Family fights for justice and a new law after murder of UFC star's stepdaughter
CBSN
[This story previously aired on Aug. 28, 2021. It was updated on June 29, 2024.] WALT HARRIS' APPEAL: If you have any leads on where our daughter is, Aniah Blanchard, please, please, please go to the authorities, tell someone. She was last seen in a Black Honda CVR 2017…" NORAH O'DONNELL [CBS EVENING NEWS]: Tonight, police in Auburn, Alabama say that there is evidence a missing college student is a victim of foul play. ELIJAH BLANCHARD SR. [news interview]: That was hard for us. … I am a man of faith and regardless of what the police say, I still have hope that my Aniah is out there waiting for her father to get her. LOCAL NEWS REPORT: This is a person of interest … anyone who sees him is asked to call 911. AUBURN POLICE CHIEF PAUL REGISTER [to reporters]: He should be considered dangerous and would be potentially armed. ANGELA HARRIS [NBC News report]: You can stop now. … You can change this. You can let her go. God will forgive you. ANNE-MARIE GREEN [CBSN]: 30-year-old Ibraheem Yazeed was arrested overnight in Florida on the charge of kidnapping in the first degree. NEWS REPORT: Court documents today say blood that was discovered in Aniah Blanchard's car was "indicative of someone suffering a life-threatening injury… WALT HARRIS [on "Dr. Phil"]: Love you, baby girl. … we're looking for you … we are doing everything that we can … and we are going to get you. I promise. FORMER DA BRANDON HUGHES [to reporters]: Aniah Blanchard was killed in the manner of homicide … cause of death was a gunshot wound. FORMER DA BRANDON HUGHES [to reporters]: We'll also be seeking the death penalty. IBRAHEEM YAZEED [in court]: I got rights too … Ya'll have no video, no audio of me shooting anyone, that's why I'm trying to see how y'all going to bind me, over on hearsay, but y'all aren't presenting no evidence. DET. JOSH MIXON [in court]: They ended up behind a church near a cemetery. … and when he looked in the rearview mirror, he saw Yazeed dragging something wrapped in a comforter. It appeared to be two legs. He dragged it in the woods … come back … got in the vehicle, and he … said, "tell me that's not a body." ANGELA HARRIS [addressing reporters at the Alabama Legislature]: This is a must, we have to have this law. ANGELA HARRIS: I know one thing … that I will not stop fighting for her.
Aniah Blanchard, 19, was widely known for always putting other people before herself, but she also had a deep-seated fear of being kidnapped and harmed. ANGELA HARRIS' APPEAL: Please, if you know anything … we have to have her back, we have to have her back. AUBURN POLICE CHIEF PAUL REGISTER: Evidence from within her vehicle is the reason that we are aware that, you know, she was harmed, and we do consider this a case where there is foul play involved. BILL CLEVELAND: … that beautiful smile she had, that could just light up a room.
On Oct. 23, 2019, Aniah vanished without a trace after she dropped her brother off in Auburn, where they both attended college, and she texted her roommate that she was nearly home – only minutes away. "Just the worst feeling ever to not know where your child is," Blanchard's mother, Angela Harris, tells James Brown. NOAH VAIL: Aniah was light, when you looked at her in her eyes, the way she made you feel, she just made you feel like you was OK.
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