19-year-old sentenced to life in prison in death of Maryland man found in burned-out pickup truck

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19-year-old sentenced to life in prison in death of Maryland man found in burned-out pickup truck

Tadiwos Abedje | [e-mail]
June 27, 2026, 4:46 PM

A man will serve a life sentence for his role in the May 2025 murder of a koi pond business owner in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. related_stories align=”right”]

Jonah Michael Poole, 19, of Davidsonville, pleaded guilty in March to first-degree murder in the death of Edward Stephen Koza, who owned Tropic Bay Water Gardens.

Kylee Alyssa Dakes, 19, Poole’s girlfriend, has also been charged with first-degree murder and is scheduled to go on trial in December.

Authorities said on May 24, 2025, that they went to the 600 block of West Central Avenue in Davidsonville for a report of a vehicle on fire in the parking lot of a commercial business. Upon arrival, they put out the fire and found human remains, later identified as Koza, in the passenger compartment.

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Tadiwos Abedje
Tadi Abedje is a freelance digital writer/editor for WTOP. He was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in Northern Virginia. Journalism has been his No. 1 passion since he was a kid and he is blessed to be around people, telling their stories and sharing them with the world.

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@realTadiAbedje