What is it you think you're here for? I'm going to tell you that you stabbed her. It's a hot August day at a hotel in Bradenton, Florida, where a housekeeper's horrifying discovery is about to land one man behind bars for a very long time. You ready? I did stab her. Did you? No. Under the bed? Under the bed? Yeah. Oh, sweet Jesus. Yeah, oh Jesus. Oh, yeah, yeah. All right, all Police and first responders swarm the scene after a housekeeper allegedly discovered a body stuffed under a mattress while cleaning the room. The victim, described as a 26-year-old Manatee County woman, is quickly determined to be deceased and the scene is cleared. All right, guys, watch your step, don't touch anything. They might try to clean up with bleach in there. 10-4. There's a bleach. Yeah, that's all right, man. I got to wipe it. There is no way. Okay, we're good. out of 17. 17 Here you go. How we doing here? Check it out. I'm just going to close the door and hold it here. No one else is in there, right? No. Uh we didn't look under the other bed. All right. You want us to You want us to take a look? No, no, I'll go in. I'll wait till I get some people. Well, we don't have a gun, either. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't blame you. I can borrow yours and look under that bed. Other than that, I'm good. It was going back to the bathroom. There was only nobody in there. I want to try to preserve it as best as I can. Well, I want to take a look under there. That's what I was saying. I was looking I'm like, "What the hell is All that stuff someone else tried to do some serious cleaning. Yeah. I mean, nobody wraps someone up like that underneath the bed and they just died naturally. No. This [ __ ] looks the hell out of me. You even got the bars over it and everything, too. Yeah. They just slid her under and then put something in there. Well, maybe not. Shelly, I'm going to take this stuff back in. Yeah, like Next, the officer heads inside the room to check underneath the second mattress. I just want to check over here. I just want to make sure there isn't another. Nope, it's clear. We're clear. You want me to help you with your one too? Can we just see you? Yeah. You know what I would suggest we do? Just in case there's any evidence in the trash can, let's go ahead and just cordon off this whole area. I want to see if anybody was in this room before. The officer finds nothing under the other mattress, but investigators later discover bloody sandals in one of the hotel trash cans. Keep this in mind for later. Yeah, it's disconnected and there's a camera down there. It's disconnected. You heard that right. The officer notes that multiple cameras in the area are disconnected, stunting the investigation. But, it's not long until two witnesses appear and offer investigators some insight into the situation. Say again? Did you hear anything last night or the last couple days over here? Only when there's some drugs or some big guy with their head. You can tell there's no big guys cuz they're like Who? They're like fall down the stairs. Can we just talk to you for a minute I really don't have anything to say if the cameras are off, you know. Can you give us a description of the other person she was with? Oh, I didn't even know. You have a she as a pronoun? Well, you said there was two people, right? I'm assuming They stayed in that room? Yeah. There was a whole lot of people. A whole lot of people? No, it's been pretty much in and out? Frank a description? You got a druggy party girl that did too much cash your stuff and somebody did love her. I mean, she's always up here begging to pull herself out. That's all I know. Yeah. Was she with anybody? Over always sits outside of her door. Okay. Did Did you guys see her with anybody else yesterday or I didn't see her with anybody. Nobody? And you didn't hear She's always just with that one young boy. One young boy? Do you know his name? Do you know what he looks like? Skinny, white. I don't know. Blond hair, black hair? Brown, I think. Brown? Brown, brown. White male? I don't know now. Other people tell me I just like I don't want to be in my daughter's life. I don't care. All I know is it's a young dude. Is it a white male, black male, or Hispanic? guy. White guy? But then you see white guys, you see black guys, you see white guys. Oh, yeah. Well, there's no denying it. There's guys coming There's guys coming in and There's no denying it. There's guys Cuz I'm constantly telling him to mind your own business and stay away from these people. Okay. Do you remember how tall he is roughly? 5'8"? 5'8", 5'9"? 5'8", 5'9"? 5'8". 5'8"? That's like 6'0". That's not right. How much do you think he weighs? 180. 180? Any scars or marks or tattoos? Not to my knowledge, but I think he has like a little beard strap. Witnesses describe a man investigators quickly identify as the victim's boyfriend, 27-year-old Steven Cosyns, who's found nearby and brought in for questioning. You know, you know why you're here, we know why you're here, and we really want to we want to understand. And the only way that we're going to understand is is through you, okay? Some things happened, some bad things, okay? You look like you're going through it. Okay? And, you know, just instead of us just hitting you with question after question after question, what do you what is it you think you're here for? Okay. And who who is the person that you murdered? Steven wastes no time coming clean to detectives before sharing the alleged disturbing details. We got the hard part out of the way, okay? We want to hear your version of what happened. And look at me, Steven, okay? There's no right or wrong version, there's only the truth, okay? You can tell us a lot of things in here, you can confess to killing 50 people in here, but if the evidence that we have doesn't align with what you're telling us, then we know there's something wrong. Either we have to reassess what we've done or you're you're being dishonest. Fair enough? Okay. So, let's We're not going to interrupt you, okay? Just Just tell us what happened. We have a pretty good timeline, but just break it down for us. Me and her were arguing cuz she says that I was cheating on her with invisible women. Okay. Um Okay. I'm sorry. And she tried to stab me. Okay. Let me see what you got there. Don't Don't take them off. Is that That's what that is? Yeah. Okay. We'll We'll Okay, we'll look at them later. That's fine. And where did this happen at? In the hotel room. Okay. What were you doing when this started? She was getting undressed. Okay. Okay. Okay. And you were doing what? Lying in bed. You were lying in bed, okay. And is she She in the same bed with you? Okay. And there are two beds in the room? Okay. One closest to the door or the one closest to the bathroom? Closest to the bathroom. Okay. So, you're lying in bed, she's lying in bed, and she starts in with this invisible people you're having an affair. Okay. And then what happens? She tries to attack me cuz she's tired of me being a scumbag. Okay. And I defended myself. Okay. And describe that. What What happened? Well, I pushed her off of me, and I got the knife and stabbed her. Okay. All right. And what kind of knife? Um Like a fixed blade or one that you flip open? Flip open. Can Can you describe it? So, it's not a Is that the That's the whole knife or is that the blade? whole knife. What color? Black. Black. Okay. I'm going to take a couple notes just Okay. How many times do you think you stabbed her? A lot. A lot. A lot. Okay. Okay. Do you remember where you stabbed her? I know you said a lot. In the neck? Okay. Steven admits to stabbing his girlfriend, {quote} "a lot" in the neck before investigators continue questioning. So, what's going on in this in this moment, okay? So, you you've disarmed her, she's tried to stab you, you've disarmed her, she is Uh you you now have the knife, okay? And are we on the bed still? You're on the floor? Where at? Between In between the beds. In between the beds, okay. And you're on top of her at this point? Okay. So, you stab her, you don't know how many times you stabbed her, okay? But you just a lot, okay. So, how And I know this is kind of a weird question. And I understand that you're probably in a little bit of shock at this point and how long did this confrontation go on? 5 minutes. 5 minutes, okay. And is that from the time that she tried to attack you or is that from the time she started accusing you? Attacking me. Attacking you, okay. Okay. Then what happened? I was scared. I I think that's fair. I I I I that's fair. Look, let me ask you a question. Because we're not trying to we're not trying to paint you as a terrible person, okay? When you woke up Saturday morning, did you plan on killing Jennifer? Okay. Have you guys fought before? And is Jennifer a physical person? Get Go handsy, get handsy with you? Okay. And what about you with her previously? Have you guys had Not that this matters, but have you guys had Confrontation before. Okay, physical. Domestics. Domestics, right. That's And the pet Yeah, and yeah, so it did It's an ongoing thing. How long you two were you two together? Two years. Two years. And how long have you been together like at the hotel? Not that hotel, but two years you've been together together. So no matter where you were, you were together unless somebody went to jail. Okay. All right. Okay. So what happens after? I took a shower. I was covered in blood. Okay. Did you call anybody? No. Was anybody else there? Okay. What happened after you took a shower? Where'd you go? I just walked around. Okay. It's a lot to process. Okay. And then what happened? I went back. So now Now you got to deal with it, right? And this is probably stressing you out while you're out walking. Okay. All right. So you you went back to the room. Were you still alone? Okay. And then what did you do? I tried to cover it up. Okay. Describe to me. So you tried to cover it up. What does that mean? Tried Okay. All right. And What What did you do? Used the towels to wipe the floors and everything. Took the bed sheets and wrapped her. Okay. And I stuffed her under the bed. And so obviously you took your stuff with you and where is your clothing? In the woods. Okay. So the stuff Let me ask you So the stuff that you had on, is it in the woods? No, I threw that away. You threw it away? Where'd you throw it at? In the dumpster. That's under the dumpster at the hotel. Okay, so All right. So the dumpster at the hotel that's the camouflage pants. They're And so when you walk out When you walk out of the room and down the stairs like looking towards Waffle House, is that the dumpster? Yeah. Okay. All right. And was it in a bag or was it just loose? In a bag? What color, you know? Clear. Clear trash bag? Okay. Okay. And once you went out and you you got rid of the clothes and the towels that you used to clean up and what did you do with her stuff? Um most of it I just wrapped away in a bag. Okay. Did you Like I put it with my stuff. Steven doesn't hold back telling his side of the story. But now investigators want to know what happened to the alleged murder weapon. Yeah, she Remember what you did with the knife? Threw it in the lake. Threw the knife in the lake, okay. Which lake? By Sonny's. Behind the No. But the one Sonny's in the Yeah, the one in the circle. Okay. Okay. And whereabouts in the lake, you know? Where were you standing when you tossed it, do you remember? I threw it out back when I was walking. Oh, no [ __ ] That lake that close to the Yeah. Oh, I had no idea. Okay. Did you throw a lighter, a ring in the garbage at all? A lighter. A lighter? A ring? Okay. Some Some stuff was just found. That's what I just asked you. We had to go through garbage, right? So, we all know I mean, we knew the shoes definitely were going to be in You know what I mean, but All right. So, so you could throw that right out the So, I actually went You know, now that I think about it, yeah, I think I think you can. It's not a big window, but it's it's big enough to throw something out of. This much space. I just Did you hear it in the water? I watched it. Oh, did you? Okay, cuz at what point was this? Before or after you cleaned up or during? During. Before I cleaned up. Was it before you left? Okay, so before you took a shower? Okay. Did you Why did you think she was dead? Cuz there's so much blood. All right. Was she Was she talking at any point after the words? No. Not moving. Making any sounds? Nothing. Gurgling. Gurgling. Right. Okay. And I would I appreciate your honesty. I would like you to say that. Do you have any scratches on you? Did she fight you? I'm talking about you. No, I was like there's definitely like the back of my neck right here. Okay. Okay. I'm seeing So, you put those Band-Aids on you? Mhm. Okay. Moments later, one detective decides it's time to be frank with Steven. All right, so I'm going through my notes. And I'm There's There's one part of this that doesn't make sense to me. And I'm not saying you're lying. I'm saying that I I need some clarification. Okay? I'm Look, I'm just going to be honest with you, because I I you I wouldn't [ __ ] Yeah. Okay, so I I don't want to even beat around the bush about it. I'm not feeling like you got attacked with the knife. I'm feeling like you did get attacked, but I'm not feeling the knife part of it. Okay? I see the injury to your hand, right? But from my experience, okay? It's it's not it's not adding up. Okay? And let me just tell you this. There's you've been I I I think probably one of the most honest people we've interviewed in a long time, except the last guy. That guy was unbelievable. But anyway. So, was there obviously there was a fight, okay? There was a disagreement. There was an argument. There was a something. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me that she got out of the bed, went to retrieve your knife, and came back and tried to attack you. I'm and I'm just telling you I'm not seeing the evidence that that's the way it went down. It feels to me like there was a fight. Something did happen, and you snapped. Am I right or wrong? I'm right? Okay. Did she go hand Did she get handsy with you? Or was she just like a Chihuahua just barking and barking and nipping? And you just had enough. And you you got up and grabbed the knife. Okay. Because you just you were done. And the injury on your hand your hand slid down the blade, didn't it? Yeah. Yeah. Sir, open your hand for a minute. This These are blade marks. Yours were slapped on the side. Cuz you guys see now those two are pretty deep. Which What hand are you? Right? Okay, you're right-handed. Steven, did it ever dawn Did you ever think to call law enforcement? And this isn't There's no right or wrong answer. No. You couldn't undo it. Would you if you could? Yeah. Let me ask you. Have you ever been that I'm I'm going to call it like in a rage. Is that Have you ever been in that place before where you were that angry? How often? A lot. A lot. So, what made this time different? Was there more to it? Like to to the fight? Because I'm I'm looking at some of her past. Like she's So, she's she's a working girl. Right? Was Was there some disagreement over that? No. She was just on your and wouldn't let up. Every day. Every day. She She Yeah, like a Chihuahua. You know, like a barking dog nipping at you. You know? I understand. I understand. So listen man, here's the deal, okay? Obviously, you're going to get charged with murder, okay? It's it's going to be second-degree murder, okay? It's not first-degree. Um you know, obviously you're not dumb, you know, we recorded all of this and we record that to protect you and us, okay? We're not the judge, okay? You're going to prison. We're not here to Well, we're not but that's not what we do, you know what I mean? That's out of our wheelhouse. All's we do is we you know, we put a case together, we find the evidence, okay? We we do the whodunit part and the rest is out of our hands. When I I'm going to leave the room, I'm going to go talk to the state attorney, okay? I'm going to let them know how this conversation went and you know, crime scene our crime scene people are going to come over, they're going to take some photos of you, okay? Steven was charged with first-degree murder, but court records show he later accepted a deal and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. He was sentenced to 60 years behind bars.