PWC Man Gets 2 Life Sentences Plus Additional Time For 2024 Double Homicide

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, VA – A Prince William County man was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday for the murder of two women, one of them pregnant.

Edward Jackson Bland, now 38, was sentenced to two life terms without parole plus 74 years, with 15 years suspended, for the April 2024 deaths of 34-year-old Leann Renee Harris and 22-year-old Asia Payne.

In December 2025, Bland was found guilty of the aggravated murder of a pregnant victim to terminate her pregnancy, the aggravated murder of killing more than one person, second-degree murder, carjacking and three counts of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.

Bland was first arrested over a carjacking at gunpoint in Manassas early in the morning of April 2, 2024, on the 8100 block of Portwood Turn. While investigating the carjacking, police were notified by Shenandoah County deputies that they found the stolen vehicle and that the driver, Bland, confessed to killing two people in Manassas.

Prince William County Police determined that Bland had recently been at the Westgate Apartments and Townhomes in the 8100 block of Porter Ridge Lane. There, police breached the apartment door and found Harris and Payne dead, each with a single gunshot wound to the head. WUSA9 reported that Harris was Jackson Bland's cousin.

The Prince William Times reported that at the time of the murders, Bland was facing charges for two other domestic violence incidents.

In a press release, Prince William County Commonwealth’s Attorney Amy Ashworth said, “We are grateful for the two life sentences imposed today by the Prince William County Circuit Court in the case of Edward Jackson Bland. The senseless, brutal and unprovoked killing of two women by Mr. Bland truly merited such a sentence. Gun violence, especially with multiple victims, will not be tolerated in our community, and we believe that permanently removing Mr. Bland from society because of his heinous crimes will make Prince William County a safer place.”