PDFs: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/15yaqe8kwjoNnIq2dfFCD0Bi1vqP_4hb7
