CHILLING

Ex-Navy JAG Officer Arrested in Wife’s Grisly Murder

Mindi Mebane Kassotis’ body was found on the land of a Georgia hunting club late last year.

A gruesome discovery at a hunting club in Georgia late last year has finally culminated in an arrest.

Authorities say dismembered remains found by hunters last December belong to 40-year-old Mindi Mebane Kassotis, who is believed to have been dead since November 2022.

Now, her husband, a former JAG officer for the Navy, is being charged with her murder.

Nicholas Kassotis—also known as Nicholas Killian James Stark, 40, was arrested in Pennsylvania on Friday for malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, tampering with evidence and removal of body parts from scene of death or dismemberment, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Officials found Mindi’s body on Dec. 2, 2022, in Liberty County, Georgia. They determined that she was placed there sometime after Nov. 18, but her identity remained a mystery for months.

It wasn’t until May 11 that agents with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation confirmed that the body was Mindi after taking DNA samples from her family. Nicholas was arrested the following day.

The couple were married in Virginia in 2016. Mindi was a writer and business owner originally from New Orleans, Louisiana. Nicholas was serving in the U.S. Navy’s Judge Advocate General Corps at the time. At the time of Mindi’s death, the couple were living together in Savannah.

Nicholas is currently being held in the Lancaster County Prison, where he’s awaiting extradition back to Georgia.

The motive for Mindi’s killing remains unclear. Attempts to reach her family and the family of Nicholas Kassotis were unsuccessful.

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Erik Uebelacker

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