The man accused of killing 19-year-old Aniah Blanchard — the stepdaughter of UFC heavyweight Walt Harris — has been indicted on three counts of capital murder in Alabama.
Ibraheem Yazeed, the 32-year-old suspect who was arrested back in November 2019, was indicted by a grand jury on charges of capital murder during a kidnapping, capital murder during a robbery and capital murder involving a victim in a vehicle. AL.com initially announced the news on Tuesday after Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall made the announcement .
If convicted, Yazeed faces the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole for each of the separate capital murder charges.
Yazeed has been held without bond since his initial arrest in Pensacola, Fla., on Nov. 7, 2019, after police began a search once he became the prime suspect in Blanchard’s kidnapping and subsequent murder.
Blanchard initially went missing on Oct. 23, 2019, after she entered a convenience store in Auburn, Ala., and then disappeared. The surveillance footage showed Blanchard in the store at the same moment as Yazeed who was out on bail on separate charges, including attempted murder and kidnapping for an incident that occurred in January 2019..
Two days after she went missing, Blanchard’s 2017 Honda CR-V was recovered at an apartment complex in Montgomery, Ala., with evidence showing a “life-threatening” amount of blood inside that led authorities to believe the Southern Union Community College student had been harmed and was the victim of foul play.
Blanchard’s remains were found a month later on Nov. 25 in a wooded area in Macon County, Ala. Two days later, Auburn Police positively identified the remains as Blanchard.
In the wake of Blanchard’s death, Alabama legislators introduced Aniah’s Law, which sought to amend the state constitution so that judges could deny bail to multiple capital offenses, including murder, kidnapping, rape, sodomy, intimate violence, domestic violence, human trafficking, burglary, arson, robbery, terrorism and aggravated abuse.
Previously, bail was denied to capital murder suspects only.
The law was officially passed on Nov. 8 with Alabama voters overwhelmingly supporting the measure with 80 percent of constituents voting to approve the changes to the constitution.
Harris personally worked with lawmakers on getting the bill passed following his stepdaughter’s tragic murder. Aniah’s Law is now in Alabama and will be added into the state constitution.
Source: https://www.mmafighting.com/2022/11/17/23464551/man-accused-of-killing-walt-harris-daughter-indicted-on-capital-murder-charges-in-alabama?rand=96749
