A Stowe man will plead guilty to a double homicide and avoid facing the death penalty, according to a plea agreement filed Thursday in federal court.
Theodore Bland admitted in the newly filed deal to killing 21-year-olds Jahim Solomon and Eric White in Eden in October 2023. He also confessed to drug trafficking and gun charges related to the incident.
Under the terms of the deal between Bland and federal prosecutors — which the court has not yet signed off on — Bland would be sentenced to life in prison for the killings.
The prosecutors have agreed to withdraw their notice seeking the death penalty as long as the court accepts the deal.
The U.S Attorney’s Office for the District of Vermont declined to comment. Bland’s attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Police found Solomon and White’s bodies in a wooded area in Eden in October 2023. Autopsies determined that White was shot once in the head, and Solomon was shot in the head multiple times. The two men disappeared under suspicious circumstances while traveling through several towns, including Burlington, Morrisville and Stowe, state police said.
Bland admitted that he killed Solomon and White to steal cocaine base and fentanyl from them, which he then planned to sell, according to the plea agreement.
Bland tried to conceal the killings of White and Solomon, including by getting others to help him move their bodies, the plea deal said. Last year, another man, Dilan Jiron, pleaded guilty to federal charges that he helped Bland conceal evidence and hide the bodies.
Vermont abolished the death penalty more than half a century ago, but it can still be brought in federal cases.
Bland’s case was the second death penalty case brought in Vermont since President Donald Trump began his second term.
Federal prosecutors in Vermont decided last year to seek the death penalty against Teresa Youngblut, 21, who was accused of fatally shooting a Border Patrol agent in Coventry. That incident was cited by former Attorney General Pam Bondi as an example of when prosecutors should seek the death penalty
The last person sentenced to death in Vermont was Donald Fell, who was convicted in 2005 of kidnapping and killing a supermarket worker. But the sentence was thrown out due to juror misconduct.
