Kylee Alyssa Dakes: Charges, Alleged Motive, and Trial Date

Kylee Alyssa Dakes is a young woman from Harwood, Maryland, charged with first-degree murder in the May 2025 killing of 67-year-old Edward Stephen Koza, the owner of Tropic Bay Water Gardens in Davidsonville. She was 18 and a senior at Southern High School when she was arrested a week after Koza’s bound body was found inside his own burning pickup truck. Her then-boyfriend and co-defendant, Jonah Michael Poole, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in June 2026. Dakes has pleaded not guilty. Her trial is scheduled to begin December 1, 2026.¹

The Charges

Dakes faces first-degree murder, second-degree murder, first-degree assault, second-degree assault, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit second-degree murder, and arson.²³

What Prosecutors Say She Did

On the evening of May 24, 2025, Anne Arundel County police and fire crews responded to a vehicle fire in the parking lot of Tropic Bay Water Gardens on West Central Avenue and found human remains in a pickup truck. Koza’s arms, hands, and mouth were bound with tape. Investigators smelled gasoline and recovered the melted spout of a plastic fuel container from the back seat. Inside the shop they found broken items, blood, and a pair of shoes; Koza was not wearing shoes when his body was recovered.⁴⁵

Prosecutors allege that Poole and Dakes attacked Koza inside the store, inflicted blunt force trauma to his head, bound him, and placed him in the back of his own truck.⁶ Police say the pair then drove Koza around for some time before returning to the shop and setting the truck on fire.⁷

The evidence tying Dakes directly to the killing centers on surveillance video from a neighboring BP station. The footage shows the couple arriving in Koza’s truck, Dakes going inside and paying for roughly $10 worth of gasoline while Poole waited in the driver’s seat. Investigators believe Koza was still alive in the truck at that moment.⁸⁹⁶

The Alleged Motive

The state’s theory is financial. Prosecutors say Poole stole $570,000 in cash from Koza’s home and was later found to have posed for photos and videos with the money next to the victim’s safe.¹⁰ A separate burglary at Koza’s home on Spring Race Court in Annapolis had been reported to police on May 12, about two weeks before the killing. Poole had briefly worked for Koza at the garden shop in 2024, a connection prosecutors say helps explain how the suspects knew about cash kept at Koza’s home.¹¹

Her Co-Defendant Has Already Been Sentenced

Poole pleaded guilty to first-degree murder on March 18, 2026, along with two counts of malicious destruction of property.¹²¹³¹⁰

Her Defense

Dakes has pleaded not guilty. She is represented by attorney Andrew Jezic, who has said, “We have a lot to say about her innocence.”³ In earlier proceedings, her defense argued the state has “no motive, no evidence, no statement, no confession” against her.⁹

Her lawyers opposed the state’s request for a joint trial with Poole. Dakes waived her right to a speedy trial, and the defense plans to argue battered spouse syndrome, with Dakes expected to testify in her own defense.¹⁰

Trial Date

Dakes’s trial is set to begin December 1, 2026, in Anne Arundel County.¹

1
Anne Arundel County. Davidsonville Teen Sentenced to Life for May 2025 Murder of Tropic Bay Gardens Owner
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Anne Arundel County. Suspicious Death Investigation Arrest Update – Davidsonville
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WBAL-TV. Judge Rules Defendant in Garden Shop Owner Death Competent for Trial
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WMAR-2 News. Davidsonville Man Sentenced to Life for Murder of Tropic Bay Gardens Owner
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WTOP. 19-Year-Old Sentenced to Life in Prison in Death of Md. Man Found in Burned-Out Pickup Truck
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Oxygen. Jonah Michael Poole Bound, Burned, and Murdered Edward Stephen Koza
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CBS News Baltimore. Maryland Murder Life Sentence Davidsonville
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FOX Baltimore. Murder Suspects Allegedly Seen on Video Minutes Before Setting Vehicle on Fire
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WBAL-TV. Davidsonville Homicide Car Fire Victim Identified, Two Arrested
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WBAL-TV. Jonah Poole Sentenced to Life in Prison for Edward Koza Murder
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CBS News Baltimore. Anne Arundel County Tropic Garden Murder
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FOX Baltimore. Teenager Pleads Guilty to Murder in Davidsonville Car Burning
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FOX Baltimore. Davidsonville Teen Sentenced to Life for Murder of Garden Shop Owner