Nicholas Kassotis lived in fear for years of a mystery, dangerous man who he believed was chasing him and his wife in Georgia.
As a result, Kassotis, a former Judge Advocate General’s Corps (JAG) officer for the United States Navy, and his second wife, Mindi Mebane Kassotis, a writer, “were moving every few days, few weeks, few months, under control of this person we’ll keep calling Jim McIntyre,” Kassotis’ attorney Douglas Weinstein told WJCL.
Then, on December 2, 2022, the unthinkable occurred.
Mindi’s head and other parts of her mutilated body were discovered spread in the woods of a hunting club near Riceboro and the Liberty-McIntosh County boundary, according to a news release from the Georgia Bureau of Information.
According to the announcement, the body was deposited in the area sometime after November 18, 2022.
Five months later, on May 12, 2023, authorities made an arrest in relation to Mindi’s murder. Nicholas, 40, also known as Nicholas Killian Stark, was taken into jail instead of Jim McIntyre, who was regarded an unconfirmed individual by officials.
Nicholas was arrested in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and charged with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, tampering with evidence, and removing body parts from the site of death or dismemberment.
According to the announcement, Mindi’s body was identified the day before his arrest by the GBI.
According to The Coastal Courier, Nicholas was convicted of Mindi’s murder in August 2025 and sentenced to life imprisonment.
During the trial, Nicholas’ lawyers told jurors that he had been acting strangely and lying to friends and family because he dreaded McIntyre, whom Nicholas said worked for the FBI and had warned the couple that their lives were in danger, according to the Courier.
In an August statement to PEOPLE, Weinstein claimed that the McIntyre figure “controlled every aspect of Nick and Mindi’s life,” and described the victim’s death as a “mystery.”
However, state prosecutors dismissed the defense’s argument, referring to it as a “CIA, conspiracy theory type argument,” according to local WJCL.
According to authorities, Nicholas’ ex-wife received a $1.5 million divorce judgment against him months before Mindi died. They allege that Kassotis and his new wife fled to avoid paying the money.
