Suspect in Manassas double homicide to remain behind bars
MANASSAS, Va. (DC News Now) – The man suspected of the murder of two women and a carjacking in Manassas April 2 will stay behind bars, for now.
A Prince William County judge assigned Edward Jackson Bland an attorney in court Tuesday, and told him to coordinate with that attorney to make arrangements for another bond hearing.
Charging documents for the case claim Jackson Bland told officers the two women, Asia Payne and Leann Harris, “needed to die,” and that he implicated himself in the crime after police found him with the carjacked car in Shenandoah County.
After he told officers about the murders, officers went to an apartment on Porter Ridge Lane in Manassas for a welfare check, and discovered the two dead women inside.
As his charges were being read Tuesday, Jackson Bland made several remarks and a family member who came to the hearing told him to “shut up.”
After the hearing, she told DC News Now’s Randi Bass that she is his niece and believes her uncle is innocent. She said the man who really pulled the trigger was taken into custody but on other charges unrelated to the murder of the two women.
DC News Now reached out to the Prince William County Police Department about the suspect’s niece’s comments and the department said to refer to prosecutors. Police told DC News Now that the man, the suspect’s niece was referring to, is not charged in connection to the crime at this time.
Jackson Bland’s next court date is set for June 25.
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