230. The Fatal Abduction of Aniah Blanchard
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Hey everyone, welcome back to our podcast. This is Murder With My Husband. I'm Peyton Moreland. And I'm Garrett Moreland. And he's the husband. I'm the husband. You know what's weird? What is weird? The fact that we just started doing that one day and now years later we're just still doing it. It was all improvised too. Didn't you just...

Say I'm Peyton Moreland, then I said I'm Garrett Moreland. I don't even think I said Moreland the first time. I don't know what we said. We just started and we never even planned it. We just started saying it and then it just kept happening. We need to go back to the very first time that it happened. I think it's like episode six or seven. Maybe it's a little earlier. I can't remember. I'm scared to listen to our old episodes. Everyone do not go back. Okay, don't go back and tell us. I don't listen to it. Nah, I'm okay. No, thank you.

I'll stay out of that. I'll stay out of those old episodes. I just wanted to let everyone know who has been asking. Not this week, but next week we have a merch drop coming. It is again one of our basic lines. We actually changed the fit of the shirt and the sweatshirt. It's a little bit more boxy, loose fit.

Again, just one of our basics, MWMH. You could wear it anywhere. It doesn't say murder on it. They're really freaking cute. Yeah, like Peyton said, really cute. Different style shirts. Just premium quality, higher quality. Yeah, I would say a little less merchy and a little bit more like you could find this at a store. Like their clothing. Yeah. It's just good quality. Yeah. We're really excited. So you'll be hearing it from us right now, but it won't be dropping into the next episode. Just letting you guys, you know.

Get ready. I don't know. Just teasing. Being losers. Oh, also, before we do your 10 seconds. Yes, ma'am. Everyone, we are back streaming on Twitch. Again, that is live streaming. You can tune in. Watch Garrett and I live on Twitch. We react to true crime videos, police body cam, high speed chases. Literally anything. We hang out. We talk with chat. So it's super fun. Again, we stream on Twitch every single day.

Thursday. Thursday at 630. 530 PST. You're doing great, baby. Have you seen that? You're doing good, baby. Have you seen that New Girl ad where the two, it's like Schmidt and I can't remember, but they're talking to a local news station and they're advertising New Girl. And they're like, okay, you guys head down to Broadway Street and watch it. And she's like,

Broadway's in Nashville. It's actually Center Street here. And they start laughing. Yes, I've seen this. And then he's like, okay, tune in at 530 PST. And she's like, that would be 730 local time. Yes, I've seen this. It's so funny. And they just botch the entire thing. That's literally what I just did. That's what just happened. Peyton's doing good. Every Thursday at 530 Pacific Standard Time, we stream on Twitch as well. Dear Daisies are back. Not right now when you're listening to this.

But maybe in a couple days. I think I just need to give a broad apology out here right now because the last couple months, Garrett and I have not been on our game. Well...

Peyton and I have been MIA completely mentally and physically. So we are back. We are getting our crap together slowly, but surely we've gotten back on Twitch. We actually have put Dear Daisies together. Okay. I have done enough research for some Patreon episodes. So thank you for being patient and loving and honestly continuing to support us even through the hard times. But we are back and better than ever. And this is a broad apology for anyone who has, you know,

been affected. But you know what? We're here. We're alive. We're back and we love true crime. At least Peyton does. Okay. You ready for your 10 seconds? Well, I'm currently dressed in a golf outfit because I'm going to go golfing after, aka I am going to lose a pack of balls. Yep. That's basically what's going to happen. I'm just doing nine holes. It's been a second. I'm rusty, but I'm ready to get back out there and start golfing. So here we go. Again, I'm just going to go lose a bunch of balls and

Probably look like an idiot. You know, the only downside is I think it's just two of us going. And I hate sometimes getting paired with other random two people, especially when they're good, because I just look like a loser. But you know what? I'm confident enough to be like, I don't care. I might be a loser at golf, but I'll beat you in something else. You know what? Name it. Name it. Badminton. OK. OK, I can do that. Name it. Just name it. Ping pong. OK.

Plumbing? Okay, like anything. Anything A to Z except golf, I could probably beat you at. Oh, that is such a crazy statement. No, no, no. Okay, listen. You misunderstood. Oh, okay. As all the listeners, did you misunderstand too? No, no, no. They misunderstood too. I meant if I'm out on the golf course and I'm sizing you up and down and I'm like, okay, I could probably beat you at most things. But if you're a listener and you're an electrician or plumber, no, I cannot beat you at that.

You're saying random things. Correct. You both have never done. You step into it. You're going to beat them. Yes. 100%. 110%. Is that confidence or skill? Both. Oh, okay. I would say so. That is a hot take if I've ever. I like the confidence. Thanks, babe. I like it. Yeah. It's kind of what I got for my 10 seconds. So if you randomly see Peyton and I out and about and there's something you want to challenge me at, challenge me. Let's see what happens.

No cameras allowed. But remember, you can't be an expert at it. Yeah, you can't. It can't be. Yeah, it can't be your main thing. You can't come up to me and be like, hey, let's play basketball. And you played like D1 basketball somewhere. That's not that's not how it works. I mean, I guess that is how it works. Yeah. Come up. Challenge me. We'll see what happens. I'll put some money on the line. Basically, Simone Biles, if you're listening to this, you can't challenge him to the ball. You just can't. You can't.

On that note, let's hop into today's case. Our sources for this episode are CBS News, Distractify.com, CNN.com, People.com, CourtTV.com, MontgomeryAdvisor.com, WSFA12, AL.com, and CBS News 3. Okay, have you ever stopped to think about all of the little decisions that we make every single day? Like ordering takeout or meeting up with a friend, avoiding the highway during rush hour,

Some of these things we do pretty mindlessly, right? At the very least, we probably never think that any of these choices really could make a huge impact on our lives. But the reality is, any one of them could be a matter of life or death. And it would maybe be the last choice you would ever make. Take 19-year-old Aniyah Blanchard, for example. On the night of October 23rd, 2019...

She ran into a convenience store for a late night bag of sour cream and onion chips and soda. Oh, that sounds so good. What Anaya didn't know was that spur of the moment decision to just stop and pull off and get a late night snack would actually end up costing her her life. So it's June 22nd, 2000, and we are in the little town of Homewood, Alabama.

So that day, a nurse named Angela Harris is actually celebrating her birthday in the most unusual of ways. She is giving birth to a little girl named Anaya. Angela and Anaya are not just bonded by blood and genes. They now share this special day too. And every year they relish in just how connected the two of them are because of it. So mom and daughter sharing a birthday. Okay, so for the first four weeks,

four years of her life. Her father, Elijah Blanchard, was a local pastor and businessman. And Aniyah had an older brother, Elijah Jr., who was only 17 months older than her. So they were very close and she looked up to him. But by 2004, so just four years after she was born, things between Angela, her mother, and Elijah Sr., her father, were no longer working out. So the two got a divorce,

but agreed to remain a strong presence together in the kids' lives. So even though things got rocky at home, Anaya actually seemed to handle it pretty well because as the years passed, she remained as resilient and compassionate as ever. And as Anaya grew into a teenager, it became clear that she was someone special, not just to her parents, but to basically everyone she met.

People said that Anaya had this infectious laugh that made others just want to laugh with her. And I love when you meet people like that. She was loving. She was giving. She was someone who always put others ahead of her own feelings. She was the kind of person who was always there to give advice when someone needed it, who seemed destined to go on and become a leader. Someone who had not just the heart of

but actually the intelligence to become a future teacher, doctor, lawyer, maybe even president. Like she really was on the road to become something amazing. And it was a quality that was extremely apparent in the place Anaya thrived the most. And that was actually the softball field, right?

So during her time at Homewood High School, Anaya was not only the star player, but she acted like a leader for her team. Friends said it was practically tradition for Anaya after every softball game to invite the opposing team to meet them on the pitcher's mound to share a prayer and some encouraging words and high fives.

No matter who won or lost, Aniyah was always just trying to bring people together. So although her biological parents were no longer together, Angela and Elijah Sr. had created a new kind of family to support Aniyah and Elijah Jr.,

Elijah Sr. had found love again in a Birmingham, Alabama attorney named Yeshiva. And in 2010, Angela had married a man that Aniyah loved like her own father. He was a famous UFC fighter named Walt Harris. And in the ring, Walt was formidable. But at home, the 250-pound, 6'5 stepdad was nothing more than a gentle giant. I mean, life is just going good for everyone involved.

Walt and Angela actually go on to give Aniyah and Elijah two new siblings named Asa and Ayla. And with her mother working nights at the Birmingham hospital, Aniyah often helped Walt care for her new little brother and sister. So she has two new step siblings and they're a lot younger than her because obviously she's in high school now. And so she helps her stepdad take care of them. Side note.

If you make it to the UFC, you're a badass. I know. You're a badass. So as a result of this, Anaya and Walt actually grew incredibly close over the years. He treated Anaya and Elijah Jr. like they were his own children. And the respect and admiration was mutual. There were even times when Walt turned to Anaya when the going got tough. She would be the one who would pick him up emotionally after he lost a fight.

encouraging him to keep going, to keep fighting. And this was something that Walt would soon have to do in more ways than one. So in 2018, Aniyah was done with high school and had just started the next chapter of her life at Southern Union State Community College in Wadley, Alabama. Now, the following year, she transferred to Auburn University to study childhood education.

And her brother, Elijah Jr., who was also enrolled there, he was actually the one who inspired her to choose that school. Needless to say, the two are extremely close. They're both in college together. Aniyah even rented an apartment in Auburn just minutes away from where her brother was living. But on October 23rd, 2019, Elijah and Aniyah met up with their mother in northern Alabama under less than ideal circumstances. Okay.

A friend of theirs had passed away, and so they were all attending the funeral. The service ended at around 7 p.m. that night, and Anaya told her mother that she needed to hit the road. Both she and Elijah had work in the morning, and they had a four-hour drive ahead of them to get back to college. So Angela offered her son and daughter her goodbyes, gave them hugs, I love yous, maybe even like, I'll see you next time, not knowing that this was actually the very last time that she would say goodbye to her own daughter. Anaya

Anaya and Elijah drove through the town of Birmingham and stopped on their way to see Walt, who was there training for his next fight. Catch up was short, so they're just saying hi to stepdad. And Walt was like, hey, you guys should just pull off and stay the night somewhere because it's getting so late. But Anaya was like, we only have two more hours left.

It's both of us in the car. I'm not going to fall asleep. Everything's going to be fine. So then Walt hugged them and sent them on their way. Elijah and Aniyah finally made it back to Elijah's place in Auburn around 11 p.m. that evening. And Aniyah's apartment was less than a 10 minute drive down the road. But Elijah knew it was late and asked his sister as always, hey, just text me when you get home safe.

She laughed his concern off, still offering to keep the promise, put the car in reverse, and backed out of her brother's driveway. I don't know where this is going. But Elijah wasn't the only one at this point who was concerned about Aniyah's whereabouts. Her roommate, Sarah O'Brien, was also texting her for updates. At around 11.09 p.m., she asked Aniyah if she was close to being home, and Aniyah replied back with, Yeah, yeah.

Sarah and Anaya had also shared each other's locations for extra caution, but Sarah's concerns for her friend were appreciated because Anaya had this crippling deep-seated fear, one that she had shared with Sarah and several people that she knew.

Ever since she was a little girl, she had this weird, maybe even intuitive, feeling that she might get kidnapped or murdered. Like she would tell people this all of the time. That's, yeah, okay. And this wasn't just something that Anaya mentioned in passing. Do you ever think about that? All the time. Like growing up, my biggest fear was getting kidnapped.

Okay. Always. And she wouldn't just mention this in passing. Like this would keep her up at night, give her nightmares. It made her anxious to the point that she would actually check for intruders when she entered a room. And I'm going to assume that a lot of people listening to this can relate. No. The other night, Pitt and I were going to sleep and we had some people doing some work. Yeah. On some internet stuff. I went through the entire house while Peyton was in bed and made sure every window was

It was like locked and like no one had opened it or unlocked any windows. I know it might sound crazy, but you know, you never know. I'm just doing I'm just doing what I need to do. How closely do you track your bank statements and credit card history? Are you combing through every single charge on a regular basis or just assume everything is fine until you notice something weird? One of our favorite things about Rocket Money, especially me, is that it does this for me so I don't have to worry about it.

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and sell more with less effort thanks to Shopify Magic, your AI-powered all-star. Peyton and I love Shopify. We have been using it for, I mean, I've been using it for six years now, so many years, and it's amazing. It just keeps getting better and better with more updates. It's easy to use. It's user-friendly. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US, and Shopify is the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy's, and Brooklyn, and millions of other entrepreneurs of every size across 175 countries.

Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at shopify.com slash husband, all lowercase. Go to shopify.com slash husband now to grow your business no matter what stage you're in. Shopify.com slash husband. And I think that this is devastating because she had mentioned to friends and family that she was so scared about being kidnapped or murdered or thought that maybe this would happen to her because, um...

Obviously, we're on the Murder With My Husband podcast. And as you guys have already know, it's going to be right. This is going to be her fate. So by 1130 p.m., Anaya still hasn't made it home. So she left her brothers. It's only a 10-minute drive. She has checked in with her roommate saying, yeah, I'm coming home. She told her brother she'd text him. Now it's 1130. She is still not home. I want to know where her location is. Like if it's off at this point.

Like if her friend is still tracking her, like what's going on there? So Sarah texts her once more asking if she had changed her mind. Like she's like, hey, are you coming home or did you decide to like go out and see someone? And a minute later, Sarah got a bizarre text. Anaya texts her back and says she was smoking a blunt. Now, that's not her. This was very out of character for her. And so Sarah's like, well, who are you with?

And Anaya goes, oh, I just met a guy. I just met him. His name's Eric. So Sarah's like, where are you? Eric. But after that, the texts stop. So she doesn't get a text back. So Sarah checks Anaya's location.

Anaya, or at least her cell phone, was at an apartment complex just a few blocks away. And this was a spot where a bunch of other students lived. I mean, remember, we're in a college town. So to Sarah, she's like, okay, I don't know why she wouldn't invite me or tell me, but it's not that weird. It's not that alarming. It's also sad because...

She's so close. Like she's so close. Right. So Sarah decides to go to bed, figuring that she would just catch up with Anaya in the morning.

So the following day, October 24th, 2019, Angela, Anaya's mother, FaceTimes Anaya at around 8 a.m. It was something that they did almost every morning. This was when they would talk. And Angela also wanted to make sure that Anaya had gotten home safely. So had her brother. Only Anaya doesn't answer the phone. And Angela's like, okay, she's probably busy. She knew she was scheduled to work. Anaya actually babysat for a family that she always watched. So her mother was like, maybe she just couldn't answer the phone. So she brushes it off.

But when Sarah, her roommate, wakes up, she notices that things are just not right. She immediately heads to Anaya's room, excited to hear about Eric. Like, who's the guy you met? Like, how did that even happen? Only Anaya's bed was still made and it looked like she hadn't come home that night. So this is when Sarah starts to panic, mainly because Anaya has a dog named Blue.

And Anaya never left Blue alone. Oh, she's got a dog too? No, man. Maybe it would be normal for another college student to not come home for the night. But Sarah is like, no, Anaya would never leave Blue alone. Ever. When you have a dog, especially I feel like if you were a single college student.

- You wouldn't just leave your dog without telling anybody. - Well, that's the thing. Sarah's like normally Aniyah tells me, "Hey, I'm gonna have to leave Blue overnight. Can you watch him? Can you take him out?" type thing.

And Anaya was usually very responsible when it came to Blue. So this is when Sarah grabs her phone and checks for Anaya's location again. Only this time it says no location found, which means the phone is either dead or she has manually turned her location off. Which, yeah. So at this point, Sarah's like, okay, Anaya didn't come home. She was acting weird last night. She left Blue alone. So she decides to call the woman that Anaya babysat for, a woman named Corinna Thomas. Okay.

And Corinna also says, yeah, I don't know where Anaya is. She actually didn't show up to babysit this morning. She like completely ghosted me. And this is a scary thought since, again, this just was not something Anaya would ever do. She loved the kids she babysat. She would never not show up without calling. So this is when Sarah decides to get in her car. At this point, her heart is pounding and she begins driving around Auburn looking for any sign of Anaya.

And she also calls Aniyah's brother, Elijah Jr., who said that after Aniyah dropped him off, she was planning on going straight home. He has no idea who Eric is. He had no idea that she was going to even see someone. So now knowing something is probably wrong, Sarah and Elijah decide to alert the rest of Aniyah's family. So that morning, Angela and Walt hop in the car and they drive the two hours to Auburn to start looking for her daughter and his stepdaughter.

Now, almost immediately, the family alerts the police who seem a bit shocked to hear about Anaya's disappearance. Which, this is so rough too for a couple reasons. Well, I guess the main reason is that she's over 18. She's in college. And she's in college. So anytime that happens instantly, they're just going to wait like 72 hours, which...

By then, we already know, like, we don't have that time. We do not have that time to waste. But how many times in college did you go somewhere overnight? Like, did you just ghost? I did it. Yeah, I did it. And, I mean, I think I would check in with my roommates and be like, hey, I'm not coming home. But, like, I did it. Mm-hmm.

So... Payne and I were just sleeping around in colleges, what she's trying to get at. No, that's not even what that means. Yeah, just kidding. So Auburn is considered a pretty safe college town. Like there's not much crime in this town. Yeah. But from what they heard from Anaya's friends and family, they actually didn't think that Anaya was someone who would run away or maybe just party a little too hard and not come home. So...

Actually, Anaya's disappearance becomes breaking news pretty quickly. The police actually take it seriously and are like, hey, we have a college student who is missing. That surprises me. Me too. So officers put out bulletins in search of Anaya or her black Honda CRV because also her car is missing. Like she drove and now they can't find her car. But for the next day and a half,

Nothing? Nothing. Anaya stays missing. And you have to believe that like the first couple hours, her friends and family are thinking this is just a big misunderstanding.

she's somewhere she's just acting out of character she's gonna come home but as the hours turned into day and then night that has to be so devastating that gut wrenching of like still no answer i can't even imagine i can't imagine so a day and a half goes by and anaya's whereabouts remain completely unknown on october 25th 2019 though police receive a tip

Anaya's car had been spotted 55 miles away from her home in Auburn. 55, that's so far. It was parked in an apartment complex lot over in Montgomery, Alabama. But there was more.

There was significant damage to the passenger side of her vehicle from the bumper all the way up to the front tire. And on top of that, there was a bullet hole in the passenger side door. Oh, gosh. I just can't imagine being parents in that situation. Yeah. There was shell casings in the cup holder. There was blood in the front passenger seat.

It was such a large amount that it definitely signaled foul play to the Alabama Department of Forensics. More specifically, they said it was indicative of someone suffering a life-threatening injury. That's how much blood was found in her passenger seat of her car. Also, the smell of ammonia in the car also seemed to indicate that someone had tried to cover their tracks and clean the blood. But the question now was, they've found Aniyah's car. It does not look good.

Does the blood belong to Anaya or is something else going on? So three days after Anaya's car was discovered, police find another clue. They're testing the blood, but as we know, it takes...

forever yeah forever anaya had been spotted on security cameras at a gas station convenience store just two minutes away from her apartment so as they're investigating they're looking at security camera footage and they find her on the gas station footage the time stamp on the footage was from the night she went missing october 23rd at 11 21 p.m so this was just minutes after she had dropped her brother off at his apartment

So it seems like she dropped her brother off and then stopped at the gas station. And then that's where everything went wrong. Yeah, like maybe she was intending to go home. Okay. But just minutes after the gas station, we know that she's going to disappear. So Anaya's time in the store was really quick. She spent only a minute or two in there. She bought a drink and a bag of sour cream and onion chips. And then she left. But after that, as we know, Anaya's trail goes cold.

So when Anaya's parents see the video, they say it is undoubtedly Anaya. That sour cream and onion chips were her pre-bedtime snack. This was her comfort food. It had been ever since she was a kid. What those tapes didn't reveal was anything alarming to investigators, which has to be so frustrating that you finally find footage of her and you're like, this is major. This is major. We're going to figure out what happens next. And then there's nothing, at least not at first.

So Anaya appeared to be alone at the gas station. In the footage, she seems calm. She's minding her own business.

And if she was buying those chips, it probably signaled to her family that she was planning to go home and wind down for the night, not head out to see an Eric guy and spend the night somewhere new. So a week after Anaya's disappearance, police formed a task force with members from 60 different agencies from the Department of Homeland Security to the FBI. So, I mean, it's great.

I'm glad they're taking this so seriously. Right. And by Halloween Day 2019, there was a big reward posted for any information on Anaya's whereabouts. And amongst the contributors were some of Walt's UFC supporters, including the president of the UFC himself, Dana White. Wow, I'm surprised. This is how they get the large reward. I'm really surprised I haven't heard of this.

And perhaps because her stepfather was a somewhat famous athlete, Anaya's case did get a lot of media attention. Though it wasn't until the first week of November that police really discovered another clue of notes. A clerk from the convenience store finally worked up the courage to come forward and say, Hey, I was working the night that Anaya disappeared. And he says,

I'm pretty sure that I saw someone forcing Anaya into her car. Oh, gosh. At the gas station. And I think the reason the worker didn't come forward at first was because once he found out that Anaya was missing...

And her car was found. He was probably like, why didn't I call police that night? Which is so hard because, I mean, I've seen situations where I'm like, oh, is that something happening? And it's like, oh, no. Lost my business. Nothing's actually happening. I'm overthinking it. So it's just hard. And now the guilt. The guilt. It's just hard to ever know. It really is hard. Right. So when he comes forward and says like, hey,

I've been scared to tell you, but like, I'm pretty sure I saw this happen. Police begin combing the surveillance footage from both in and out of the convenience store again that night. They're like, maybe, maybe we can find the guy, whatever. And eventually they do. They find the person in question. It was a man who was seen purchasing alcohol in the store and then looking in Anaya's direction. They also discovered a video that showed him entering the passenger side of Anaya's vehicle before they drove away together.

Now, after releasing a local news report with an image of the suspect, tips begin flooding in immediately. And it revealed that the man in the store at the same time as Anaya that was seen getting into her car was a 29-year-old man named Ibrahim Yazeed. And he had an extensive rap sheet. What a surprise, man. What a...

So earlier that year in January 2019, Ibrahim had been arrested and charged for kidnapping, robbing, and beating a 77-year-old man within inches of his life. And he's not in prison. Apparently, this was after he had done a similar thing, robbed and beaten another individual. So Ibrahim was now facing possible jail time for both of those crimes. And his trial actually was right around the corner. He just was...

was out he wasn't in jail i never understand i don't know no i guess another time another place that's ridiculous though so why is he out on bond why is even allowed to be out right on bond it

It's so hard. So the night of October 23rd, 2019, when Aniyah went missing, he was out on bail. Sorry, bail. It's the same thing, basically. So he was walking free around the college town of Auburn, Alabama. By the way, those weren't the only crimes Ibrahim had committed in the past. He also had charges against him for aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer. Oh, hell, man. Felony drug possession. And in 2012, he was charged with attempted murder. What?

after he drove his car into a Montgomery, Alabama police cruiser. Okay. This is insane that they let him get out. That's insane. It was actually a grand jury decided not to indict him. Oh my...

Who are you? DM me. And for the drug possession, he only received a 13-month sentence. So when police began asking around about Ibrahim, they found another witness who said shortly after Anaya's disappearance, he was seen walking around with a gun tucked into his shorts while in possession of Anaya's vehicle.

But that witness made no mention of seeing Anaya herself. So basically this case is just unfolding for police. Like everyone's coming forward being like, oh yeah, I saw him driving her car and he had a gun and he's out on bail. Which none of that he can do. Right. By November 7th, 2019, police had more than enough to move in and arrest him. Ibrahim knew police were on his trail. And so he had actually been hiding out in the woods.

Pensacola, Florida. Oh, what a loser. So when police finally tracked him down, Ibrahim fled on foot and refused to surrender to the U.S. Marshals that were chasing him. What a coward, man. Eventually, he was apprehended and physically removed from his hiding spot. This is what the sources say. I'm not sure exactly what that means, but I know that when he showed up in a Florida courtroom the following

his eye was so swollen that he could barely open it. So I'm going to say there was a fight. Let's close those babies back up. So after that hearing, Ibrahim was extradited back to Alabama and placed in solitary confinement. Okay, so thank goodness. It's about time. The next time Ibrahim...

I don't know. What? Sometimes they shouldn't put him in, put people in solitary confinement, you know? Let the jail run its course. But I don't know if anyone would have, I don't know. It's just so hard to know. Yeah, maybe not. Yeah, you're right. I mean, it is like, okay. Like, let the jail run its course. Natural selection, man. I mean, Jeffrey Dahmer was literally murdered in jail because of what he did. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. So sometimes we...

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So the next time Ibrahim appeared in court, Walt and Angela Harris were there to witness it. But it only made them angrier because Ibrahim sat there with a smug smirk on his face, all the while maintaining his innocence, saying he had no part in Aniyah's disappearance. And with Aniyah's body still missing, prosecutors are like, this is going to be hard. No body, no crime, as we all know.

So at the very least, Ibrahim Yazeed was held this time without bond while he awaited his trial on charges of kidnapping the 19-year-old Anaya Blanchard. I mean, even then, he had a possession of a firearm, which he can't do because of all his past records. Like, there's so many charges they could be charging him with. Well, and I just got, it's 2019. DNA evidence has to be coming soon. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

that's where i would feel if i were her parents at this point like there has to be dna that puts him in the car 100 so shockingly ibrahim wasn't the only one facing charges for anaya's disappearance so when police are doing the investigation they actually come forward and say that he had some accomplices 35 year old antwain fisher who was known as squirmy around these parts and

Police had learned after Ibrahim committed his crime, Antwain gave him a ride and helped him dispose of the evidence. So he called up his friend. Squirmy said, I did a no-no. Can you please help me cover this up? And Squirmy was like, I got you. I got you, Ibrahim. Plus, Antwain had a rap sheet of his own. In 2007, he pleaded guilty for a drug deal-related murder charge. He served three years in prison. Bro, I don't understand anything.

I can't. I need the statistics on... I need... Someone, please, give them to me. I need the statistics on the amount of people who... Re-offend? No, no, no. Who go to jail for something violent. I'm not saying, like, weed or cocaine. Like, I'm talking about something violent. Like, obviously violent. And then get out of jail and commit... What's the word? Another violent crime? Another violent crime or actually almost like a murder. Like, something...

Something that like jumps, like something drastic, kidnapping, something like that. I don't know if those statistics even exist. I bet they do. But it's got to be high. It has to be high. Like, I'm going to be honest. When I try to look up statistics for the podcast, they're just... They're not organized very well. No, they need to be better. No, they're not. No, it's like a...

Yeah, they're just not organized well. They're confusing. I just need a data analyst to literally read and organize the statistics for us so that we can understand them.

In dumb people language. In dumb people R terms. Yes. Correct. So now it's November 22nd, 2019, and he's arrested on charges of kidnapping Aniyah Blanchard as well. Two days later, so was 63-year-old David Lee Johnson. Now, it's unclear exactly what the specifics of his involvement were in the case. I do know that he was charged with hindering the prosecution in some way, shape, or form, so maybe he knew about...

the crime and didn't tell police. But one of these two men actually became a critical tool for the prosecution because Mr. Squirmy agreed to cooperate with authorities for a deal. He claimed he knew where Anaya Blanchard's remains had been hidden, which this would be huge for the prosecution because then they have a body. So Antwain's story goes something like this. This is what he tells police.

At around 5 a.m. on the morning of October 24th, Ibrahim went to Antoine and said he needed help. Antoine drove him to an apartment complex to pick something up, which happened to be the same apartment complex where Anaya's car would be found days after she went missing. Then, apparently, without asking any questions...

Antoine drove Ibrahim to another destination. It was a church parking lot. There, he said he let Ibrahim out, saw him go for something in the lot. Antoine said when he peered in his rearview mirror, he spotted Ibrahim dragging something in the parking lot in a comforter. And sticking out of the bottom was what appeared to be two human legs.

What the hell? So he says in the rearview mirror, he drops his friend off, asks no questions and sees him dragging a body in the church parking lot.

He says he then watched Ibrahim drag this body off into the woods near the church cemetery. He was gone for a little while and when he came back to the car, Antoine allegedly said something like this to Ibrahim, tell me that's not a body. And he says that's when Ibrahim confessed to him that he had shot and killed a girl late last night. So within a

a matter of hours from Antwain's confession on November 25th 2019 authorities followed his roadmap to that wooded area near the church it was actually out in Macon County Alabama about 55 miles from that convenience store where Aniyah was last seen

There, they found clothing just like the outfit Anaya was last pictured leaving the store in. And after searching a little bit longer, they also found human remains that had clearly suffered a bullet wound to the skull. Now, when police showed Walt and Angela Harris photos of the clothing that they discovered, there was no question this was Anaya. Walt recognized the pair of Sorrel boots he had gotten her as a gift on a trip to New York.

And on November 27th, DNA also confirmed the remains belonged to Aniyah Blanchard. The autopsy proved that Aniyah had been killed with a gunshot wound to the head. And before long, those kidnapping charges Ibrahim had been facing were upgraded from first degree kidnapping to capital murder. Now, the only thing left for the Blanchard and Harris families to do was wait patiently for Ibrahim's trial.

On December 21st, 2019, the family held a memorial service for Anaya and nearly 2,000 people showed up to pay their respects. Walt Harris claimed the events nearly broke him and understandably so. He said his career as a UFC fighter became the farthest thing from his mind as he focused on nothing but getting Anaya justice. He even considered quitting altogether. Which is so true though. I mean,

When things happen that involve family or a significant other, the last thing you're thinking about is anything else. Right. It's sad. But he said as thoughts of retiring set in, Walt actually had an eye-opening experience. He said that Anaya had come to him one night in a dream and

And Walt said she was sitting in his living room with a beam of light on her. Walt pulled her in for a hug and she whispered to him, keep going. When Walt woke up from that dream, he said that he felt a renewed sense of purpose. And after that, he decided to return to the sport, even fighting on the one year anniversary of Anaya's disappearance in Abu Dhabi. So what Walt would also learn was that Anaya herself had fought in the moments before her death. And this comes out as they get closer to trial.

According to affidavits, Ibrahim had told one of the witnesses that before she had been shot, Anaya had gone for the gun and actually tried to get it away from him. Obviously, she wasn't able to get it. Nobody heard the gunshots? Sorry, it's...

sidetracked but just thinking about that so the following year covid19 happened which meant ibrahim's trial would see postponement after postponement in the meantime anaya's family did what they could to preserve her legacy in june 2020 they established a scholarship in her memory and soon began a non-profit called anaya's heart their mission statement is quote

Dedicated to the preservation of life through prevention, awareness, and empowering the vulnerable to significantly impact violence. The organization offers self-defense classes, advocates for victims' rights, and raises awareness around other missing persons cases.

But the Blanchards and Harris's took on another big challenge. They actually got a law passed in Anaya's name. In January 2020, the family proposed Anaya's law, which was a bill meant to deny bond to suspects accused of violent crimes. Thank goodness. Which is why I thought it was so ironic that you even brought that up. Yeah,

In November 2022, the bill was passed by Alabama voters and was officially enacted in November of 2023 with 80% of the voters support. That should be in every single state in the U.S. So the new law ultimately gives judges more discretion when deciding if bail should be granted or not. So instead of kind of it

It being black and white, they can kind of go, wait, if it's a violent crime, I shouldn't do this or I don't want to do this, whatever. So Anaya's family hopes that this will prevent what happened to Anaya from happening to other victims, that if more violent criminals can just be kept behind bars while awaiting trial, maybe more lives can be saved.

Now, Antwain Squirmy Fisher has since had the case against him dismissed after cooperating with authorities. Okay. So because he kind of... I'm not going to say much about that because he made a plea deal, so...

The district attorney also stated the investigation has since revealed that Fisher was not present during the commission of the offense, obviously. But in March of 2023, Ibrahim Yazeed was still pleading. Not guilty? Not guilty. What is wrong with him? And as of this recording, he is still awaiting trial.

If found guilty, he could face the death penalty or life in prison without parole. Yes, sir. Anaya's father has actually said regardless of the outcome, his life will never be the same. He told the press, quote, your mind will never forget the day when your child disappeared. You forget everything that happened prior to that day, but you'll never forget that day.

You remember some stuff to happen after that day, but that day will never leave your mind. He also thinks Anaya's abduction wasn't a spur of the moment decision, but instead something that was strategically planned, that he may have been watching the convenience store looking for a target. And while Anaya might have been at the wrong place at the wrong time, he thinks if it hadn't been her, it would have been someone else.

Someone else's spur of the moment decision to stop for a soda, an ice cream, a pack of gum, and never make it home that night. Luckily, Aniyah's law might be able to keep that sort of thing from happening to someone else in the future, but that is the case of Aniyah Blanchard. I think it's so inspiring when we see families come forward and say,

make change and it's always so devastating because things like this shouldn't happen for change to actually take place it's how it always works and it's sad but it is inspiring yeah it does suck because it's 2022 and that wasn't a law until then right like i don't understand how that's not a law but also i think at trial a lot of answers are

We'll come out at least for the public about, you know, was she forced into the car? Was she held at gunpoint? Like, how did all of this even happen? What is the prosecution's theory? So we will be covering the trial over on Rising Crime when it does finally take place. But yeah, for now, that is all we have on this case. We will see you next time with another episode. And I love it. I hate it. Goodbye.