EDGEWATER -- A local contractor found hogtied to his bed on June 29, died Monday of his injuries and police are treating the incident as a homicide.
Keith Cope was pronounced dead Monday at HalifaxMedical Center, having suffered a number of injuries resulting from being tied so tight with duct tape to his bed on Victory Palm Drive that his left arm had to be amputated and he quickly slipped into a coma, according to an Edgewater police report, which classifies his death a homicide. Cope was 50 years old.
Police reports lists Cope's roommate, 39-year-old Joseph Edward Jordan as a suspect, though police have refused to comment because the investigation is ongoing. Jordan, arrested last week in Broward County on warrants out of Volusia County charging him with failing to register as a sex offender and grand theft auto for allegedly stealing the victim's truck. Jordan was transported to the Volusia County Branch Jail on those charges levied by Edgewater police and his bond is $20,000.
Police were first alerted to Cope's situation when he was found unconscious by a friend, Marlon Powell of Miramar who had planned to rent a room from him.
According to the police report, Powell and his girlfriend, Sadia Haque, drove Cope's truck up from South Florida after Jordan handed them the keys.
Powell described the victim's duct tape situation as being "hogtied and then tied across his biceps to the bed posts." Ands he stated in the report, the victim also "had duct tape around his facial and neck area," as well as to his wrists and ankles.
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Powell told police he used a kitchen knife to "cut the rope from across the victim's chest, causing him to fall forward."
Powell and his girlfriend, Sadia Haque, had driven Cope's truck up from South Florida after it had been turned over to him by Jordan, a registered sexual offender.