DAVIDSONVILLE, Md. — Two 18-year-olds were arrested and charged with murder and arson after a man was found dead inside a burning vehicle at a Davidsonville parking lot, Anne Arundel County Police confirmed Tuesday.
The victim, 67-year-old Edward Stephen Koza, owner of Tropic Bay Water Gardens, was discovered with his hands, arms, and mouth bound with tape inside the backseat of his pickup truck, which was engulfed in flames on May 24.
Responding to a 911 call around 9:30 p.m., emergency personnel extinguished the fire and found Koza’s body. An autopsy revealed blunt force trauma to his head. Investigators also detected gasoline residue inside the car and on Koza’s body, along with melted plastic from a fuel container.
Surveillance footage from a nearby BP gas station showed a man wearing a Bass Pro Shops hat driving Koza’s truck, accompanied by a woman who paid the attendant before both returned to the vehicle. Police identified them as 18-year-old Kylee Alyssa Dakes and her boyfriend, 18-year-old Jonah Michael Poole. License plate readers also captured Poole’s car near the crime scene shortly after the incident.
Investigators believe Dakes and Poole attacked Koza inside his garden center between 5:30 and 6 p.m., took him captive, and placed him in his truck. They suspect the couple then drove to the gas station to buy gasoline with Koza still inside the vehicle, before returning to the garden center and setting the truck on fire.
A Bass Pro Shops hat found at the crime scene was linked to the suspects through store video showing they purchased the hat and a shirt at the Arundel Mills Mall location prior to the crime.
Dakes and Poole were arrested on May 31 and face multiple charges including first- and second-degree murder, assault, conspiracy to commit murder, and arson. Both remain held without bond as the investigation continues.
Authorities urge anyone with information to contact Anne Arundel County Police detectives at 410-222-4731.
