From Mike Lewis
Communications Director
Office of the Attorney General
Top Photo: Aniah Blanchard was reported missing on Oct. 24, 2019, with her body discovered the next month.
(MONTGOMERY)—Attorney General Steve Marshall announced the indictment of Ibraheem Yazeed on three counts of capital murder of Aniah Haley Blanchard. Blanchard was reported missing on October 24, 2019, in Auburn, and her body was discovered on November 25, 2019, in a wooded area in Macon County. Yazeed, 32, of Montgomery, was served the indictment Tuesday in the Lee County jail where he is currently being held without bond.
Attorney General Marshall’s office presented evidence to a Macon County grand jury on November 4, 2022, resulting in Yazeed’s indictment* on three counts of capital murder on November 14, 2022.
Specifically, the indictment charges Yazeed with one count of capital murder during a kidnapping in the first degree, one count of capital murder during robbery in the first degree, and one count of capital murder involving a victim in a vehicle.
The indictment charges Yazeed did intentionally cause the death of Blanchard by shooting her with a gun during the course of abducting her and robbing her of a vehicle and cell phone. The indictment also charges Yazeed intentionally caused Blanchard’s death while she was inside her vehicle, a 2017 Honda CR-V.
If convicted, Yazeed faces the death penalty or a sentence of life imprisonment without parole for each of the three charges of capital murder.
No other information about the investigation or about Yazeed’s alleged crimes other than that stated in the indictment may be released at this time.
The case is being prosecuted by Attorney General Marshall’s Criminal Trials Division. Attorney General Marshall thanked local and state law enforcement agencies, especially the Auburn Police Department, Montgomery Police Department, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Lee and Macon County Sheriff’s Offices for their expert work in investigating this case, as well as the Lee and Macon County District Attorneys’ Offices.
*An indictment is merely an accusation. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
