Police working to authenticate video in homicide investigation of Maryland business owner
Police say two 18-year-olds were arrested after 67-year-old Edward Stephen Koza, the owner of Tropic Bay Aquatic Garden Center in Davidsonville, was found dead in a burned car in the parking lot.
Jonah Poole and Kylee Dakes are facing first- and second-degree murder, first- and second-degree assault, conspiracy to commit first- and second-degree murder, and arson. They were supposed to have been at Southern High School's graduation this week.
The video circulating on social media appears to show a young man matching Poole's description in the charging documents lighting a truck on fire.
"Nobody deserves to die that way," Koza's neighbor told WJZ.
During a court hearing Monday, Poole and Dakes were ordered to be held without bail.
What happened?
Anne Arundel County police say Poole and Dakes went to the Tropic Bay Aquatic Garden Center around closing time on Saturday, May 24, where the owner, Koza, was alone inside.
Officers said the couple attacked Koza, tied him up, put him in his pickup truck, drove it to a nearby gas station to purchase gas, went back to the garden center, and set the truck on fire with Koza inside.
After the vehicle fire was extinguished, investigators found Koza's body on the passenger side.
"You have your whole life ahead of you, and you just threw it away for a couple of dollars?" Anne Arundel County resident Danielle Schline said.
Anne Arundel County residents were stunned by the vicious crime in their small Davidsonville town.
"This was not just a simple robbery or burglary," said Andrew Griffith. "They went pretty far."
Suspect allegedly stole $11k from restaurant
Days before the murder, on May 18, police said Poole allegedly broke into Pirates Cove restaurant in Galesville, caused about $6,000 in damage, and stole more than $11,000 from the safe.
The restaurant said in a statement that Dakes was an employee there until May 13. People familiar with Poole believe he was a previous employee of Koza's at Tropic Bay, but WJZ is working to confirm that.
An Anne Arundel County Public Schools newsletter that celebrates AVID seniors said Dakes was planning to attend Notre Dame of Maryland to study radiology and had received more than $200,000 in scholarships.
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