Family fights for justice and a new law after murder of UFC star’s stepdaughter

[This story previously aired on Aug. 28, 2021. It was updated on June 29, 2024.]

Aniah Blanchard, 19, was extensively recognized for all the time placing different folks earlier than herself, however she additionally had a deep-seated worry of being kidnapped and harmed.

On Oct. 23, 2019, Aniah vanished with out a hint after she dropped her brother off in Auburn, the place they each attended faculty, and she texted her roommate that she was practically residence – solely minutes away. “Just the worst feeling ever to not know where your child is,” Blanchard’s mom, Angela Harris, tells James Brown.

It would take two agonizing days earlier than Aniah’s badly broken automobile was discovered 55 miles away, and a blood-soaked seat and a bullet within the door informed investigators that Aniah’s worst worry had possible turned a tragic actuality.

Aniah’s disappearance captured the nation as her household, the local people and law enforcement searched for greater than a month to seek out her, and to uncover the reality of what occurred to her that fateful evening.

Now, her grief-stricken mother and father are preventing to get a new law handed as a result of her alleged killer was out on the streets despite the fact that he was arrested for kidnapping and beating two males earlier that yr.

A VIBRANT PRESENCE

Angela Harris: I had Aniah on my birthday, June twenty second. … That was simply gonna be … one thing so particular in life for she and I to share … the identical birthday.   

Her giggle, infectious.  Her spirit, irrepressible. Aniah Blanchard was simply 19 when she vanished – her vibrant presence changed by the terrifying silence of her absence. 

Angela Harris: She simply embraced folks. She simply beloved folks. 

Walt Harris: She would stroll in and regardless of the way you felt, how down you had been, she might decide you up. 

Aniah’s stepfather, UFC heavyweight Walt Harris, was a rising star ranked ninth on the earth within the fall of 2019.  He says Aniah consistently impressed him. 

Walt Harris: After wins … we have fun.  If it is a loss, she’d all the time decide me up, and … she was all the time that rock … that voice that stored me going. 

Aniah grew up in Homewood, Alabama, close to Birmingham.  It’s virtually native folklore, that after each faculty softball recreation, Aniah invited the opposing crew to affix hers on the pitcher’s mound to share excessive fives and the Lord’s Prayer. 

Hannah Crocker: And even when we misplaced, the opposite crew misplaced, it doesn’t matter what … no arduous emotions. … I believe that was her entire factor. … This is a option to join folks. 

Longtime buddy Hannah Crocker met Aniah within the sixth grade.

Hannah Crocker: She was one of these those that simply … wished to guarantee that, “hey, you’re doing OK. If not, let me help you out. “

James Brown: Did people ever suppose you two is perhaps boyfriend and girlfriend? 

Elijah Blanchard: All the time [laughs]. “Is this your girlfriend?” I’m like “no, this is my sister.“

They had been practically inseparable, says Aniah’s older brother, Elijah Blanchard. 

Elijah Blanchard: We grew up 17 months aside. … We had been all the time collectively and … she even adopted me to varsity. 

Elijah headed off to Auburn University in 2017.  Aniah enrolled at close by Southern Union State Community College a yr later, discovering an condo simply minutes from her brother.   

Elijah Blanchard: I’d name her each morning [pauses]. Sorry. It will get type of tough typically.

On October 23, 2019 – Aniah, Elijah and their mother, Angela, attended the funeral of a household buddy in northern Alabama.  Immediately after the service, the siblings needed to go away. Both needed to work the subsequent morning again in Auburn — 185 miles away.   

Angela Harris: She appeared over at me.  She mentioned,” hey, mom, we really need to leave now … because it’s getting late.”  And I mentioned, “Yeah, you’re right, it’s 7 o’clock. … You’ve got a 4-hour drive.” And then she hugged me, and I kissed her on the cheek, and I informed her I beloved her. 

Driving proper previous Birmingham, Aniah and Elijah made a pit cease at residence to see their stepfather, Walt.  He was coaching for his subsequent struggle.   

Walt Harris: I did not ever name them stepkids. They had been my youngsters. It’s simply the best way I noticed it, . I beloved them like my very own.  

The youngsters’s organic father — Elijah Blanchard Sr., a native pastor and businessman —  remained a shut presence of their lives.  He and Angela divorced in 2004. Soon, she began courting Walt Harris.  And then he met Aniah and Elijah Jr for the primary time. 

James Brown: You got here into her life round age 3.  … Tell us about how that bonding course of went.

Walt Harris: I believe it began day one. … Man, we did all the things collectively.

Angela Harris: It was stunning for me to look at their bond develop through the years.  

Walt Harris: They beloved me like they knew me their entire lives. …   We simply felt like a little household.  

Walt and Angela made it official, getting married in January 2010.  They ultimately had two youngsters of their very own – Asah and Aylah. 

Angela Harris: He was with them greater than I used to be as a result of I labored a lot.  

Angela, a pediatric emergency room nurse, labored nights at a Birmingham hospital.  So, it was Aniah who helped Walt with the youthful youngsters. 

Walt Harris: It was me and Aniah.  She helped me principally elevate her little brother and sister.  

Walt Harris: Coming from a robust Christian background. … I wished to … be a good affect of their lives. 

The youngsters definitely look as much as their dad. At 6’5,” 250 kilos, Walt Harris has been a towering presence of their lives and within the bruising octagon cage of the Ultimate Fighting Championship – the UFC. 

Win, lose, or draw, Walt’s household has all the time been in his nook. 

Walt Harris: My household’s all the time been the rationale why I struggle, and they’ve all the time been the rationale why I get again up.  And Aniah, she was the principle catalyst for that. 

After the funeral, Aniah and Elijah’s go to with Walt was all too brief.  A quick speak, a lengthy hug, and they had been again on the highway to Auburn … nonetheless about 2 hours away.  When they left, Walt says he was left with a rising sense of remorse. 

Walt Harris: I battle with it on daily basis. … I ought to have simply informed them to remain. 

Walt Harris: … as a result of I felt like she was drained. I keep in mind she mentioned, “No, I’m fine, Dad. I’ll be fine.” … then I hugged her and informed her I really like her and that was it. 

They made the drive with out incident, arriving in Auburn round 11 p.m. Aniah dropped off Elijah at his condo. 

Elijah Blanchard: So, I simply mentioned, I really like her, watch out, and ensure you get residence secure.

Sarah O’Brien: So, at 11:09 p.m., I texted her and mentioned, “Are you close to being home?” She responded proper again, “Yeah.”   

Aniah’s faculty roommate, Sarah O’Brien.

Sarah O’Brien: She all the time let me know the place she was at and when she can be residence.  We really shared one another’s location on our iPhone.  

That’s as a result of, Sarah says, Aniah had a deep-rooted worry.

Sarah O’Brien: Since the day I met Aniah, she all the time informed me that that was her largest worry — to be kidnapped or murdered. … Like, as quickly as she walked in, she would verify each room. … She would inform me a number of instances, like, she had nightmares about it occurring to her.

Walt Harris: You know, she actually by no means went wherever by herself at evening.  

But that evening, after dropping off her brother, she was alone with simply three miles to go.   

That’s how far-off she and Sarah lived from Elijah – 3 miles, usually a 10-minute drive.  But practically half-hour later, Aniah had not come residence.  Sarah texted once more.

Sarah O’Brien [reading text]: Did you exit with out me?

About a minute later got here the reply.

Sarah O’Brien [reading text]: “I’m smoking a blunt, LOL.”   

It was the phrase “blunt,” Sarah says, that stopped her.  She had by no means heard Aniah use it. 

Sarah O’Brien [reading text]: I mentioned, “Who are you smoking with?” “Eric.”  I mentioned, “Who’s that?” …”I just met him.” And I responded with, “Where?”  

It was 11:43 p.m.  There wouldn’t be one other response. Sarah checked her cellphone one final time for Aniah’s location.  She gave the impression to be at a close by condo advanced the place tons of college students lived.  Sarah went to mattress, she says, considering Aniah was hanging out with pals.

“WE CAN’T FIND ANIAH”

The subsequent morning, October 24, Angela Harris took her youngsters to high school, and reached out to Aniah to speak. It was their early morning ritual. 

Angela Harris: We FaceTimed each morning … that was type of our factor like, “good morning. What are you doing? What do you have planned for the day?”

Angela Harris: So, after I referred to as her at 8 a.m. and she did not reply the FaceTime, I believed, OK, effectively, , she’s busy, so I’ll give her a little bit longer.

Sarah was keen to listen to about Eric, the thriller man Aniah met the evening earlier than. She went straight to Aniah’s bed room. 

Sarah O’Brien: … and she wasn’t there … She would all the time come residence. 

Sarah O’Brien: She would not spend the evening with anybody she had simply met. 

Sarah glanced at her cellphone trying for Aniah’s newest location, however there was none. Aniah’s cellphone had gone darkish.   

James Brown: When did concern flip to fret for you, Sarah? 

Sarah O’Brien: When I referred to as the girl that she babysat for and she hadn’t proven up that morning … as a result of she by no means misses a day to babysit these youngsters. She beloved them. 

Corrina Thomas: She was like a mom to my youngsters.

Corrina Thomas, the working mom who relied on Aniah, mentioned she was probably the most dependable nanny she ever had. 

Corrina Thomas: Amazing. I do not understand how else to clarify it, like each good high quality that you really want in a individual she had, like all the things.

Angela Harris: She by no means as soon as, by no means as soon as did not present as much as take care of these youngsters. 

Sarah O’Brien: … and that is after I hopped within the automobile to look for Aniah’s automobile … The longer I drove the extra apprehensive I obtained. I did not see any hint of her in any respect. 

Sarah determined to get Aniah’s brother and take a re-examination.   

Elijah Blanchard: Her roommate calls me and informed me that Aniah by no means even got here residence final evening. Aniah’s lacking. 

Sarah O’Brien: And then I informed him what she mentioned about Eric. And that she was with him … And he was like, “no, she didn’t tell me anything about that.” 

Elijah Blanchard: …and my coronary heart type of simply sank … And this was utterly out of her character … This is not Aniah … Aniah would not have run away.

Elijah Blanchard: So … instantly … I name my mother and father. … and I used to be like, uh, “Aniah’s missing.” 

Angela Harris: And he says, “mom, we can’t find Aniah” … and I mentioned,” son what are you talking about you can’t find her” he mentioned “no mom … I’m in her apartment and we can’t find Aniah.”

Immediately alarmed, Angela and Walt took off for Aniah’s condo, two excruciating hours away.

Angela Harris: We simply obtained in his truck and simply flew to Auburn.  

Angela Harris: All varieties of issues are going by way of our heads. … What’s occurred?  What’s occurring? … And pure hell.

James Brown: Walt, how did you course of all of this if you came upon your daughter was lacking?    

Walt Harris [in tears]: That drive to Auburn was the toughest factor I’ve ever been by way of in my life as a result of I knew one thing wasn’t proper.

Elijah determined to verify with Corrina Thomas once more, perhaps Aniah confirmed up.  

Corrina Thomas: I wasn’t apprehensive till her brother messaged me.

Elijah Blanchard [reading text]: Hey, I’m Aniah’s brother.  I used to be questioning if in case you have heard from my sister at the moment?   

Corrina Thomas [reading text]: No I have never. I referred to as her a bunch of instances this morning, and she missed choosing up the children this morning.

Elijah Blanchard [reading text]: … Yes, I’m at her condo. We have been trying in all places for her and cannot discover her. 

And Aniah by no means left her canine Bloo alone in a single day. 

Angela Harris: That was her child … we simply knew once we get to her condo that, wait, there’s one thing actually unhealthy flawed right here. 

Word rapidly unfold to Aniah’s pals. 

Hannah Crocker: And I used to be like, what? I used to be simply speaking to her final evening. … what are you speaking about? … I imply, I reside three hours away from her. I used to be like, I do not know the place she is. 

Hannah Crocker dropped all the things and headed to Aniah’s condo. 

Hannah Crocker: Once it was 24 hours, I used to be like, that is not Aniah. … In my coronary heart … I used to be like, she’s a feminine, one thing occurred.  

Former DA Brandon Hughes:  Auburn is a faculty city. … and it is a very secure place.  

Former Lee County District Attorney Brandon Hughes. 

Former DA Brandon Hughes: This, from the very starting, felt very in another way, , primarily based on the knowledge we had. It simply did not really feel like this was a faculty pupil who determined to depart and blow off some steam … that simply wasn’t her character. That’s simply not one thing she would have performed. 

Aniah’s disappearance was breaking information. 

WALT HARRIS’ APPEAL:  If you’ve gotten any leads on the place our daughter is, Aniah Blanchard, please, please, please go to the authorities, inform somebody. She was final seen in a Black Honda CVR 2017…” 

ANGELA HARRIS’ APPEAL: Please, if you know anything … we have to have her back, we have to have her back.

On October 25, 2019, with Aniah gone for two days, her Honda was spotted in an apartment complex, in Montgomery, Alabama, 55 miles from Auburn.  

And it was badly broken. Worse nonetheless, there was no signal of Aniah. 

Corrina Thomas needed to break the information to her youngsters. 

Corrina Thomas [in tears]: And I mentioned, “Aniah’s missing.” And then they cried.  

And then they got here up with their very own plan to assist discover her. 

Corrina Thomas: … they obtained their tablets … “Hey Google, how many houses are in Montgomery?” And I used to be like, “why are you looking that up?” And he mentioned, “because we got to go see how many houses we have to go look for her at” … they simply wished to seek out her. 

But nothing anybody did led to an Aniah sighting. Then, a few days after she disappeared, police found that after Aniah dropped off her brother, she stopped at a gasoline station simply two minutes from her residence.  

Former DA Brandon Hughes: It’s a Chevron gasoline station on College Street.  

Former DA Brandon Hughes: Aniah entered the Chevron gasoline station roughly 11:21 within the night on the evening of October 23. And she stayed there roughly a minute-and-a-half to 2 minutes earlier than she left. 

Aniah purchased a bag of bitter cream and onion potato chips and a drink. 

Angela Harris: … that was her factor each evening. … Even at residence, rising up, she would snack proper earlier than mattress. 

Investigators additionally wished to talk with anybody who was at that gasoline station that evening. 

Former DA Brandon Hughes: We wanted to know if anyone noticed something. … What was she doing? … Was she speaking to anyone? Did she go away with anyone?  

THE SEARCH INTENSIFIES

Investigators zeroed in on the Chevron gasoline station, the place Aniah was final seen on video earlier than she disappeared. They had been trying for any results in the place she is perhaps. 

The neighborhood of Homewood, the place she grew up, prayed for Aniah’s secure return. Ribbons and bows in Aniah’s favourite shade appeared in all places.

And, after they weren’t praying for her, they had been out looking for her. 

Hannah Crocker: Pretty rapidly, folks got here collectively … identical to, hey let’s do searches right here, let’s do searchers there. 

Elijah Blanchard: We would go within the woods. We would go behind folks’s homes.  We would go in alleyways.  

Walt Harris: We drove my truck in backwoods. I imply, we had been all in folks’s yards … We will need to have canvassed from Auburn to Tuskegee, simply me and her, throughout the first two or three days.  

The investigation rapidly expanded throughout a number of counties, particularly after Aniah’s automobile was discovered 55 miles away in Montgomery. 

Former DA Brandon Hughes: … it’s a must to think about there have been simply large areas that we needed to search.

Former DA Brandon Hughes: There had been dozens of companies — state companies, county companies, native companies, federal companies … large activity drive.  

And reward cash poured in. UFC president Dana White and Light Heavyweight champion Jon Jones every contributed $25,000.

Walt Harris: It’s a ache, it is an nervousness. It’s simply so many feelings. You’re making an attempt to carry hope that one thing optimistic goes to return out of it … But as the times go on, your hope simply begins to dwindle and dwindle.

Now lacking eight days, hope was dealt a main blow. 

NORAH O’DONNELL [CBS EVENING NEWS]: Tonight, police in Auburn, Alabama say that there’s proof a lacking faculty pupil is a sufferer of foul play.

AUBURN POLICE CHIEF PAUL REGISTER: Evidence from inside her automobile is the rationale that we’re conscious that, , she was harmed, and we do think about this a case the place there may be foul play concerned.

Police wouldn’t say what they discovered, however Aniah’s organic father, Elijah Blanchard Sr., was not prepared to surrender.  

ELIJAH BLANCHARD SR. [news interview]: That was arduous for us. … I’m a man of religion and regardless of what the police say, I nonetheless have hope that my Aniah is on the market ready for her father to get her. 

Aniah’s disappearance was taking greater than an emotional toll on Walt Harris. He instantly cancelled his upcoming struggle. Aniah was the one factor on everybody’s thoughts. 

Walt Harris: I wasn’t capable of focus in any respect … it was chaos. There was disappointment. I simply wished to be there for my household … It’s like a darkish abyss … you are preventing that off. 

Then, after 14 days, the police introduced they wished a man seen on the gasoline station retailer on the identical time Aniah was there.  

An eyewitness mentioned he thought he noticed him drive Aniah into her automobile earlier than they drove off collectively.

LOCAL NEWS REPORT: This is a individual of curiosity …  anybody who sees him is requested to name 911. 

Someone did, and the person the police had been trying for was not named Eric. He was Ibraheem Yazeed, a 30-year-old from Montgomery and he had a prolonged arrest document.  

AUBURN POLICE CHIEF PAUL REGISTER [to reporters]: He ought to be thought of harmful and can be doubtlessly armed.

Police mentioned Yazeed was charged earlier that yr with kidnapping, robbing, and practically beating a 77-year-old man to loss of life.  He was additionally accused of robbing and beating a second man. Despite the intense expenses, he was free on bond and had been staying in a lodge close to the Chevron gasoline station. 

Sarah O’Brien: How is that this individual free to stroll into a gasoline station? … How is he simply minutes down the highway from me? How is he in the identical gasoline station as my greatest buddy?

But he was, and that was at 11:22 p.m. Aniah’s automobile was subsequent seen a couple of minutes later at one other close by gasoline station, the place Yazeed purchased a small cigar.   

It can be a little greater than an hour earlier than a license plate reader picked up Aniah’s Honda close to the doorway to I-85, heading south in direction of Montgomery.   

Aniah’s mother and father clung to hope, and they’d religion that their daughter can be discovered alive … they even prayed for Yazeed. 

ANGELA HARRIS [NBC News report]: You can cease now. … You can change this. You can let her go. God will forgive you.  

Police captured Yazeed the next day hiding within the woods 145 miles away in one other state. Police say he didn’t give up peacefully. 

ANNE-MARIE GREEN [CBSN]: 30-year-old Ibraheem Yazeed was arrested in a single day in Florida on the cost of kidnapping within the first diploma.  

Yazeed appeared in a Florida court docket the subsequent day, with a swollen left eye. And court docket paperwork lastly revealed what police discovered within the automobile. It was blood, and a lot of it.  

NEWS REPORT: Court paperwork at the moment say blood that was found in Aniah Blanchard’s automobile was “indicative of someone suffering a life-threatening injury… 

Yazeed waived extradition to Lee County, Alabama, the place Angela and Walt Harris can be ready, hoping to seek out out the place their daughter was.

A ROADMAP

The Harrises had been dedicated to dealing with Yazeed every time he appeared in court docket.  And every time felt like the primary time. 

James Brown:  As a father, as a man … I’m imagining what may need been coursing by way of your veins. … Then you see him, Mr. Yazeed trying again at you guys. 

Walt Harris: Anger. I keep in mind shaking. I wished to climb throughout the barricade. 

Walt Harris: It made me actually indignant. Because — he was simply type of smug … like “you’re tough, I’m tough, too.” … like he was difficult me, nearly. 

It took all of Walt’s coaching within the ring, and Angela’s regular hand, to maintain him from ripping into Yazeed. 

Walt Harris: She grabbed me, and she mentioned, “just breathe” …  And I simply began making an attempt to listen to her voice as a result of I couldn’t — I would not take my eyes off of him.  … like, OK, who’s going to look away first kind of deal.

James Brown:  Angela … how did you keep composed? 

Angela Harris: I wished him to know that I’m representing my daughter. … and that I’m not going wherever. We’re proper right here — and we will struggle this all over. 

Yazeed maintained his innocence, and the burden to seek out Aniah mounted. 

Former DA Brandon Hughes: Everybody was on edge as a result of there’s a lot of strain. … there’s strain to seek out this little lady. 

Angela and Walt Harris publicized their daughter’s disappearance on “Dr. Phil.”

WALT HARRIS [on “Dr. Phil”]: Love you, child lady. … we’re trying for you … we’re doing all the things that we will … and we’re going to get you. I promise. 

Former DA Brandon Hughes: They’re on tv and you are doing all the things you’ll be able to. But up up to now, it hasn’t been sufficient.

By then, the DA, Angela and Walt, had grown shut. 

Former DA Brandon Hughes: If you need to name up, get annoyed and yell at me for an hour, cry with me for an hour. I’m there. And that is simply what we had been doing. 

A month after Aniah went lacking, the DA had information. Authorities now believed that Antwain Fisher, who as soon as served time for murder, helped Yazeed dispose of proof. He was charged with kidnapping.  He quickly cooperated, offering a roadmap to Aniah. 

Former DA Brandon Hughes: Aniah’s stays had been positioned in Macon County, Alabama, which is between Auburn and Montgomery. 

Former DA Brandon Hughes: Obviously, we did not … know, to a hundred p.c certainty that that is who it was … there have been a number of objects of clothes on the market. I noticed a boot. I took a {photograph} of it.

Hughes requested the Harrises to satisfy on the DA’s workplace.     

Former DA Brandon Hughes: They do not know why they’re there.

Former DA Brandon Hughes: … and I confirmed the Harrises the {photograph}.

The Sorel boots had been a reward from Walt when the household visited New York City.  

Former DA Brandon Hughes: Walt appeared on the cellphone … He simply drops it on the desk and mentioned, “Y’all excuse me.”

Former DA Brandon Hughes [emotional]: My spouse had come up there … she was developing the again stairwell. She mentioned she noticed Walt simply punching the wall. I imply, that is a concrete wall. …He’s screaming and simply punching this wall. That’s arduous [crying].

James Brown: Talk about a mum or dad’s worst nightmare when her physique was discovered. 

Angela Harris: Immediately, I simply wished to truly know if I might see my baby. I simply need to see her. We had been informed, no.

Angela Harris: I simply did not need to go on anymore.

James Brown: Walt? 

Walt Harris: Broken. Confused. Angry. I simply wished to know why and what occurred? 

Hughes and the police returned to the woods to go looking for extra proof. 

Former DA Brandon Hughes: … simply actually crawling on palms and knees, trying for proof … trying for something that we might discover.

And what they discovered helped the Harrises lastly study what occurred to their beloved Aniah. 

FIGHTING FOR ANIAH

A blood-soaked passenger seat.  A bullet gap within the door.  The proof tells a story of what occurred to Aniah that evening.  Investigators aren’t sure how Yazeed ended up contained in the automobile with Aniah.  Did he ask for a experience? Did he drive her?  But the harm outdoors suggests there was a battle in some unspecified time in the future because the automobile was transferring. Investigators say Yazeed shot Aniah as she tried to flee.  

FORMER DA BRANDON HUGHES [to reporters]: Aniah Blanchard was killed within the method of murder … trigger of loss of life was a gunshot wound. 

James Brown: Was your religion shaken? Rocked? 

Walt Harris: To have our angel taken like that, I did not know why God would enable it. 

But Walt finally discovered consolation in his religion. 

Walt Harris: It introduced me again … it is helped me perceive that God did not do that. 

And on December 2, 2019, then District Attorney Hughes introduced the individual accountable was Ibraheem Yazeed.  He was now being charged with capital murder. 

FORMER DA BRANDON HUGHES [to reporters]: We’ll even be searching for the loss of life penalty. 

Two days later, the Harrises had been in court docket when Yazeed fought again. 

IBRAHEEM YAZEED [in court]:  I obtained rights too … Ya’ll haven’t any video, no audio of me capturing anybody, that is why I’m making an attempt to see how y’all going to bind me, over on rumour, however y’all aren’t presenting no proof.  

Yazeed appeared happy when he was performed. 

Angela Harris: … the perspective, the smirks, the appears … wow. 

But perhaps probably the most damning proof in opposition to Yazeed comes from Antwain Fisher. Remember, he was dealing with expenses of serving to Yazeed. Those expenses had been dropped.  Fisher informed police that simply hours after Aniah disappeared, Yazeed confirmed up in Montgomery trying for assist. And he was driving what appeared like Aniah’s black Honda.  

Fisher mentioned he adopted Yazeed to an condo advanced – the identical advanced the place police would later discover Aniah’s Honda. Yazeed then obtained into the truck Fisher was driving says lead Detective Josh Mixon.  

DET. JOSH MIXON [in court]: They ended up behind a church close to a cemetery. … and when he appeared within the rearview mirror, he noticed Yazeed dragging one thing wrapped in a comforter. It gave the impression to be two legs. He dragged it within the woods … come again … obtained within the automobile, and he … mentioned, “tell me that’s not a body.”  

Fisher says Yazeed informed him he shot a lady quote “when she went for the gun.“ 

Angela Harris [in tears]: Wow — it is indescribable. … how somebody might really do these issues to my stunning daughter … and it is so traumatizing to consider what she went by way of.

Walt Harris: Hearing it in grave element, it was painful.

And then the Harrises would study that Yazeed along with being charged with practically beating an aged man to loss of life, was additionally being charged with capturing two different folks the yr earlier than he is accused of killing Aniah. 

James Brown: What would you prefer to see occur?

Walt Harris: Justice.

Angela Harris: Definitely justice … I need justice for my daughter. 

But justice has been delayed. The pandemic has slowed all of Yazeed’s legal circumstances, and his lawyer declined to be interviewed. 

Walt, who had thought of ending his profession, discovered inspiration when Aniah came to him in a dream. 

Walt Harris: … she was sitting in her lounge, and there was simply a beam of gentle on her and she had her arms out and I hugged her, and she mentioned, “keep going”. And I simply awoke, like with a renewed vigor, I felt contemporary. 

Inspired by Aniah, Walt Harris bravely returned to the ring. Incredibly, a struggle was scheduled for October 24, the anniversary of Aniah’s murder. 

Angela Harris: When he first informed me … I mentioned, “are you sure?” … He mentioned, “I’m sure.” And so, I knew how necessary that this was to him and how necessary that this might be to her, to Aniah, and that she would need him to do it. 

Walt flew to Abu Dhabi, and spent two weeks in quarantine, coaching in a lodge.  

Angela, in the meantime, remained residence, caring for their household, and holding a vigil the evening earlier than Walt’s struggle, marking the anniversary for the final time they noticed Aniah alive. 

The following day, the Harrises had been on the sting of their seats to look at Walt struggle midway all over the world.

Walt began out robust, however immediately, the struggle was over.

In retrospect Walt informed “48 Hours” he wanted extra psychological power. He returned residence and a few days later, he launched all that pent-up emotion. 

Angela Harris: He simply broke down and fell down on the ground, crying.

And by way of all of her ache, Angela discovered her new calling. She began a nonprofit, Aniah’s Heart, to show security, and assist search for lacking folks. 

Angela Harris: I’ve performed group periods of training. I simply did one … with some sophomores from Aniah’s highschool, a group of like 20 ladies instructing them about training and security, it was superb. 

ANGELA HARRIS [addressing reporters at the Alabama Legislature]: This is a should, we now have to have this law.

And she’s campaigning for “Aniah’s Law,” a invoice which, if enacted, permits judges to disclaim bond to severe violent offenders. 

Angela Harris: You have folks committing a number of violent crimes and they simply get out on bond. It’s simply not OK. 

Around Christmas 2019, practically 2,000 folks got here collectively to have fun Aniah’s life. 

ANGELA HARRIS: I do know one factor … that I cannot cease preventing for her. 

BILL CLEVELAND: … that lovely smile she had, that might simply gentle up a room.

NOAH VAIL: Aniah was gentle, if you checked out her in her eyes, the best way she made you are feeling, she simply made you are feeling such as you was OK.

AYLAH HARRIS: We will miss you. We are so completely satisfied you had been our sissy. 

HANNAH CROCKER: Aniah has been my greatest buddy since I met her in sixth grade … she left me with the perfect recollections ever, of course … she was a chief … she would put folks first even when she was unhappy or wanted something. I really like you Aniah … You are really my sunshine on wet days.   

DENISE LEWIS: December 21, 2019, will likely be without end recognized … as Aniah Haley Blanchard Day within the metropolis of Homewood, Alabama. 

Elijah Blanchard: … all these things is true. She actually was, really a particular human being. 

In March 2023, Ibraheem Yazeed pleaded not responsible to 3 counts of capital murder within the loss of life of Aniah Blanchard.

In November 2023, Alabama enacted “Aniah’s Law” giving judges discretion to disclaim bail to defendants accused of violent crimes. 

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Produced by Murray Weiss. Mead Stone is the producer-editor. Iris Carreras is the affiliate producer. Lauren Turner Dunn is the published affiliate. Greg McLaughlin and Phil Tangel are the editors. Patti Aronofsky and Alvin Patrick are the senior producers. Nancy Kramer is the manager story editor. Judy Tygard is the manager producer.