Photo: Auburn Police Department
Alabama officials announced the heartbreaking news during a press conference, just two days after copsbelieved they had found Blanchard’s remainsin Macon County on County Road 2.
“It is with a heavy heart that we so confirm today that the remains are in fact of Aniah Blanchard,” authorities said, adding that the case will now move forward as a homicide investigation with additional charges expected to be announced soon.
Police also noted that no cause or manner of death for Blanchard had been determined yet.
Walt Harris, stepdaughter Aniah Blanchard.courtesy Walt Harris
On Monday, the Lee County District Attorney Brandon Hughes told PEOPLE thatauthorities had found human remainsin Macon County and that they had “good reason to believe they are that of Aniah Blanchard.”
Two men have since been arrested on first-degree kidnapping charges in Blanchard’s case:Antwain “Squirmy” Fisher,35, and 29-year-oldIbraheem Yazeed.
Blanchard’s last known whereabouts are difficult to pinpoint, her stepfather Walt Harris previously told PEOPLE. She last communicated with her roommate through Snapchat on Wednesday night, just before midnight, saying she would be home soon. But then minutes later she sent a message saying she was with someone named “Eric,” Harris said.
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When her roommate asked who he was, Blanchard wrote back, “I just met him,” according to Harris.
Harris said it was unlike his stepdaughter to fail to return home, especially when she had work the next morning. She was always in contact with her family, he claimed, so when her brother couldn’t reach her the next day, the family called the police.
Two days after Blanchard was reported missing, police found her car nearly 60 miles away in Montgomery. Blood evidence recovered from her vehicle shows that shesuffered a “life-threatening injury,”a police affidavit said earlier this month.
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Yazeed, who was arrested in Florida, is being held without bond as he awaits a hearing to be extradited back to Alabama. He has not yet entered a plea, and police records do not reflect an attorney authorized to speak on his behalf.
Fisher is from Montgomery, Alabama, according toWRBL. An attorney for Fisher could not immediately be identified.
source: people.com
