Ibraheem Yazeed has been sentenced to life in prison for the 2019 murder of Aniah Blanchard, the 19-year-old stepdaughter of former UFC heavyweight Walt Harris.
A Macon County jury convicted Yazeed on March 19 of felony murder and murder in Blanchard’s shooting death. On May 7 in Macon County, Alabama, retired Circuit Judge Tom Young Jr. handed down two concurrent life sentences.
Blanchard disappeared after leaving a gas station in Auburn on the night of Oct. 23, 2019. Her body was found about a month later in Macon County, following an extensive search by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.
“This is something I've been waiting on and working toward for six-and-a-half years,” Walt Harris said after the sentencing. He added, “Every day is different. We're still grieving, but it was important to look him in the eyes and let him know he didn't win, and that we have the power.”
Yazeed was initially charged with two counts of capital murder and one count of murder of a person in a vehicle, though the vehicle murder charge was dropped before closing statements. At the time of his arrest in the Blanchard case, he was out on bond on separate charges of kidnapping, attempted murder and robbery.
The circumstances of Yazeed being free on bond led to the 2022 passage of Aniah's Law in Alabama, which allows judges more power to hold defendants without bond on violent crime charges.
