Lee County DA objects to Aniah Blanchard kidnapping suspect being sent to Montgomery

UPDATE (12:05 p.m.) — Lee County District Attorney Brandon Hughes does not mince words when it comes to Montgomery County and how it dealt with Ibraheem Yazeed in the past.

In a response to Yazeed’s attorneys filed Thursday night, Hughes objected to the defense’s request that Yazeed needed to be moved to the Montgomery County Jail after allegedly receiving death threats at the Lee County Detention Facility.

Yazeed, 29, is charged with kidnapping Aniah Blanchard. At the time of his arrest last week, he was out on bond in a separate kidnapping and attempted murder case out of Montgomery County. His bond has since been revoked.

“Montgomery County has had their opportunity to deal with the defendant and that resulted in him being free to come to Lee County and commit yet another violent offense,” Hughes wrote in his objection. “The State believes he (Yazeed) wants to get back to Montgomery because that is where he has friends and where he has been allowed to evade prosecution.”

According to Yazeed’s attorneys, he is currently being held in solitary confinement in Lee County.

Yazeed is scheduled for a preliminary hearing at 9 a.m. Nov. 20.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — It has been nearly three weeks since Aniah Blanchard went missing from Auburn. Nevertheless, her father remains confident that she will be found.

During an interview Friday morning with CBS 42’s Alissa Rothermich, Elijah Blanchard said he has faith in the Auburn Police Department and their efforts to locate Aniah, a 19-year-old student at Southern Union State Community College who is originally from Homewood.

Blanchard’s words come a couple of days after Texas Equusearch announced that they would be suspending their search for Aniah.

“Well, we kind of figured that because I don’t think they had was a specific area they wanted to search in, but we have full confidence that the Auburn Police Department is going to do their due efforts to make sure everything goes good,” Elijah said.

On Thursday, Aniah’s mother, Angela Harris, and her stepfather, Walt, were interviewed on “Dr. Phil,” where they said they believed their daughter’s kidnapping was planned. However, Elijah and his wife, Yashiba, believe Aniah’s abduction was part of a random carjacking. Shortly after she was reported as missing, Aniah’s Honda was found damaged near an apartment complex in Auburn with traces of her blood inside.

“Basically, by seeing the photos from the car being damaged, we initially start coming up with different scenarios as far as what could have possibly happened and like I said, it’s random,” Yashiba said. “We initially stated that we thought it was a carjacking, so that has always been our position.”

In the weeks since Aniah disappeared, her family has received prayers and words of encouragement from people around the world, from Scotland to Uganda.

“We need all the prayers,” Yoshiba said. “We need the community as a whole to get Aniah’s name out there.”

Elijah Blanchard also took the time to commend the Auburn Police Department on their efforts searching for Aniah, adding that Chief Paul Register calls him every day to give updates on the case.

“They’ve been really good with communicating with us,” he said. “I have no problem with what they are doing. They are strictly professional, but they don’t want to give us anything that will be damaging or anything like that, but they are communicating with us daily.”

Ibraheem Yazeed, 29, of Montgomery was arrested in Escambia County, Florida was arrested Nov. 8 and charged with Aniah’s kidnapping. Since being extradited to the Lee County Detention Facility, his lawyers have claimed that he has received death threats from inmates. He has since been moved to solitary confinement.

Central Alabama CrimeStoppers has received over 400 tips on Aniah’s possible whereabouts.

Anyone with information about on Aniah Blanchard’s whereabouts is encouraged to call the Auburn Police Division Detective Section at 334-501-3140, the anonymous tip line at 334-246-1391, or the 24-hour non-emergency number at 334-501-3100.