FILE 442 / 18 November 2023 / 72 MIN / express

The Social Media Loving Cannibal

Joppatowne, MarylandListen

The town

N ↑Public placePublic placePublic placePublic placeTown centre (approximate places)
Static locations; no street basemap. Places and details. OpenFreeMap © OpenMapTiles Data from OpenStreetMap.

This week we're going to Joppatowne, Maryland, about a half hour outside of Baltimore. about 0:02:51

History, in brief

Town note

Three towns in the area, Gunpowder Town, Foster's Neck and Joppa, were merged into what is now Joppatowne.

about 0:04:06

Town note

Gunpowder Town, usually called Gunpowder, was a failed English settlement and the first attempt to settle on the Gunpowder River; it was abandoned because the location was poor.

about 0:04:26

1961

The land where the town stands was farmland growing mostly string beans until 1961, when the Panets Company acquired it and began building planned communities and suburbs.

about 0:04:38
All 3 history facts

Town note

Three towns in the area, Gunpowder Town, Foster's Neck and Joppa, were merged into what is now Joppatowne.

about 0:04:06

Town note

Gunpowder Town, usually called Gunpowder, was a failed English settlement and the first attempt to settle on the Gunpowder River; it was abandoned because the location was poor.

about 0:04:26

1961

The land where the town stands was farmland growing mostly string beans until 1961, when the Panets Company acquired it and began building planned communities and suburbs.

about 0:04:38

The figures, as told

Money

Median home value$299,300
Median household income$97,887
All figures and comparisons, as told in 2023

Population

"12,992"

No direction stated.

As told in 2023 about 0:03:29

Median household income

"$97,887"

Comparison: "high". Direction: above.

As told in 2023 about 0:03:36

Median home price

"$299,300"

Comparison: "below the national average". Direction: below.

As told in 2023 about 0:03:49

The reviews

2.7 / 5 · average of 7

5 stars

“The quintessential American town, the perfect suburb, safe and great for all types of people.”
about 0:04:59

4 stars

“The weather is appropriate for all seasons, warm in summer and cold in winter.”
about 0:05:15

3 stars

“A beautiful, family-friendly place to raise a family, with a park and a football field, public events and caring schools.”
about 0:05:35

3 stars

“Pretty close to the water but very loud thunderstorms.”
about 0:06:45

2 stars

“Hard to find a good boss to work for; many are immature and self-centred.”
about 0:07:01

1 star

“Since the pandemic and the new influx of people it is one of the worst places the reviewer has lived: angry people, high crime from neighbouring Edgewood, and a sheriff's office overwhelmed by what locals call little Baltimore.”
about 0:07:18

1 star

“There are no attractions at all; every sports team is twenty minutes away.”
about 0:07:52

In Maryland

Closest episodes

  1. Proud To Be CruelMiddle River, Maryland · 2 July 202011 km / 7 miShow on map
  2. The Mannequin MurdersElkridge, Maryland · 15 March 201842 km / 26 miShow on map
  3. Adopting MurderCape St. Claire, Maryland · 18 April 202442 km / 26 miShow on map
  4. The Sex Crazed Killer AccountantWestminster, Maryland · 2 June 202259 km / 37 miShow on map
  5. Death Threats Lead To MurderMarydel, Maryland · 6 September 201762 km / 39 miShow on map

The story

Joppatowne, Maryland, is a suburban community of 12,992 people about half an hour outside Baltimore, in Harford County. It was put together from three older settlements, Gunpowder Town, Foster's Neck and Joppa, and the land it stands on was farmland growing mostly string beans until 1961, when the Panets Company began building planned communities there.

The family lived on Terrapin Terrace in Joppatowne, and from December 2011 they had a house guest, Kujo Agyei Kodi, a thirty-seven-year-old former teacher from Ghana who had come to the United States on a student visa, had degrees from Temple University, and was waiting for deportation paperwork.

On 10 December he punched holes in the walls of a computer lab in the Turner Armory and stapled a poster over the damage, and staff found burn marks on his arm that he called tribal markings. Instructors called him unusually angry; one described him as a Virginia Tech waiting to happen, and he was removed from the ROTC programme. At an anti-hazing forum on 31 January 2012 he kept asking about blood sacrifices and university shootings. His social media was a torrent of all-caps posts about death cults, ethnic cleansing, human sacrifice and military documents, sometimes more than two hundred tweets in a day.

On 19 May 2012 he attacked a fellow ROTC student, Joshua Caesar, at a campus apartment. Caesar suffered a fractured skull, a broken shoulder and blindness in his left eye. Barred from campus, he moved back into the family home on 25 May.

That same morning Kodi left the house at about 5.30 a.m. in shorts and a T-shirt to jog, leaving his wallet, phone and identification inside. He never came back.

Jared had gone downstairs and found two stacked metal containers under a blanket in the laundry room, containing a human head and two hands. A search found a metal cage and a plastic tub of decaying animals in the backyard, and two hands and a head hidden upstairs.

He said he had found Kodi sleeping, murdered him with an axe, chopped him up with a knife and dismembered him because he did not want him to come back to life, then ate his heart and part of his brain. He told detectives the rest of the body was in a dumpster three doors down, outside the Joppatowne Baptist Church at Trimble Road, and it was found there.

He remains there. His explanation, as the episode tells it, was that he believed reptilian aliens were going to destroy the earth and that he was killing the first wave of them, starting with Caesar and then Kodi. Kodi's family said they took little comfort from the resolution because they had no idea how long he would be held.

The case

Murder of Kujo Agyei Kodi

Victims

Kujo Agyei Kodi (37). Ghanaian former teacher and engineering graduate student staying with the family while awaiting deportation paperwork; he had hoped to become president of Ghana.

Accused and outcomes

As told in the episode, on 18 November 2023.

Accused

Outcome

Other people

Joshua Caesar. Morgan State ROTC student attacked by with a bat days earlier
Joanne Rice. woman who put up a vacant property to secure bail
Jasmine Bloomfield. student who described as always in his own little world
Mary Ellen Murray. neighbour who described the parents as quiet, wonderful people

The timeline

  1. December 2011 Kujo Agyei Kodi moves into the family home in the 500 block of Terrapin Terrace while awaiting deportation paperwork. ( family home)about 0:12:40
  2. December 10th, 2011 punches multiple holes in the walls of a computer lab in the Turner Armory and staples a poster over the damage; he is cited for destruction of campus property. (Turner Armory)about 0:15:45
  3. December 12th, 2011 Photographs show smiling in a National Society of Pershing Rifles jacket at Morgan State. (Morgan State University)about 0:13:36
  4. January 31st, 2012 At an anti-hazing forum repeatedly asks about blood sacrifices and university shootings and calls for an off-campus hazing policy covering them. (Morgan State University)about 0:19:42
  5. early May 2012 posts a run of all-caps Facebook messages and QR codes about Project Crack the Code, ethnic cleansing and death cults, then a picture of the Predator.about 0:26:11
  6. May 17th, 2012 posts asking whether HBCU students are strong enough to endure ritual mass human sacrifices around the country.about 0:27:34
  7. May 25th, 2012 is barred from campus and the ROTC dorm and moves back into the family home. ( family home)about 0:38:04
  8. May 25th, 2012 Kodi is last seen at 5.30 a.m. stretching in the front yard in shorts and a T-shirt before a jog, leaving his wallet, phone and ID inside; he never returns. ( family home)about 0:43:06
  9. May 25th, 2012 Anthony reports Kodi missing to the sheriff's office. ( family home)about 0:43:57
  10. May 26th, 2012 The missing-person case is assigned to the criminal investigation division of the Harford County Sheriff's Office. (Harford County Sheriff's Office)about 0:44:11
  11. May 29th, 2012 At about 10.30 p.m. Anthony calls the detective to say Jared has found what he believes are human remains in the basement. ( family home)about 0:45:20

Baseball bat attack on Joshua Caesar

Victims

Joshua Caesar (21). Morgan State ROTC senior who was about to graduate and planned to attend medical school; left with a fractured skull, a broken shoulder and blindness in his left eye.

Accused and outcomes

As told in the episode, on 18 November 2023.

Accused

Outcome

Other people

Lynn McCrystal. defence attorney at the bail hearing
Joanne Rice. woman who posted a vacant property to secure the bail

The timeline

  1. May 19th, 2012 attacks Joshua Caesar as he walks into apartment 304, hitting him over the head with a baseball bat wrapped in chains and knocking him unconscious. (campus apartment 304)about 0:30:56
  2. May 19th, 2012 pulls a knife and stands over the unconscious Caesar until the other students disarm him and pin him in the hallway. (campus apartment 304)about 0:33:29
  3. May 19th, 2012 Caesar is found with a fractured skull, a broken shoulder and blindness in his left eye. (campus apartment 304)about 0:32:58

Places and phrases

N ↑Public placePublic placePublic placePublic placeTown centre (approximate places)
Static locations; no street basemap. Places and details. OpenFreeMap © OpenMapTiles Data from OpenStreetMap.

Places in the story

Public places are marked on the map.

Heard in this episode