Day three of testimony in Kassotis murder trial

HINESVILLE, Ga. (WTOC) - Day three of testimony in the Nicholas Kassotis case included both parents of the victim.

Kassotis is charged with malice murder and the dismemberment of his second wife, Mindi Mebane Kassotis.

Betsy and Frank Mebane both took to the witness stand to talk about the death of their daughter.

The main message was the lies they were told, and the truths that were withheld from them.

Betsy Mebane revealed that she was told by Nicholas that her daughter died in a hospital.

She wasn’t told which hospital or doctor.

The only real information she was given came when Kassotis showed up to their house in tears on December 1, one day before Mindi’s body was found.

“He was just, he just started bawling hysterically and talking, I really couldn’t even understand what he was saying so I said please come out and sit in the den, and tell us what’s wrong, and that’s when all I can really understand was she’s not coming home,” said Betsy Mebane.

Mindi’s parents also revealed how they were lied to for the duration of their daughter’s marriage.

A false pregnancy wasn’t the only lie the Mebanes say were told while knowing Nicholas.

They were told the family was in danger from the government and that Nicholas himself later died in 2023.

Mindi’s father talked about one instance where they were told Nicholas needed to change his name in order to protect them. According to the father, it was strictly for security reasons.

Defense: “Do you know what those security reasons were?”

Frank Mebane: “No, that I recall?”

Defense: “What did you believe it to be?”

Frank Mebane: “Nothing beyond what we have been told for years that they were in danger and that was going to protect them.”

In the defense’s opening statement, he had asserted that both Mindi and Nicholas lied to others countless times.