Inset: Jonah Poole (Anne Arundel County Police Department). Background: Tropic Bay Water Gardens in Davidsonville, Md., where Poole killed his former employer (Google Maps).
A Maryland teen has been sentenced to spend decades in prison after admitting he beat and kidnapped his former boss before killing him in a vehicle set ablaze.
Jonah Poole, 19, pleaded guilty in March to one count of first-degree murder in the death of 67-year-old Edward Koza, a naturalist who operated a garden center and koi pond business.
On Friday, Anne Arundel Circuit Court Judge Cathleen Vitale handed down a life sentence, with Poole eligible for parole.
The killing took place in May 2025 at Tropic Bay Water Gardens in Davidsonville, a small, semi-rural unincorporated community about 15 miles southwest of Annapolis.
Investigators, however, traced the motive for the violence to events that began weeks earlier.
Koza had previously told authorities that hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash had been stolen from his home. Not long after, a then-employee at Water Gardens informed investigators that Koza believed Poole, who had once worked for him, was responsible for the burglary, according to The Baltimore Banner.
On May 24, 2025, Koza was discovered dead inside a burning truck in the business’s parking lot on West Central Avenue. His arms, hands and mouth had been restrained with duct tape inside his own vehicle.
Inside, police found obvious signs of a struggle, like items broken and knocked over, according to Baltimore-based ABC affiliate WMAR.
Investigators noted the presence of a knife and a bloody koi rock as well as other evidence, according to local NBC affiliate WBAL.
Surveillance footage from a nearby BP gas station showed a man and a woman pulling up to the parking lot in Koza’s truck before it was wholly engulfed in flames. In another video, which was captured on Poole’s own cellphone, the defendant is seen pouring gas into the truck, tossing the empty gas can inside the vehicle, then lighting paper towels hanging from the driver’s side windows.
The victim was also beaten before being burned alive.
Koza suffered bruises around his eyes, a fractured nose, and “severe thermal injuries,” Assistant State’s Attorney Marot Williamson said in comments reported by the Banner.
Also implicated in the savage killing was Poole’s girlfriend, Kylee Alyssa Dakes, 19. In January, Judge Vitale ruled the pair should be tried together – despite the woman’s defense team claiming the burglary had nothing to do with her, according to the Banner. Since Poole took a plea deal, however, the couple’s cases were separated.
The pair went back to Dakes’ home after the killing and exchanged messages on Snapchat, according to law enforcement. In one such message, Poole wrote that “it went so well.”
During his sentencing, the judge said she would have sentenced the convicted killer to life without parole but for the plea deal; she also said she looked for any reason not to issue a life sentence.
“Young man, I myself have had restless nights over this case,” Vitale told the defendant.
The judge said she would recommend a treatment-focused maximum security prison due to Poole’s relatively young age.
“He was also ordered to forfeit approximately $215,000 stolen from the victim, and a $15,000 truck purchased with additional stolen funds to the victim’s estate,” the Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
Poole gave an allocution during Friday’s hearing.
“I think I deserve whatever I get,” he said. “I hope God can forgive me, because I don’t think I deserve it from anyone else.”
Dakes has pleaded not guilty. Her trial is slated to begin in December.
