Auburn police have charged Ibraheem Yazeed in connection with the disappearance of Aniah Blanchard.
Police announced Thursday that they have obtained an arrest warrant charging the 30-year-old Montgomery resident with first-degree kidnapping.
“Further investigation and analysis of evidence has determined that Yazeed was at the same location Blanchard was last seen and is involved in taking Aniah against her will,” a release from Auburn police reads.
Blanchard was last spotted at an Auburn convenience store Oct. 23 and reported missing the next day.
Police said the U.S. Marshal’s Fugitive Task Force, along with other agencies, is actively searching for Yazeed, who is considered dangerous and potentially armed. The suspect is out on bond for the charges of kidnapping and attempted murder from another jurisdiction, they added.
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Searching for Yazeed is all about finding Blanchard and helping her family.
“It’s about Aniah,” Auburn police Chief Paul Register said. “Giving them (her family) some peace of mind about what has happened, what has taken place, knowing that we’re doing everything we can to get this person off the street.”
Additional charges and/or arrests are anticipated.
“We do think that there is a likelihood that someone else is involved in this case,” Register said. “We hope to bring that person to justice as well.”
New informationPolice currently do not have a motive for the disappearance, but they are not ruling anything out.
“We’re just looking at all options at this point,” Register said, “but we think this individual is someone that should be in custody.”
Register would not disclose the specifics of the investigation; however, he does not believe Blanchard and Yazeed knew each other.
“We don’t have any reason to know that she was familiar with him, but we can’t rule out completely that there would have been some knowledge,” he said.
Register added that due to the investigation, investigators believe whatever happended Oct. 23 occurred at the general location of the convenience store.
‘We do feel like this is the location that whatever took place did take place ...” he said.
Investigators also are not releasing more details about the investigation to protect their case.
“There is information that law enforcement is holding close to the vest in effort in making sure that we both find Mr. Yazeed and successfully prosecute a case,” Register said.
About YazeedYazeed is out on bond after a Montgomery attack in which he and two other co-defendants are accused of robbing two men at gunpoint, holding them against their will and beating them in February, according to court documents.
One of the men was beaten until he was “unconscious, unresponsive, severely injured and near death,” according to the arrest affidavit.
Yazeed is charged in that case with two counts of first-degree kidnapping, two counts of first-degree robbery and attempted murder. He was released on a $295,000 combined bond, according to court records.
Yazeed’s history with law enforcement stretches back to April 2011, when he was charged with two counts of first-degree robbery in Montgomery. He was accused of armed robbery at gunpoint at the Good Night Inn in Montgomery, but his case was later dismissed by a grand jury, court records show.
In January 2012, Yazeed was charged with two counts of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer after he is said to have rammed a vehicle into a police car at a Montgomery-area Chevron, according to court records. Those charges also were dismissed by a grand jury.
In September 2013, Yazeed was arrested in Montgomery and charged with carrying a pistol without a permit and first-degree possession of marijuana.
Then, several weeks later in November, Yazeed was arrested again in Montgomery and charged with attempt to elude law enforcement, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a controlled substance and second-degree possession of marijuana.
Police said Yazeed was in possession of crack cocaine and marijuana, according to the arrest affidavit.
Court records show Yazeed later pleaded guilty to all charges in both incidents. He was sentenced to 13 months in confinement and six months’ probation. The sentence was then suspended, leaving him to serve six months of unsupervised probation.
Yazeed also was convicted in 2017 in Kansas for fleeing/attempting to elude law enforcement officer, according to court records.
“We’re just very concerned to think that this individual was in this community, or anyone else’s, at this point,” Register said.
Police ask anyone with information regarding his whereabouts or having information on this case to call the Auburn Police Division Detective Section at 334-501-3140, Central Alabama Crime Stoppers at 334-215-STOP, or the 24-hour, non-emergency number at 334-501-3100.