In December 2022, human remains identified as 40-year-old writer Mindi Mebane Kassotis were discovered scattered in the woods of a hunting club near Riceboro along the Liberty–McIntosh county line in Georgia. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said the remains were placed at the site sometime after Nov. 18, 2022, and were recovered on Dec. 2, 2022.
Authorities later arrested Mindi’s husband, former U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps (JAG) officer Nicholas Kassotis — who has also used the name Nicholas Killian Stark — in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on May 12, 2023. He faced charges including malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, tampering with evidence and removal of body parts from a scene of death or dismemberment. Mindi’s identity was confirmed the day before his arrest.
In August 2025 a jury convicted Kassotis of murdering his wife and sentenced him to life in prison.
Defense: fear of a shadowy figure
Throughout the investigation and trial, Kassotis’ defense portrayed his and Mindi’s behavior as the result of fear. Defense attorney Douglas Weinstein told jurors that the couple moved frequently — "every few days, few weeks, few months" — because they believed a mysterious man they called "Jim McIntyre" controlled aspects of their lives and had warned them their lives were in danger.
"He worked for the FBI and warned them their lives were in danger," the defense argued at trial.
Prosecution response and other factors
State prosecutors rejected the McIntyre narrative, calling it a "CIA, conspiracy theory type argument," and presented other evidence and motives to the jury. Prosecutors also noted that months before Mindi’s death, Kassotis had been hit with a $1.5 million divorce judgment from a previous marriage; authorities allege the couple went on the run in part to avoid satisfying that judgment.
The case drew attention for both the gruesome evidence recovered and the defense's claim that an unverified, shadowy figure controlled the couple's lives. With the jury's guilty verdict in August 2025, Kassotis received a life sentence.
