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19-year-old Maryland man pleads guilty in 2025 murder
A 19-year-old man accused of murdering a 67-year-old in Davidsonville, Md. has pleaded guilty. He was charged alongside his girlfriend for the killing after the victim was found dead, bound in the backseat of a burning car, police say.
ANNE ARUNDEL, Md. - A 19-year-old man accused of murdering a 67-year-old in Davidsonville, Md. has pleaded guilty.
He was charged alongside his girlfriend for the killing after the victim was found dead, bound in the backseat of a burning car, police say.
The backstory:
On May 24, 2025, Anne Arundel County authorities responded to the Tropic Bay Water Gardens in Davidsonville, Md., in response to a pickup truck on fire in the parking lot.
When firefighters arrived at the scene, they found the remains of a person in the back seat of the vehicle.
The victim was later identified as 67-year-old Edward Stephen Koza, owner of the Tropic Bay Water Gardens – and the car he was killed in. Investigators found that Koza's hands and arms were bound with tape and his mouth taped over.
Koza also suffered blunt force trauma to his head, according to the autopsy. His death has been ruled a homicide.
Officials say there was a smell of gasoline from the burning car and the victim, and the melted spout of a plastic fuel container was found in the backseat.
Inside the shop, which sells supplies for gardens and garden ponds, investigators found signs of a struggle, with things knocked over and broken.
Dig deeper:
Detectives say they believe Koza was alone in the Tropic Bay Water Gardens by himself when he was attacked.
They say the suspects, later identified as Jonah Michael Poole and Kylee Alyssa Dakes — both 18 years old — pulled up to the Tropic Bay parking lot in a red Lincoln, then went inside of the store where they assaulted Koza around 5:30 p.m.
They then put him into the backseat of his truck and drove around, investigators say. Surveillance video from a BP Gas Station on West Central Avenue in Davidsonville captured Koza's vehicle around 9 p.m., and a woman was seen getting out of the passenger seat and walked into the store.
The couple later returned to the Tropic Bay parking lot, set the vehicle on fire with Koza in the rear passenger seat and then fled the scene in their red Lincoln.
After police were able to identify the couple, they were arrested and charged with first-degree murder, assault, and arson.
What's next:
Poole is scheduled to be sentenced on June 26 at 1:30 p.m.