00:00:02
♪♪ ♪♪ -Down here is
where the hunters had discovered the torso of a female
in the ditch.
00:00:24
-Jack, had you ever
run into anything like this? -No, ma'am. -What day were you out here
00:00:33
and what do you remember
from that day? -This was December
the 2nd of 2022, I believe.
00:00:39
We was hunting that block
of woods that particular day. Well, kind of thought it was
a mannequin to start with.
00:00:43
It didn't look real. And this area right here
and all around, this is where all the trash,
the bags of clothes,
00:00:52
the tote, the knife. That's where all
that was found right here. -And your big priority was
to find the rest of this woman
00:01:01
and find out who she is. -That's correct. It was getting about dusk and started walking
and got to a point
00:01:09
where I'm looking up
and the sun's going down. It's shining in my eyes
and there's an oak tree.
00:01:13
And I kind of look behind it, and I see a little
disturbed area, like a mound. All the remains were found
fairly close
00:01:19
to the edge of the road. And at that point, as far
as what we knew there was -- The female had dark brown hair.
00:01:26
-You put out a sketch. -GBI had had a forensic
artist put out a sketch. -According to deputies,
00:01:37
hunters found the body in the
area of Barrington Ferry Road. This sketch from the GBI
00:01:41
serving as one
of the only glimpses of who the woman could be. -I was like,
"Whoa, wait a minute."
00:01:49
Like, "That looks like Mindy. That looks like Mindy." And I just froze. I said,
"I have reason to believe
00:02:00
that this person is
Mindy Kassotis." Looks very much like her. I was like,
"I want to be wrong."
00:02:08
I have never wanted to be
wrong like this in my whole entire life. -A drive through the area
shows how dense the wooded area
00:02:19
where the woman was found
can be. -It was on the local news, but I had zero reason
to connect it to Mindy.
00:02:29
-So you get this call from the
Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent, and he says
you're not going to believe
00:02:34
what I'm about to tell you. -Yeah,
he absolutely said that. I think the first thing
through my mind was disbelief.
00:02:47
I had been told back in December that she had died
in the hospital. -That's what all of
the immediate friends and family
00:02:53
of Mindy's had been told. -Nobody was looking for
a murder victim. They thought she had died
of natural causes.
00:03:00
-What did they think
had happened to her? -She died at the hospital
on December 1st.
00:03:04
She's not in the woods.
She was cremated. -What do you do? What do you do
when you're in a situation
00:03:12
and you feel
like something is wrong? But also,
the entire story is so crazy. Who's going to believe you?
00:03:24
♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Investigator Jack Frost, now with the Liberty County
Georgia DA's office,
00:04:13
was one of the first
detectives called to the scene on December 2nd, 2022. -The hunters had seen a knife
and a tote
00:04:24
and some wipes back there. -Detectives recovered a razor-
sharp Milwaukee brand knife,
00:04:29
a plastic storage tub
with what looked like traces of blood and wipes. Do you think whoever brought her
out here had to know this area?
00:04:40
-That would be
a safe assumption because it's so desolate. -It would take five days
00:04:47
until Investigator Frost found
the rest of her body. Authorities said it appeared
the woman had defensive wounds.
00:04:57
-There's no one that winds
up dismembered in the woods. That's not a victim of homicide.
00:05:03
My name is Laurie Baio. I'm an
assistant district attorney with the Atlantic
Judicial Circuit.
00:05:09
-Investigators from the
Georgia Bureau of Investigation released two sketches. -There were hundreds
and hundreds of calls and leads
00:05:17
that came in through
the forensic sketches that were published
from civilians calling in.
00:05:23
-One call came from a woman
500 miles away in Virginia, Heather Thomas. -I was like,
"Whoa, wait a minute.
00:05:31
Like that looks like Mindy." -Mindy Kassotis. -Heather Thomas
turned out as one of the people
00:05:39
that recognized the photograph
and said, this could be Mindy. -Heather recognized Mindy
00:05:45
because Mindy was married
to Heather's ex-husband, Nick Kassotis, a naval officer,
a lawyer in JAG,
00:05:53
the Navy Judge Advocate
General's Corps. Nick had traveled the globe,
was deployed to Iraq.
00:06:01
He served in Italy
and the Pentagon. He dealt with sensitive cases
involving Afghanistan.
00:06:09
-He definitely had an air
about him of confidence, of, you know, reassurance,
but never in an egotistical way.
00:06:20
Because you could sort of pick
that out from a mile away. -Heather and Nick
got married in 2009.
00:06:28
Back then, she was a brunette.
Was he wearing a uniform? -Yes, he was in his uniform.
00:06:35
I was in -- I had two
different dresses. It was a very big deal.
It was a -- it was a happy day.
00:06:41
He had a lot of friends,
and he just knew everyone. And he had a
very outgoing personality,
00:06:48
and just was a talker, and loved
to read, and just was -- It was very different
than kind of how I was.
00:07:00
-Things started out well, but eventually, after six years,
their marriage faded.
00:07:06
-I felt
like we had grown apart. I felt
like he was my best friend, but at the same time,
like, didn't have the romance.
00:07:16
-And in 2015, they divorced. Nick Kassotis
bounced back quickly. That same year,
he started dating Mindy.
00:07:26
She was working as a legal
secretary in Washington, D.C. -Mindy was
the consummate romantic
00:07:34
for a while there, right?
-[ Chuckles ] -Angela Wynn and Morgan Paddock
were long-time friends of Mindy.
00:07:43
Angela says Mindy met Nick
on a dating app. -When she finally
did meet him. That was just her fairy-tale
ending coming to fruition.
00:07:54
-Even Heather was happy. -He told me all about it. He was so excited that they met,
and I was excited for him.
00:08:03
-Nick and Mindy
married in 2016. Her friends say the couple
soon started looking for a home,
00:08:10
and planning a family. -It's one of the things
that she wanted. She wanted to have kids.
00:08:15
-And Mindy became a podcaster. -We both were on her podcast. -Hello, and welcome
to another episode
00:08:22
of the Compelling Women podcast. -She just wanted to find
the stories of women, and elevate them.
-I'm Mindy, your host,
00:08:29
and I'm really excited
to share with you another thought-provoking
interview with a different
00:08:35
compelling woman. -Mindy and Nick's
life seemed good. After leaving active duty,
he was still practicing law.
00:08:46
-I was so happy
that she was so in love, and just so enamored, and ready to move on
to that next phase of her life.
00:08:55
-But her friends say
Mindy's life began taking some strange turns. -She once told me, "Morgan,
00:09:03
if you knew everything
that was going on, like, this is something that
would be a best-selling novel
00:09:11
or a best-selling movie." -Mindy and Nick
started moving around a lot, living in three
different states.
00:09:21
She rarely saw her friends,
they say, and was so worried
about security, she started communicating
00:09:28
through the
encrypted Signal app. -We only ever talked on Signal
if we called. It was through the Signal app,
00:09:35
and if we texted,
it was through the Signal app. -And whose idea was
it to use the Signal app?
00:09:40
-Oh, Nick. -And Mindy said at one point
she was being spied upon. -I remember her saying,
"I may have had a tail."
00:09:49
-Someone following her.
-Yeah, it ramped up after that. -Mindy's life ramped
up into a series of stranger
00:09:59
and stranger events. -She told me they had
been hacked by a hacker group. Their bank accounts
had been completely frozen.
00:10:07
-They didn't have
any money at all. -And she told friends that Nick said
they were being surveilled,
00:10:13
and that he told her... -We have a security issue now. And now we're, you know,
we're in danger.
00:10:20
-She thought her life was
in danger. -Mm-hmm. -It was, according to Mindy, all connected to Nick
and some classified work
00:10:30
that he had been involved
in during his time in the Navy. -There had to be
video surveillance in a van
00:10:36
down the street
to just keep watch, to make sure the comings and
goings of their home were safe.
00:10:43
-Nick warned Mindy that an undercover team
disguised as tree surgeons were planting surveillance
cameras around their house.
00:10:53
-It sounded crazy. It did sound crazy because
that does sound like something you see in a movie
or read in a novel.
00:10:59
But again,
you're talking to Mindy, whose husband is a JAG who has
all of this military clearance.
00:11:09
-By June 2022, Nick and Mindy
were living in Savannah. Friends say she was afraid
to leave the house.
00:11:18
Did she sound scared? -Oh, she was. She was scared. ♪♪ -As Mindy's friends worried
about the strange events
00:11:40
in her life in Savannah.
500 miles away in Virginia, Heather Thomas had been trying
to track down her ex-husband,
00:11:48
Nick Kassotis,
for nearly two years. -I tracked him going to
South Carolina. He had said something
about Georgia,
00:11:56
and that was always
in the back of my mind. -He owed her money
from their divorce.
00:12:02
A million and a half dollars. A court had ordered him to pay and issued a warrant
for his arrest.
00:12:09
His law career was now
in jeopardy. -If he was willing to throw
away his license
00:12:15
to practice ever. And he was just going to throw
all caution to the wind. You're now dealing with
a scenario
00:12:22
where you can't assume anything. So you have to be prepared. I had to be prepared
for anything.
00:12:30
-Heather had a friend
who was training to be a P.I. Through him, she would discover
that Nick had been on the move.
00:12:38
She would later find out that
he had gone from state to state, living in Airbnbs, motels.
Heather didn't know it,
00:12:46
but Nick and Mindy were now
hiding out in Savannah, Georgia. That summer,
Mindy had told a friend, Angela,
00:12:54
that she was pregnant. -She was very excited
and very happy. -But months later,
just after Thanksgiving 2022,
00:13:03
Angela got an unexpected call
from Nick and couldn't believe
what he told her. -He called me.
He told me that Mindy was gone.
00:13:15
-Mindy, Nick said, had died
from a sudden medical problem, but his details were sketchy.
00:13:22
He told her she
had been cremated. There was no funeral,
no memorial. -I'm not hearing anything
from anybody.
00:13:29
And I need to know
what the hell is going on, because, in my mind, you know, Mindy's not gone
until I see that she is gone.
00:13:35
And I told him
that several times. Like, I need to see it.
I need to see her. I need to see her.
00:13:43
-She tried to reach Nick again
and again. -He just dropped off
the face of the earth.
00:13:49
It was a very hard
and confusing time. -At around the same time, Nick's ex-wife Heather had also
gotten a message telling her
00:14:00
that Mindy had died
in the hospital. -I was contacted saying,
"Hey," you know, "Mindy's dead."
00:14:10
-What was your reaction? -Horror.
I was just like, "Oh, my God." I felt terrible because
no matter what our beef was,
00:14:20
Nick and mine -- like, to hear that a woman
around my age is now dead. I was sad.
00:14:28
-And just weeks after that,
sad news was still sinking in, Heather received
more surprising news in a text
00:14:37
from an acquaintance. -This person says
Nick is dead. -Nick Kassotis had died
in a car crash.
00:14:45
-And I said, "Hmm." -So you didn't believe that
then? -I immediately
didn't believe it.
00:14:50
I'm like,
"Well, something's fishy here." -But Heather wasn't
the only one who heard
00:14:56
that Nick had died. Mindy's parents received
an email from the security department
at the tech company,
00:15:04
where Nick told them
he was working. It read,
I'm very sorry to inform you that Nicholas passed away
late Wednesday evening.
00:15:15
As Heather tried
to get more details, googling news sites online, she came across
that police sketch,
00:15:23
the one that looked so much
like Mindy, and called authorities
in Georgia, that helped police make
a positive identification.
00:15:33
And once they got a DNA and
genetic genealogy confirmation, they finally had proof that
the woman found in the swamp
00:15:43
was indeed Mindy Kassotis. -Once they figured
out who she is, all of these things
that they've been learning
00:15:51
about the evidence found
at the scene all ties in. -Investigators could find
no evidence
00:15:59
of Kassotis dying
in a car crash. What they did find was a new
driver's license in a new name --
00:16:08
Nicholas Kilian James Stark. They tracked him to
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he was now living with
a third wife,
00:16:19
a tech worker and fiction
writer, Samantha Kolesnik. He had told her he was
a widower.
00:16:27
-Right there to your right.
Hey, Nick. -Hey, sir.
-Have a seat right here for me.
00:16:31
-In May 2023, detectives brought Kassotis back
to Georgia for questioning. He told them a detailed story
similar
00:16:40
to what Mindy's
family and friends had heard about being pursued and harassed by
unknown individuals connected to
00:16:47
government work he had done. -It was different,
a couple different stories. And was that there was, um,
some fallout from some stuff.
00:16:54
That Nick had done
at the Pentagon. He was a potential target
for a terrorist group.
00:16:58
It was real top-secret stuff, and that it was really
super sensitive, almost like a
00:17:02
you know,
"secret agent" type of life. Where they just hid
in plain sight, but had to kind of be careful.
-The once buttoned-down,
00:17:10
straight-laced attorney
and former naval JAG officer now looked scruffy.
Kassotis claimed
00:17:19
that he reported
the conspiracy to the FBI. And that's when he says
a federal agent came
00:17:26
to their home, offering
to protect them. His name? Jim McIntyre. -According to Nick,
for four years,
00:17:56
Jim McIntyre took control
of everything in the couple's lives, telling
them when to move and where.
00:18:29
-Tonight's
48 Hours will continue. -Nick Kassotis had spun such an
elaborate story for detectives.
00:18:45
They had a hard time
believing anything he said. They began to suspect
that he made up everything,
00:18:54
that he was the author of the
email sent to Mindy's parents, announcing his death,
00:19:00
complete with a company
he didn't work for. -It's kind of like, yeah, we can see through
all the lies now.
00:19:09
-Detectives began asking him
about Mindy's last days. Right around Thanksgiving
of 2022,
00:19:17
while Kassotis was out of town, he said, Mindy texted
him saying she had taken a fall
00:19:24
and had checked herself
into a clinic. He was vague on details. -When Nick arrived,
00:19:48
he told investigators
the doctor gave him bad news. -Kassotis couldn't tell
investigators
00:20:38
where the facility was, or the names of anyone
he spoke to. -But if Mindy had died
at a Savannah clinic,
00:20:58
how did her remains end up
in a swamp? Nick told detectives
he had no idea, but insisted he didn't do it.
00:21:11
What Nick didn't know
at the time was that detectives were already
building a case against him.
00:21:18
-I think it's easy for people
to think about doing something, but I think the act of doing it,
00:21:23
and then trying
to cover up all the loose ends, after you've started,
it's almost impossible.
00:21:30
-For starters, when detectives ran
a background check on Nick, they discovered he owned
a green Ford Explorer,
00:21:38
a green Ford Explorer that
looked just like the vehicle investigators had spotted
on a surveillance video
00:21:45
from a remote pumping station
near the crime scene. And why was that camera
so significant in this case?
00:21:53
-Because it captured
Nicholas Kassotis' Explorer driving past it,
going in and out of that area.
00:21:59
-And that wasn't all. On a hunch days after Frost had
processed the crime scene,
00:22:05
he checked with
Home Depot stores, which sold
that Milwaukee brand of knife. -Agent Frost had contacted
Home Depot
00:22:13
because he had worked
another case, and was familiar with the brand. -One of those knives
had been purchased from a store
00:22:19
just 50 minutes
from the hunting club, with a debit card
belonging to Nick Kassotis.
00:22:26
Here's a surveillance photo
of Nicholas Kassotis, right after he paid for
that knife.
00:22:32
There he is. And you can see the knife
right under his arm. And there were more knives.
00:22:40
When Frost had checked out
a Bass Pro shop in Savannah, he discovered that Kassotis had
also used his debit card there,
00:22:48
and bought a knife kit
designed for hunters. -This is a seven-piece pursuit
field-dressing kit for animals.
00:22:56
This is like the same kit
that was purchased by Kassotis, and there is an assortment
of knives.
00:23:04
-Oh, my God.
I'm not touching this. These are very sharp.
-Very sharp. And then there is
also a bone saw.
00:23:14
-Now, with Kassotis
apparently tied to the knives, and the Ford Explorer, they subpoenaed records from his
phone and the Ford's GPS system.
00:23:25
-The car records
showing his vehicle and phone traveling down to exactly
where her body is.
00:23:34
He has no reason whatsoever
to be there, other than that his dismembered
wife happens to be found there,
00:23:42
when he told everyone else
she was cremated. -Back
in the interrogation room, detectives confronted Kassotis
with their discoveries.
00:24:45
-But Kassotis insisted
he was innocent, and pointed the finger
at the man he says had been controlling
their lives,
00:24:53
Jim McIntyre. -In February 2024, a little
over a year after Mindy's death, Nick Kassotis was indicted for
the murder of Mindy Kassotis.
00:25:15
-It's very difficult
for me to believe that Nick Kassotis
could murder anyone. -Tonight's
48 Hours will continue.
00:25:39
-Phillip McCallar
had walked these grounds of the Portal Hunting Club
for years.
00:25:44
-Just laying in the ditch. -Before the December day
in 2022, when he made
that gruesome discovery...
00:25:53
-Kind of thought it was
a mannequin to start with. It didn't look real.
-...strewn along the swamp,
00:25:59
the remains of the once-vibrant
40-year-old Mindy Kassotis. More than two
and a half years later,
00:26:08
her husband, Nick Kassotis,
charged with her murder, was in a Hinesville, Georgia,
courtroom.
00:26:14
-We'll begin the trial
at this time, with the opening statements. -This trial would prove to be
00:26:19
unlike any other
from the get-go. -My name is Doug Weinstein, and
I am representing Mr. Kassotis.
00:26:26
-In an unusual move, the prosecution forced
defense attorney Weinstein to open his case first.
00:26:34
-I honestly think
it was purely a tactic to try to get into my head
a little bit,
00:26:39
and, uh, make me off balance. Mr. and Mrs. Kassotis were told
that they were targets.
00:26:47
-Weinstein immediately set
the scene for the defense. The alleged killer, he says,
was actually another victim...
00:26:55
-Nick Kassotis is a man
who lived in fear, relentless, all-consuming fear. -...running for his life.
00:27:06
-It's hard for me to ever
believe that Nick killed Mindy. -Instead, Weinstein told the
jury Kassotis had been duped,
00:27:15
and deluded by the
mysterious figure, Jim McIntyre. -You'll hear testimony that a man calling
himself Jim McIntyre,
00:27:27
claiming to be with the FBI, told them
that their lives were in danger. -Kassotis is not a killer,
he says.
00:27:36
More like a frightened,
desperate hero. -A decorated military veteran,
he served in Iraq.
00:27:43
He was in the Pentagon. -But prosecutor Laurie Baio says the real Nick Kassotis
is revealed
00:27:50
by the gruesome evidence
left behind. -And unfortunately, you're going to hear about
the dismemberment.
00:27:56
-Baio showed the weapon found
near Mindy's mangled body. -A Milwaukee, orange-handled,
black-sheathed knife.
00:28:07
-Because Kassotis' DNA was
not found at the crime scene, that knife is the
same brand investigators say,
00:28:15
as the one seen under his arm... -That's him
on surveillance from Home Depot. -...on the same day
00:28:22
that authorities say
Mindy may have been murdered. -The state calls
Samantha Kolesnik to the stand.
00:28:30
-Along with the facts
and forensics, the jury heard tales
of betrayal. -Do you swear...
00:28:37
-Including one by his
third wife, Samantha Kolesnik. She believed she had
married a loving widower,
00:28:45
but later learned
that Mindy was still alive when Nick first started
messaging her.
00:28:51
-She had no idea that
he was leading this double life. -I don't think words
will ever capture how I felt,
00:28:58
but I felt if I had to choose
some words, I'd say -- Horrified. Shocked.
Traumatized. Violated.
00:29:07
Deceived. -Samantha also told
jurors Nick wanted to quickly start a family. -I went to a
pre-conception appointment
00:29:16
right around the date
of our marriage. Yep. -Nick and I met at
Naval Justice School in 2008...
00:29:21
-Retired Commander Cameron
Nelson described the Nick that she and others had once believed
was an honorable, proud patriot.
00:29:31
-And I was scheduled to deploy
aboard the USNS Comfort. -When she received
a serious cancer diagnosis,
00:29:37
-Unfortunately, I wasn't
able to go on that deployment. -Kassotis, she told the jury,
stepped up and stepped in.
00:29:44
-Nick immediately volunteered
to take that deployment, so that I could focus
on treatment.
00:29:48
-But that same Nick Kassotis,
she says, also betrayed her trust
when he told her
00:29:55
that his financial accounts
had been hacked. She lent him money,
and even gave him a credit card.
00:30:00
-How much did the defendant
charge to that credit card? -Approximately $198,000.
00:30:07
-Has he ever paid a penny
towards that debt? -Not a penny. -The man Cameron thought
00:30:13
was a patriot now seemed
like a calculating con man. -And we decided
that it was just not sustainable
00:30:20
to continue to allow
him to borrow money. -Please raise your right hand
and take the oath.
00:30:24
-First wife,
Heather Thomas, testified about her own betrayal, with its court order
for Kassotis
00:30:31
to pay up on their
divorce agreement. -Did the defendant cooperate
with the divorce obligations?
00:30:37
-No. -Did that cause
any kind of hardship to you? -Of course. It put me through a lot
of emotional stress.
00:30:44
-Did he ever comply
with that court order for the $1.5 million, the
interest, and the attorney fees?
00:30:51
-No. -The jury watched that video of
Kassotis' green Ford Explorer, less than a mile from where
Mindy's remains were found.
00:31:02
-And that camera captured
that vehicle. Is that correct? -The water pumping
station camera.
00:31:10
-Thank you. -Special Agent Tracy Sand said
he wasn't just sifting through physical evidence.
00:31:16
He had been on a hunt
for a star witness. -Did you ever make an effort
to locate Jim McIntyre?
00:31:24
-Yes, ma'am, I did. There was only one in this area,
in the Savannah area. -And this McIntyre was
definitely not an FBI agent.
00:31:34
-An older gentleman,
he managed a company that sold dental implants. -Could you identify
any connection
00:31:41
between that Jim McIntyre
and this case? -I could not. -It's a powerful
circumstantial case
00:31:47
against Nick Kassotis
that only one man can rebut. -The defense calls
Nicholas Kassotis to the stand.
00:31:55
-Please raise your right hand
and take the oath. -For more than three hours, Kassotis repeated to the jury
his story about the mystery man
00:32:04
who he insists controlled every
detail of Mindy's life and his. -I gave Jim McIntyre access
to literally everything.
00:32:13
He had access to our home. He had all of our bank accounts. -Why would an accomplished
attorney listen to some guy
00:32:22
who just shows up
and do whatever he says? -Well, that's the
million-dollar question, right?
00:32:28
Why would he do that?
Um, all I can think is panic. -The defense offered
no pictures
00:32:36
of McIntyre, no records. Just Kassotis' testimony. -I had no reason to doubt
that he was who he said he was.
00:32:44
-And Kassotis claimed he was
only in the area where his wife's
remains were found,
00:32:49
because
the manipulative McIntyre had told him to go there. -Did you kill your wife,
Mindy?
00:32:56
-I absolutely did not.
I would never have hurt Mindy. -Did you dismember her body?
00:33:01
-No. Absolutely not. -Then what about that knife
cradled under his arm? Kassotis said it wasn't
about murder.
00:33:12
It was for home improvement.
A broken screen. -I was having a very hard time
keeping the netting on it
00:33:19
and keeping it secured up there. So I was looking for something
that was kind of long and thin.
00:33:25
-What is Nick's
strongest defense? -His strongest defense is
it's entirely circumstantial.
00:33:34
There was zero evidence
presented at trial of how Mindy was killed
and, frankly,
00:33:42
where Mindy was killed. They don't know. -Attorney Weinstein closed
his defense with this reminder
to the jurors.
00:33:51
-The state has an
incredibly high burden to meet because they have got to show
guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
00:34:00
And they haven't done that. They just -- they just
haven't done that. -As the trial wrapped up,
the mystery man, Jim McIntyre,
00:34:10
-Can't find a person
that doesn't exist. -Never appeared
in this Georgia courtroom.
00:34:16
-I submit to you
there is no Jim. He killed her.
He took her from everyone. A bright light. Kind.
Good-natured.
00:34:32
I submit to you, Mindy. She deserves your attention. This case is about her.
Look at the evidence
00:34:45
and come back with what is
the only appropriate outcome -- Guilty of all charges.
00:34:59
♪♪ -Nick Kassotis and his attorney
had hoped to convince a jury that he wasn't capable
of killing his wife, Mindy.
00:35:12
But somebody else was. -It is not my job to figure
out who killed Mindy Kassotis.
00:35:19
That is the state's job.
It's a huge job. It's an important job,
and it's a high burden.
00:35:26
-What's the motive
for someone else to kill her? -Well, again,
we go back to Jim McIntyre.
00:35:34
That's the only person
that could possibly -- That's the only person. -The mysterious Jim McIntyre.
00:35:40
Prosecutors say there is
no Jim McIntyre. That he doesn't exist.
Do you have any evidence
00:35:46
he does? -I have no evidence
that Jim McIntyre exists. -Do you have a picture of him?
00:35:51
-I have no picture. -Any kind of documentation that showed that
he worked for a federal agency?
00:35:59
-All that we have on
Jim McIntyre is what Nick has told Mindy. If I had any way to prove
that Jim McIntyre existed,
00:36:07
you would have seen it
at the trial. -Why should anyone
believe Nick Kassotis' story
00:36:14
when he's a liar? -He lies a lot.
He told some big lies, but nothing
like murdering your wife.
00:36:22
I just refused
to take the leap of, because you lie
about certain things, you're a murderer.
It's just too far for me to go.
00:36:30
-Even prosecutor
Laurie Baio admitted that despite Kassotis'
his inconsistencies,
00:36:36
jurors might have doubts
about his guilt. -If you look at him on paper,
he looks like Prince Charming.
00:36:44
My mom and dad
would have said, "Oh, my gosh, he's a wonderful catch. He looks fantastic."
So why wouldn't you believe him?
00:36:53
-But Baio says Kassotis has
been fooling people for years. -He gaslighted everybody.
Not stupid people.
00:37:00
Not people that are unaware. And they all bought it. -Including Mindy. -She believed him.
00:37:09
I mean, no one disputes
that Mindy never left the house, that she was terrified and that she stayed
home every moment of her life,
00:37:18
afraid that if she left,
she'd be killed. -The real story, says Baio,
was much more mundane.
00:37:25
Kassotis was hiding, she says, because he didn't want to pay his ex-wife. Was Nick Kassotis,
gaslighting his wife
00:37:34
and making her believe
that their lives were in danger, when in fact,
he was just running from a debt.
00:37:41
-You know, that's possible. -I mean, he's a prosecutor.
He's a lawyer. He might be able to convince her
of that.
00:37:48
-He also knows
how to handle the legal system. So there's a million-and-a-half
dollar judgment against him.
00:37:54
There's all kinds of ways
to get rid of this debt. You don't need to live
a miserable life for five years
00:38:01
because of a judgment
that you can't pay. -But why kill Mindy? Why do you believe
Nick killed his wife?
00:38:10
What -- What's
the motive for it? -That was the hardest question
to answer, but juries want to know.
00:38:19
It was my argument to the jury that everybody said
Nick wanted a family. He wanted kids.
He really wanted to have kids.
00:38:28
-But, so why kill her? -I think he found out
she wasn't pregnant. -In fact, Mindy's death certificate said
she was not pregnant.
00:38:38
♪♪ -Ladies and gentlemen,
please be seated. -Jurors took just a little
over an hour to reach a verdict.
00:38:51
-It's my understanding that
the jury has reached a verdict. -Count one.
Malice murder. Guilty.
00:39:00
Count two. Felony murder.
Guilty. -Guilty on all charges. -I don't believe for a minute
00:39:12
Nick ever expected
a guilty verdict to come back. -Before sentencing,
Mindy's friend Morgan Paddock
00:39:20
spoke directly to Kassotis. -She loved you and trusted you
to tell her the truth,
00:39:27
to protect her,
to live out your marriage vows. And yet you were the one
that she needed protection from.
00:39:37
-He is remanded to custody. -The judge sentenced him to life
without parole. Why did so many people
believe Nick Kassotis?
00:39:46
-You know, all I have are
questions from this case, right? Just -- I don't have answers.
00:39:53
So many people,
college grads, professionals, career Navy officers believed
everything that Nick and Mindy
00:40:04
told them about
why they were living the life. And I think it's because when
Nick would tell them something,
00:40:10
they believed him. -The people in his life are still struggling
with a betrayal.
00:40:19
Is that hard for you, then, to think that
you were married to this man? Who then killed his wife?
00:40:30
-The thing
that I struggle with, I think, even now, is the fact that
survivor's guilt is very real.
00:40:39
Out of the two of us, I probably had -- he probably
had more reasons to perhaps maybe come after me.
00:40:49
I trusted him with my literal
life, and I believed him. -Mindy's friends now accept
00:41:00
that they were all betrayed
by Nick, but they hope Mindy will be
remembered not as a victim,
00:41:07
but a woman
who saw the light in other women and tried to capture that
in a podcast.
00:41:14
-And it was beautiful
and it was special. And it was talking to a friend and knowing
that she had a platform
00:41:19
and she wanted to use it
for good. -The Compelling Women
podcast is written and hosted by me,
Mindy Kassotis.
00:41:26
Thank you so much for
listening to the first season, and I promise to be back with
another season as soon as I can.