Overview
- Jonah Poole, 19, was sentenced Friday to life with the possibility of parole after pleading guilty in March to first-degree murder in the 2025 death of the garden-center owner.
- Police found 67-year-old Edward (Stephen) Koza tied and burned inside his pickup truck at his Davidsonville business on May 24, 2025, with investigators saying the attack followed signs of a struggle inside the store.
- The court ordered Poole to forfeit about $215,000 recovered from the victim and a roughly $15,000 vehicle to Koza’s estate and referred Poole to the Patuxent Youth Facility’s Youthful Offender Program because of his age.
- Co-defendant Kylee Alyssa Dakes has pleaded not guilty, plans to assert battered-spouse syndrome at a December 2026 trial, and prosecutors say they have detention-center call logs, cell phone data, exported Snapchat chats and physical items tying the pair to the crime.
- The sentence closes Poole’s criminal case while the estate receives partial restitution, and the upcoming trial of Dakes will determine further accountability and whether more stolen funds can be recovered.