Bradenton man indicted in stabbing death after girlfriend found in hotel mattress

A Bradenton man has been indicted for murder in the violent death of his girlfriend last August.

Steven Joseph Cozens, 24, is now charged with premeditated first-degree murder. He was initially charged with second-degree murder at the time of his arrest.

He previously confessed responsibility for the killing to deputies, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office said.

The 26-year-old woman’s body was found by housekeeping staff at a Bradenton motel on Aug. 28.

She had been stabbed to death, wrapped in a sheet and hidden under a mattress, the Twelfth Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office said in a news release Wednesday.

Prosecutors allege that the couple was having an argument when Cozens pulled out a knife and repeatedly stabbed her. He then hid the body and left the hotel, the state attorney’s office said.

The sheriff’s office investigated the scene of the crime at the America’s Best Value Inn, 607 67th St Circle E., Bradenton.

Detectives developed Cozens as a person of interest, located and arrested him the same day, the sheriff’s office said in August.

If found guilty, Cozens faces up to a life sentence in prison. He remains held without bail at the Manatee County Jail.