Left inset: Jonah Michael Poole. Proper inset: Kylee Alyssa Dakes. Center inset: Edward Koza (Anne Arundel Police Division). Background: Tropic Bay Water Gardens car parking zone in Maryland the place Poole and Dakes lit Koza”s automobile on fireplace with him nonetheless inside, cops say (WBAL).
A Maryland teenager accused of attacking his former boss after which killing him by setting his automobile on fireplace with him inside pleaded responsible to the crime.
Jonah Michael Poole, 19, entered a responsible plea on Wednesday months after he was charged with first-degree homicide in reference to the dying of 67-year-old Edward Koza. Poole and his girlfriend, 19-year-old Kylee Alyssa Dakes, have been accused of ambushing Koza at his office, binding him and masking his mouth with duct tape, and placing him in a automobile that they allegedly lit on fireplace whereas he was nonetheless inside.
Poole and Dakes have been scheduled to go on trial in June earlier than Poole entered his plea.
As Regulation&Crime beforehand reported, police responded to a name a few automobile fireplace on the Tropic Bay Water Gardens retailer in Davidsonville, Maryland, on the evening of Might 24, 2025. Koza’s sure physique was discovered contained in the automobile after the fireplace was extinguished. A melted gasoline container was discovered close by, together with a discarded Bass Professional Retailers hat. Police believed the presence of the container and the hat pointed to an deliberately set fireplace.
In accordance with legal complaints obtained by Washington, D.C., information shops, Poole and Dakes went to Koza’s retailer round 5:30 p.m. that day and allegedly attacked him earlier than tying him up and forcing him into his personal automobile. Surveillance cameras at a gasoline station noticed Koza’s automobile with a male topic, later recognized as Poole, within the driver’s seat carrying a Bass Professional Retailers hat and a flannel shirt. A feminine topic, allegedly Dakes, was seen getting out of the passenger facet of the automobile and giving a clerk two $5 payments that police believed have been used to buy the container of gasoline.
Police stated Poole and Dakes returned to Tropic Bay Water Gardens, the enterprise owned by Koza, the place they parked the automobile and set it on fireplace with Koza nonetheless alive inside.
Additional investigation revealed that Poole labored at Koza’s retailer for a few weekends the yr earlier than. Police believed the motivation behind the assault was theft.
Poole entered his responsible plea on Wednesday and is scheduled to be sentenced on June 26. Dakes pleaded not responsible to first-degree homicide and is scheduled to seem in courtroom on April 28. She stays in custody on the Anne Arundel County Jail.
David Harris contributed to this report.
