By Guy Page
Authorities appear to be zeroing in on three unsolved murders of young, out-of-state men – including a 17-year-old – in rural Vermont.
One murder occurred in Danby two years ago last Saturday, February 3. The other two murders took place at the same time and location in Albany or Eden October 26, 2023. Both incidents have drug-crime related connections.
The Vermont State Police announced Friday, Feb. 2 they have arrested two suspects on charges related to the homicide of 17-year-old Isiah Rodriguez of Springfield, MA in Danby nearly two years ago. Additional arrests are expected as this investigation continues.
On Monday, Jan. 29, 2024, members of the state police arrested 32-year-old Ashley Wicks and 28-year-old Shawn Bulson, both of Bennington, on charges of being accessories after the fact to the fatal shooting. Wicks also was charged with conspiracy to commit murder. Both suspects were arraigned Tuesday morning, Jan. 30, in the Criminal Division of Vermont Superior Court in Bennington.
Through a complex, lengthy investigation that began after Rodriguez’s body was found early Feb. 3, 2022, on Danby Mountain Road, state police detectives determined the homicide arose from a dispute among a group of people regarding drug trafficking and stolen firearms.
Former Stowe man ‘person of interest’ in twin-killing of MA men – Mike Donoghue of Vermont News First reports in the Berkshire Eagle that federal authorities are holding Theodore Bland, 28, a former Stowe man with a drug crime arrest record, as a ‘person of interest’ in the homicide deaths of two young Massachusetts men with lengthy criminal records and police interactions.
The medical examiner determined that the cause of death for Jahim Solomon, 21, of Pittsfield was multiple gunshot wounds to the head, and the manner of death is a homicide. The cause of death for Eric White, 21, of Chicopee was determined to be a gunshot wound to the head, and the manner of death is a homicide.
Police located the bodies along the Albany-Eden Road on Tuesday, Oct. 24, and Wednesday, Oct. 25. Tuesday afternoon, a game warden with the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife located evidence that appeared suspicious several dozen feet off the road in the town of Eden.
Bland is being held without bail on an unrelated federal drug and firearms charge, according to authorities.
Bland was initially charged in state court for aggravated assault and reckless endangerment over a March 17 incident outside a convenience store in South Burlington. But authorities said a federal charge was added in that case as they attempted to find out who shot Solomon and White in October and left their bodies off a road in Eden, in central Vermont.
On Oct. 15, Solomon’s and White’s families reported them as missing to Vermont police. The men’s phone records showed they had been in several Vermont towns since arriving in the state.