The man accused of kidnapping and killing Aniah Blanchard in 2019 appeared in an Alabama court on Monday and pleaded not guilty to all charges against him.
Ibraheem Yazeed, 33, was indicted this month on three counts of capital murder — during a kidnapping, during a robbery, and involving a victim in a vehicle — and could face the death penalty if he’s convicted, WSFA reported.
Blanchard, a 19-year-old Southern Union State Community College student and stepdaughter of UFC fighter Walt Harris, was abducted at an Auburn convenience store on October 23, 2019, as CrimeOnline previously reported. Two days later, authorities in Montgomery found her vehicle, damaged and with a “life-threatening” amount of blood on the passenger side. A month later, investigators found Blanchard’s body in a wooded area in Macon County. She had been shot to death.
In June 2020, Yazeed was charged with fatally shooting a homeless man in 2018.
Yazeed was out on bond for attempted murder charges at the time of Blanchard’s disappearance. Her kidnapping and murder prompted the Alabama state legislature to pass a law, known as Aniah’s Law, that allowed judges to deny bond for additional charges. Originally, bond could only be denied in a capital murder case. Bond can now be denied if a defendant is charged with murder, rape, sodomy, domestic violence, human trafficking, burglary, arson, or robbery.
See more from CrimeOnline on the Blanchard case.
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[Featured image: Aniah Blanchard/Facebook]
