Hearing postponed because J.D. Douglass was experiencing drug withdrawal in courtroom

by Mike Donoghue, Vermont News First

A Hardwick man, who authorities maintain witnessed a double homicide of two drug dealers in Orleans County last fall and never reported them, has been jailed pending a hearing in federal court this week.

Justin “J.D.” Douglass, 37, appeared briefly in U.S. District Court on Friday afternoon, but the hearing was interrupted as he continued going through a drug withdrawal.

The hearing was recessed initially, but when it resumed, defense lawyer Allan J. Sullivan of Newport requested a postponement because his client was struggling.

Visiting Magistrate Judge Judith G. Dein of Boston agreed to delay the hearing until Douglass improved. No date was set.

The government has said Douglass was present when Theodore “Theo” Bland, 29, of Burlington fatally shot Jahim “Debo” Solomon, 21, of Pittsfield, Mass. and Eric “E” White, 21, of Chicopee, Mass. in a trailer in Lowell on Oct. 12, 2023.

The bodies of the two young out-of-state drug dealers were then wrapped in plastic at the Orleans County home, State Police Detective Sgt. James Vooris said in a court affidavit. Vooris said the bodies were later dumped about a mile apart in the town of Eden in nearby Lamoille County.

An associate of Bland directed police to the general area where the bodies were eventually found Oct. 23 and 24, 2023, Vooris wrote.

Douglass is charged with conspiring with Bland and others between Sept. 7, 2023 and Oct. 15, 2023 to distribute crack cocaine (cocaine base).

Douglass did nothing to alert police about the homicides after witnessing them, Assistant U.S. Attorney Josh Turner said in court papers.

“The defendant did not report these deaths to police, agreed to conceal the deaths, and continued his activities in the drug conspiracy for several days following the homicides,” Turner wrote.

“The nature and circumstances of the offenses charged are incredibly serious. The intersection of gun violence and drug trafficking posse a grave danger to the community,” Turner said.

As state and Morristown Police began to focus on Bland, Douglass and a third co-defendant, Dilan Jiron, 28, of Hyde Park, investigators used social media messages to outline the drug conspiracy that spread across northern Vermont in the area of Chittenden, Lamoille and Caledonia counties, records show.

Hardwick, Morristown and State Police arrested Douglass in the Bunker Hill area of Hardwick about 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 25. He was jailed pending a federal court hearing.

Douglass made a detailed statement to police about his involvement in the homicide and drug conspiracy, Turner said. Douglass also admitted he was an active user of cocaine and fentanyl, records show.

“The defendant has a history of abusing cocaine, heroin and fentanyl over a period of years. He engaged in drug trafficking in order to support that habit, Turner wrote in his motion to detain Douglass.

That addiction appeared to show about 48 hours after his arrest when federal marshals escorted him into federal court on Friday afternoon.

Douglass was shaking and fidgety. He was more talkative than most other defendants waiting for the judge to enter the courtroom. He also maintained he was “cold.” Douglass later began to cry as family members and supporters looked on.

The new indictment returned against Bland, formerly of Stowe 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.

Bland had helped plan and carry out the double homicide, according to court records, interviews and an investigation in recent months by Vermont News First.

Bland also recruited help to dispose of the bodies in Eden near the Lowell town line, records show.

Jiron is charged for offering assistance and comfort to Bland in order to prevent his apprehension, trial and punishment, the indictment said.

The double shooting on Oct. 12, 2023 happened at a mobile home at 497 Eden Road in Lowell, although some witnesses said the trailer was in the town of Albany, officials said. It was the residence of Donald “D.J.” Billow, police said.

Investigators reported Billow noted it was his grandmother’s residence, but Douglass was going to rent a room. Billow also knew two “plugs” — street talk for drug dealers or suppliers — were staying at the trailer, police said. They were believed to be White and Solomon, who were initially staying at an Airbnb in Stowe.

Solomon and White had taken an Uber from downtown Burlington near City Hall Park to the Northeast Kingdom with Bland, their suspected killer, and with his then-girlfriend, Teesha Nooth, 30, about 1:30 a.m. Oct. 12, 2023 — one day before the killings, according to court records. The foursome was caught on video getting into the Uber in Burlington, police said.

The foursome was dropped off about 3:12 a.m. near Hazen Road and Larabee Hill Road in Albany.

On the day of the shooting Billow said he only got into the kitchen when he saw Bland “going crazy and running around with a firearm. Billow advised he observed ‘Theo’ shooting the gun down the hallway at the door to the bedroom,” court records note.

Billow said he did not see anybody get shot and he decided to flee the trailer, court records show.

A few days later, Billow said Bland asked him for help cleaning up the Lowell residence. Billow reported he helped pull out the carpet and burned it along with a mattress and a bureau in the yard, police said.

Billow maintained he never saw any bodies and did not help anybody move bodies, police said.

Solomon died from multiple gunshot wounds to the head, according to the medical examiner. White died from a single gunshot wound to the head, the doctor said. Both were ruled homicides.

The bodies were wrapped in clear plastic, similar to a large roll of plastic that was found at the Billow residence in Lowell by the Vermont Crime Scene Search Team, records show.

Bland was first reported as the person of interest in the double homicide by Vermont News First in December 2023 in multiple newspapers in Vermont and Massachusetts.

The following month the U.S. Attorney’s Office later used the Vermont News First newspaper story in an effort to ask a federal judge to have Bland detained in an unrelated gun and drug case from earlier in South Burlington. The judge agreed.

Prosecutors declined at the time to elaborate on why Bland was a person of interest.