Theo Bland of Burlington (left) has been indicted in federal court for the drug-related slayings of Eric White (middle) and Jahim Solomon.

By Mike Donoghue, Vermont News First

A version of this story has appeared in the Caledonian-Record and other newspapers

Federal prosecutors in Vermont are now reporting the primary person of interest in a double homicide in the Northeast Kingdom last fall, actually did pull the trigger that killed two young out-of-state drug dealers.

A new indictment returned against Theodore “Theo” Bland, 29, of Burlington includes charges of using and carrying a firearm in relation to a drug trafficking crime and discharging that firearm during the commission of the offense last October.

Jahim Solomon, 21, of Pittsfield, Mass. and Eric White, 21, of Chicopee, Mass. were killed by the shots fired by Bland at a house in Lowell on Oct. 12, 2023, according to new records filed in federal court.

Solomon and White had taken an Uber from downtown Burlington to the Northeast Kingdom with their suspected killer and his girlfriend one day before the killings, according to court records.

Investigators have collected considerable social messaging evidence that links Bland, formerly of Stowe to the killings, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Turner said in new court papers.

“Messaging evidence also includes the Defendant’s comments following the homicides of Solomon and White on October 12, 2023, and his attempts to have his co-conspirators assist in concealing the crime in the days thereafter,” he wrote.

A new indictment against Bland also names Dilan Jiron, 28, of Hyde Park as a co-defendant.  Jiron is indicted for offering assistance and comfort to Bland in order to prevent his apprehension, trial and punishment, the indictment said.

The name of the third co-defendant charged in the indictment is blacked out, apparently because he is not in custody.  The third defendant is charged with conspiring with Bland and others between Sept. 7, 2023 and Oct. 15, 2023 to distribute crack cocaine (cocaine base.)

Turner said video recordings, business records and testimony were used to establish the timeline for the crimes.

“Forensic evidence was collected from the victims, the scene of the homicides, and the scene where the victims’ bodies were recovered,” Turner wrote in paper filed last Thursday.

“The evidence is also strong that after the defendant killed  Solomon and White, he induced others to help him conceal the crimes, including moving the bodies of Solomon and White  to two wooded areas in Eden, Vermont,” Turner said.

Vermont News First had broken the story initially in multiple newspapers in Vermont and Massachusetts in December 2023 that Bland was the person of interest in the double homicide.

The following month the U.S. Attorney’s Office later used the Vermont News First newspaper story in an effort to ask a judge to have Bland detained in an unrelated earlier gun and drug case in South Burlington.  The judge agreed.   Prosecutors declined at the time to elaborate on why Bland was a person of interest.

The latest information comes as the new indictment was returned by a federal grand jury against Bland and the two co-defendants.

The four-count indictment also charges Bland with conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine between Sept. 7, 2023 and Oct. 15, 2023 and possession of fentanyl and crack cocaine with intent to distribute on Oct. 12, 2023, the day of the double homicide.

“The government has gathered social media messaging detailing a conspiracy to distribute cocaine base in Chittenden, Lamoille and Caledonia counties in September and October 2023, including communications with the Defendant coordinating the procurement of controlled substances for distribution, the pricing of controlled substances for sale to drug customers, and distribution of controlled substances to drug customers,” Turner said in court papers.  

After the fatal shootings, an associate of Bland later told Vermont State Police that the bodies could be found in remote areas off the Albany-Eden Road in the town of Eden, records show.

Vermont Game Warden Dustin Snyder and his K-9, Fletch, found the body of Solomon on the evening of Oct. 24, records show.  As police combed the area the next day, Morristown Police Detective Lt. Todd Baxter located the body of White nearly a mile farther into the woods, police have said.

The bodies were covered with plastic, similar to a large roll of plastic what was found at the Lowell residence by the Vermont Crime Scene Search Team, records show.

Family members and police have said Solomon and White got to know each other while serving time for juvenile crimes in Massachusetts.  They also have subsequent adult criminal convictions, records show.

Bland is currently scheduled to be sentenced in federal court on Oct. 21 for the unrelated gun case in Chittenden County.

Bland has pleaded guilty to knowingly possessing a firearm while being an unlawful user of controlled substances related to a March 17, 2023 in South Burlington.  He was later in Stowe that night.

Bland brandished a shotgun outside a Simon’s Convenience Store on Shelburne Road in South Burlington in March 2023.  He was charged with possession of a firearm while being a user/abuser of a controlled substance.

Bland also agreed in his federal plea deal to forfeit the 12-gauge Mossberg shotgun loaded with 5 shotgun shells that was seized after it was spotted in plain view in the backseat when his car was stopped several hours later by police in Lamoille County.

Under the plea agreement, Bland is expected to receive a 14-month federal prison sentence on the gun case. He will get credit for his time in custody since about Nov. 1.

The government has filed a motion to have him detained on the new indictment if he completes the prison sentence in the earlier case.

Under questioning from then-Chief Federal Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford, Bland confirmed he knew his signed plea deal would have no impact on possible criminal charges that might be filed in the double homicide uncovered in Lamoille County last fall.

“Yes, I do your honor,” Bland said as he stood next to his retained defense lawyer David Sleigh of St. Johnsbury.

The federal plea deal involves only the gun case from South Burlington, Judge Crawford stressed.