Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - HELP BRING ANIAH BLANCHARD HOME! Beautiful teen college student missing after Snapchatting with roommate about new friend.

Episode Date: October 30, 2019

An Alabama college student mysteriously disappears without a trace. Aniah Blanchard, 19, has not been seen since October 23. Police suspect foul play after finding her damaged and abandoned car around 55 miles from her Montgomery apartment complex. Where is Aniah?Joining Nancy Grace today to discuss the case: Walt Harris, Aniah's stepfather and former UFC Heavyweight fighter Angela Harris, Aniah's mother Elijah Blanchard, Aniah's father Jeff Cortese, Former Special Agent FBI Caryn Stark, Psychologist   Karen Smith, Forensics Expert , Founder - Bare Bones Consulting Ashley Gooden, ABC 33/40 WBMA Birmingham Reporter Anyone with information is asked 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.This week's podcast is sponsored by the new Wondery podcast Bad Batch. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bad-batch/id1482851200 Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. This is Crime Stories. I'm Nancy Grace. Right now, we are on the trail of a missing teen girl, Aniyah Blanchard. Police just releasing surveillance video of Anaya, the missing stepdaughter of UFC fighter Walt Harris. Where is Anaya, the Alabama college student? Absolutely stunning. Last seen on video surveillance at a local Chevron station buying a bag of chips. She's never seen again. Disturbingly, her vehicle found almost 50 miles away, parked in an apartment complex with damage to the car. Damage that was not there earlier.

Help us bring Anaya home. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Hello, there's Angel Harris here. If you have any leads on where our daughter is, Naya Blanchard, please, please, please go to authorities, tell someone she was last seen in a black Honda CR-V 2017. Tag is B, actually, excuse me, 49, B2, 356. BS. BS 356, I'm sorry.

She was possibly last seen downtown at Southeastern, downtown Auburn, Southeastern, and Sky Bar. If you have any information, please, please come forward. Just hearing the voice of Walt Harris, you may know him as the famous UFC heavyweight fighter, but hearing him along with his beautiful wife, Angela Harris, in their pain, distraught, begging for help, literally sends chills down my body, all the way down into my boots. They need our help. We have got to help them find their teen girl Aniyah. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. As you all know by now, this beautiful young girl is gone.

It is, quote, completely out of character for this teen girl to go missing. Right now, joining me, Karen Smith, Bare Bones Consulting. Karen Stark, psychologist out of Manhattan. Jeff Cortese, former FBI special agent. Special guest joining me right now, Angela Harris and Walt Harris, begging for your help. Tip line 334-246-1391. Repeat.

Tip line 334-246-1391. I'm going to go straight out to renowned UFC heavyweight fighter Walt Harris. Walt, what happened? We just got confirmation that our daughter was missing when we came down. And we've been here for approximately a week trying to uncover what's going on and figure out where our daughter is. And, you know, that's where we are. We're still looking.

We're still searching. We need the public's help. Walt Harris and his wife, Angela, begging for your help right now. Angela Harris with me. This is Aniyah's mother. Angela, when did you discover your girl is missing? Well, last Wednesday morning, I received a phone call from our 20-year-old son, who also lives here in Auburn, and said, Mom, Aniyah didn't come home.

And I said, What do you mean she didn't come home? He said, We don't know. Her roommate says she didn't come home home and we can't get in touch with her so Walt and I immediately drove to Auburn from Birmingham um you know desperately just calling on her all the way there just trying to get in touch with her because she and I talked every morning that morning I didn't think anything of it because she had some things to do. That morning, we had been to a funeral the night before. She was with us, and I knew she had to leave the funeral early to get to Auburn to take care of her responsibilities the next day. And so when I called her that morning when I took my other children to school and she didn't answer, I kind of was like, okay, she's busy.

She had something to do this morning. You know, I'll talk to her in a little while. But I talk to Aniyah every morning. We FaceTime. We don't just call. We FaceTime so we can see each other's face, so we can spend time together since she lives two hours away from us. So, like I say, when he called to say that,

we immediately just left and came to Auburn to see what was going on. And when we got to Auburn, we realized, wait, something is wrong. Our daughter has, she has a dog, and that dog is her baby, and she also is a babysitter, and she was supposed to take her kids that she babysits to school, and she didn't show up for that, and she would never, ever, ever not get up to take her kids that she babysits to school, and she didn't show up for that, and she would never, ever, ever not get up to take care of those children, take care of her dog. And the later it started getting, the later we knew something was very wrong.

Guys, please help us. We need your help so badly. The more I look into the case, the more I'm disturbed. Blanchard's stepfather, UFC heavyweight Walt Harris, has made many, many desperate pleas for information about the teen girl's whereabouts on social media. And now we are taking to the airwaves on Crime Stories, on Sirius, to ask for your help. The car that Anaya, the teen girl, was driving the night she disappears in Auburn has been found 50 miles away in Montgomery. Repeat, the car that Anaya was driving the night she goes missing in Auburn, Alabama was found 50 miles away in Montgomery. And I've looked at the car. There is damage to the right front and the passenger side of the car. To Walt Harris, UFC heavyweight fighter, that's how you know that name.

Tell me about the damage done to the car. That's what we want to know. But, I mean, the damage, there was damage to the front panel from what we could see from the images they showed us. And there's scrapes that all down the sides. I believe our side rearview mirror was damaged. And that's pretty much all we know. Wait a minute, Walt.

Walt, right there, right there. Jeff Cortese, former special agent with the FBI you can find him at jeffcortese.com Jeff did you hear what he just said scrapes down the side to me that suggests that somebody may have another car may have pushed his car off the road it's not like somebody just turned into it at a red light like she was turning left and somebody came no uh-uh it's not that at all there are scrapes going down the side of it what does that tell you jeff if anything uh nancy you know it's one of those things that it could tell us a few things obviously uh that that vehicle uh if the damage did not exist prior to Anai's disappearance, could have engaged in some kind of altercation with another vehicle on the road.

It could have been done intentionally, hoping that she would stop. Or it could have been a situation where something became heated on the road. And that impact took place through you know hostile activity well i mean jeff cortese come on two and two is four all right it's not brain surgery and it's not rocket science her car was fine guys let me give you what i know about the car and it's a black Honda CRV black Honda CRV driving somewhere between Auburn and Montgomery that's about 50 miles on a Wednesday night all right the car was fine before then now the car has scrape marks down the side significant damage to the passenger's side, and she's gone. It's not just a coincidence. Karen Smith, forensics expert, weigh in, Karen. What I can see from these

photographs, Nancy, and based on my experience, the scrape marks look, they're linear. And when you have two cars that collide, the scrape marks aren't linear. That tells me, in my experience, that it's a concrete barricade or a guardrail. I don't know if that's indicative of an impaired driver, whoever was driving the car, if there was a struggle in the car, if there was distracted driving going on in the car. I don't know that. What I do know is that that car, since it's 50 miles away, that is now a key piece of evidence in this case. If there's foreign DNA, if there's male DNA, if you have fingerprints that are inconsistent with a night of Blanchard on or inside that vehicle, they're going to have to go through it with a fine-tooth comb and see if there's anything that does not belong in that car, receipts, beer cans, soda cans,

anything that can hold DNA and fingerprints, they're going to have to collect it and process it and see if there's anything we can glean from any of it. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. crime stories with nancy grace her roommate texted her on snapchat and said hey where are you um she said or she said are you almost home and she said yeah and um she said where are you and um she said i'm with i don't i don't know if i should give any names i'm not gonna give any names you said she was she was with a young man is what you understand young man that she just met and that is all she didn't say how she met him where she met him where she was at she just said she was with a certain person and that she had just met him and um that yes that

is that is all we know you are hearing hearing our friends at WBRC Fox 6. That's Mike Deverly and Janice Rogers trying to find Aniyah Blanchard, a teen girl who seemingly vanishes. Straight out to our friend at ABC 3340 WBMA, Ashley Gooden from Birmingham. Give me the timeline of Aniyah Blanchard's disappearance. Around Thursday, Auburn police put out the missing person report. They told us that it was around sometime Wednesday

when she last spoke with someone. So it was around 1130 Wednesday evening that a person said that they had spoken with Aniyah last. Around Friday evening, they found her car in Montgomery, Alabama at an apartment complex. Now Montgomery is about 45 minutes, 30-45 minutes away from Auburn. So of course that was something unusual. And when police did find that car, it had some damage that wasn't there prior to making it to Montgomery. Police say that they pinged her license plate in the South College area of Auburn, which is also around the area where the interstate is, I-85, to get to Auburn. So, I mean mean excuse me to get to Montgomery and prior to that there was surveillance video of Aniyah and a gas station right before her car was paying are those are those places close to

each other the gas station and where her car was pinged with the license plate are close to each other. Let me ask you this. You said her tag was pinged. What do you mean by that? Police have a way of when they check the cameras that are on the traffic lights, they can see the license plates. And so it was an instance of seeing one of those and figuring out that was Anaya's car it's a parent's worst nightmare and joining me right now Angela Harris this is Anaya's mother and renowned UFC heavyweight fighter Walt Harris Walt Harris what can you tell me that cops are saying about what if anything they find inside that black Honda CR-V that she was driving? That's the thing.

We haven't gotten any information about what was actually inside the car. You know, we're waiting on that news today. I think they're having a briefing. We will be brief. So, you know, it's just a lot of what ifs. You know, we don't know. And we will be brief. Um, so, you know, it's just, um, it's a lot of what else, and, you know, we don't know. And we just want clarity, um, for our sanity. Um, my wife is, is really dealing with the heart. Um, I'm dealing with the heart. Our families are dealing with the heart. We've had a lot of love and support from everyone down here. Um, but we just need to know

where we are and what's going on. Um on. I just pray today we get those answers. It's so, so significant that she was out that night, that she was Snapchatting as late as 11-ish that night, 11-ish on, close to 1130 on Wednesday night snapchatting with her roommate she's a Homewood native she's going to Southern Union State Community College in Wadley she goes missing but we do have a development in the case listen yeah. Yeah, they really, okay, they just tell us, you know, bits and pieces of what's going on. They talk about, you know, they really haven't discovered much.

They pretty much, they understand still when it comes to that. So it's really, they haven't really given us any updates. And, you know, they just, it's really so sensitive, the case is so sensitive to where they can't tell us too much. They can't tell us if, you know, they just got on there, it's considered foul play. You know, but they got so many different entities involved. They got the FBI involved. They got the DEA. They got the DEA. They got Homeland Security.

They got the ATF and the federal marshals. But they hadn't been able to give me anything concrete. They sent a video, and the video came out about her in the convenience store. We haven't heard much after that. You are hearing BioDad Elijah Blanchard speaking. Now we know there is convenience store video. To Walt Harris, what video? Tell me about the video. In the video, she's buying a bag of chips.

She's, from what I can tell, very tired. And she just looks like she's about to go home. And that's pretty much the last time she was seen alive, from what I see. Or, you know. Okay, let me ask you a couple of specific questions. Where was it? Was it a convenience store? The convenience store is

on South College. What city? It's in Auburn. In Auburn. What time was the video? I believe it was 1120. She was spotted there. 1120. She was at the store. She purchased a bag of salt and vinegar potato chips. Okay. Angela Harris with me. This this is an eyes mom tell me what you know about that video angela harris i know that she she went into the store and um she did look tired we had a very long day that day like i say we had lost a very close family friend in a car accident and her and our son drove from auburn earlier that day to come be with with their family and and our family and um go to the funeral and it was already 6 30 when she you know said hey mom me and elijah need to go it's getting late and they had a four-hour drive so i know that anaya is a homebody she she likes to go to bed early

uh yeah she's a college student of course goes out some, but when she gets tired and she gets sleepy, she's ready to go to bed. So that video told me I could see my baby in her face, and I knew it wasn't her. Like, she just, she was tired, and I know in my heart that her plan was to buy her some chips and go home because that's her thing she'll buy her a snack and she'll go go you know eat a snack in her bed or something before she goes and that was evident by her her empty chip bags you know in her nightstand um but yeah that's what I saw from the video that and I was just tired and she was like I just I'm just ready to be home guys we are talking about the disappearance of a gorgeous young teen girl she was snapchatting after 11 o'clock with a friend she said she was going to see a guy she had just met and she's pictured at a convenience store on video and she

we we believe this is the last known video that we have of her take a listen to our friends at wvt and this is chip scarborough police released surveillance video from the night of her disappearance auburn police say this is 19 year old anaya blanchard inside a convenience store on south college street in auburn last wednesday night the same night investigators say she was last heard from jack owens is a retired special agent with the FBI. He says missing person cases get more challenging with every day that passes. At this point, a lot of leads and manpower have already been used up. You may have to revisit all of them since we don't have her. Officers found Blanchard's car in the parking lot of a

Montgomery apartment complex on Friday night. They say the car was damaged between the time she disappeared Wednesday in Auburn and when the car was found Friday. The fact there's a lot of space between there and where we found her car, that opens up all kinds of highway checks and leads along that highway. What place, what kind of place was open at that time of night? You've got to visit everything. Crime stories with Nancy Grace. Trying to find Aniyah Bl blanchard a teen girl she has never quote up and disappeared before go to crimeonline.com where we are posting the last known video of anaya blanchard the teen girl missing so you can look at it yourself I'm looking at a photo of her right now. Absolutely beautiful.

Long, beautiful, shiny brunette hair, big brown eyes, beautiful smile. She's wearing a silver necklace with a heart on it. Her debit card was last used Wednesday night, 1120 p.m. And I'm guessing to Angela Harris her mother that was at the convenience store to get the chips do you know about that ATM purchase? Yes ma'am that's actually how we discussed ourselves that night we had so many of our friends just come immediately in family and we were just we were helpless we didn't know what to do so we were just sitting in a parking, just sitting on the ground and we're like trying to find something. And because we couldn't get into her Venmo, well, we got into her email bought something at a Chevron here in Auburn.

Please go see to get the video. And so they did, and that's when we saw that she purchased a bag of chips. I wonder if they have video from outside the Chevron station there in Auburn. For instance, was there a car that pulled out after her? Did she have a conversation with someone like say hey anything as she was walking out has the person who sold her the salt vinegar chips have they been interviewed and that gives me an idea as to which way she was going we know where her car ended up we know where the Chevron station is which way did she go and then we will pull surveillance video along that perceived route but let's take a look at

her psychologically who is teen girl Anaya Blanchard take a listen time she walks in the room, she lights the room up. She just has a smile that everybody just, it captures attention to so many people. And she's just a genuine, she's a genuine person. She never meets a stranger. And, you know, she's just so, I'm trying to come up with a word. She's very organized. She likes to be there to first. She likes to be up early, and she likes to leave early, and she wants to be on time. She is just a real structured sweetheart. She's a real, I mean, she has a heart of gold,

and she wants to make sure everybody's okay. You are hearing bio dad Elijah Blanchard speaking to Crime Stories exclusively about his daughter's disappearance. To Karen Stark, psychologist, you can find her at karenstark.com. Joining us out of Manhattan. Karen, she's a homebody. You know, like Lucy, my little girl, she's a homebody. We go, Lucy, you want to go out for Mexican?

No, Mom, please go home and cook, which, you know, is fine with me because I can put veggies in her. John David, the opposite. He's ready to go, have tennis shoes, will travel. That's him. Very different personalities. Anaya Blanchard is a homebody. What is this all telling you, Karen? Very disturbing, Nancy. And first of

all, I want to say to the parents that my heart goes out to you. This has to be crushing the whole family, and I'm so sorry. But what it says to me, Nancy, is this is very suspicious. I know truly what it's like to be the kind of kid that doesn't really want to cause any problems, that prefers to stay home like Lucy. And this is extremely troubling because it's out of character. You want to pay attention to anything that's out of character. So she's not somebody who would run off with a guy, according to this information. Something is happening that's not okay. Speaking of the guy, Angela Harris, why aren't they releasing his name?

I don't get it. Where did they, where did she meet him? What was happening? No, we don't know who it is. We have no idea. We don't know who it is. We, the police, have not, like her father was saying and Walt was saying, they're not giving us bits and pieces of information. And we have no idea who this person is.

We don't even know if it was Aniyah making those Snapchat text messages to her roommate. It does sound like her, the way she would talk. But we have absolutely no idea. And that's why this is so hard. We have nothing to go on. And we are demanding. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I want to follow up on what you just said, Angela. So they were Snapchat texts. They were not pictures. They were just words. Right. Interesting. Interesting. Now now wait a minute Angela you said that it sounded like her vernacular in other words the way she would talk yes why do you say that why do you say that because the way she was her roommate she was talking to her roommate her

roommate said um you know I wish you would have she said are you on your way home? And when Aniyah said that she was with a certain, I can't say the name, but I'm with this person. And her roommate says, who is that? And she said, I just met him. And then she said, well, I wish you would have let me known. I waited up on you. I'm going to sleep. I love you.

And Aniyah said, I'm so sorry. I love you too. and that's the last thing that she said to her roommate now wait a minute wait a minute did Aniyah have a boyfriend Angela no she didn't have a serious boyfriend there were there were boys that she friended um no no serious boyfriend at all I'm trying to get to the crux of who this guy is. So she is in a Chevron gas station in Auburn getting chips at around 1120 and she was alone. Right. Unless I'm missing something in that video. But yet this Snapchat text says she's with somebody.

But she, was anybody with her in the video? The police are only showing us a little snippet of the video. They're saying that they could not see anyone in the car, but they could not tell us 100%. And that's why right now we are getting angry, Nancy. We are getting, we have been through every emotion in the world that you could ever imagine. And now we're just getting angry and we want answers. Time is precious. Well, how often are you going to the police station?

To Walt Harris, the stepfather, UFC heavyweight fighter. Walt, are you going to the police station every day? In the first two or three days, yes. And then they would come to us and brief us. And then that just slowed down to the point where we were calling them to come see us. That's not right. That's not right, and that's the part that's angering me because if we need information, I feel like you should be coming forth with it at your leisure. You should just be giving it to us.

And it feels like we're having a fish installation. And, you know, it's just the days are counting. And that's where we're getting upset. Well, I got to tell you something. I got to tell you something, Walt. Now, when I was working cases for all those years in inner city Atlanta, I mean, I would head on tunnel vision, blinders like a horse running a race. All my eyes were on was the prize, and that was seeking justice.

They may be so in it, they're not thinking of the courtesies of calling and the niceties of all that, but I don't know that's true. Jeff Cortese, you're a former special agent with the FBI, for Pete's sake. Help me out. Yeah, Nancy, I think, you know, I really think that one of the strong possibilities is we're not hearing a lot right now because they're working. The fact that they haven't made mention of who that boy is is um significant the fact that they haven't said you know we've ran this down and come to a conclusion that this is not related or that this was not true information or well wait a minute jeff you know i always agree with you but how can it not be related she meets a guy that night That night, and she goes missing. Her car is damaged. That night, they are connected, Jeff. They have to be connected in some way.

And that's what I'm saying. That's what I think. That's why I believe that I did. Well, why did I just have to say all that if that's what you're saying? Say it, man. Yeah, so I think that the fact that we're not hearing a lot about that is an indication that they're working those angles. If there was nothing there, they would say there's nothing there. The fact that the law enforcement has gone quiet generally means they are working certain things.

And to expose certain information would leave them vulnerable to, you know, mishaps along the way. They want to focus their attention on getting your daughter back. And you know what, Jeff? I hate that. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. But it's true.

Sometimes you cannot release information or it could screw everything up. Okay? This is what we know. The investigation is continuing. If you have information regarding Aniyah's whereabouts, call Auburn Police. I'm going to give you the number. The Detective Division is 334-501-3140. Repeat, 334-501-3140.

There is an anonymous tip line, 33-3-4-2-4-6-1391. Repeat. 3-3-4-2-4-6-1-3-9-1. If you know something about Aniyah's disappearance, if you were in the convenience store, if you saw what you thought was a car accident Wednesday night, last Wednesday night between Auburn and Montgomery, a black Honda, please help us. You can call anonymously, 334-246-1391. One. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. I want to circle back to Angela Harris. They need our help. We have got to help them find their teen girl Anaya. Take a listen to our friends at WVT.

The family says that people need to continue to talk about this to bring evidence forward and help police in this investigation. And going back to that video, it's on this street where police say that 19-year-old student was seen before she was reported missing. This is the last time 19 year old Anaya Blanchard was seen. Auburn police released a new video of the teen entering a convenience store on South College Street shortly before eyewitness

accounts say her black 2017 Honda CRV drove southbound on South College Street Saturday. The vehicle found at an apartment complex in Montgomery almost an hour away from where the surveillance video was taken with a certain person and I see it just met him and I as

family still desperately searching for the southern union state student. They say they won't rest until they bring their loved one home. Definitely looking for her return and she's somebody that she was fun loving and has me a friend. I'm just really happy until they bring their loved one home. The family is definitely looking for her safe return.

She's somebody that's fun-loving and has many friends. She can say something, see something, say something, just continue to hope for the best and a safe return. Montgomery Police and Auburn Police have created a joint investigation along with the FBI, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, and other agencies dedicated to the safe return of the 19-year-old student. To Angela Harris, what do you think, Angela?

Because this sounds very unlike Aniyah Blanchard to say at 11.20 at night, I just met a guy and I'm going out with him. Right. And that is not, I do not think that was in Aniyah's plan. Something has went wrong. I don't know. I've speculated everything that I could speculate. But what I do know is, and let me say this, I know the police are working.

I know they are, but it is so frustrating. But we are trying to let them do their job because we do not want to hinder anything about bringing our baby home. So I don't want to discredit them at all. But I know that my daughter, her phone was dying her brother told us her phone was dying when she dropped him off at 11 and 11 o'clock at his house in Auburn and he he had she had not mentioned to him about going anywhere and he said mom if I knew she was going to be going anywhere I would have given her my charger they didn't she didn't have a car charger and um also what tells me that I know Anaya was planning on going home she was in the store she had money we she had money to buy a charger her Walt just gave her

money when she left she could have bought a charger for her phone if she thought she was going to be out for any length of time so I just can't I just cannot make any sense of this I just do not I just don't know Nancy what happened I just know that she's not my daughter Angela Angela Angela listen I know you're not attacking the police I know you're just at the end of your rope right and you're hanging on

trying to find your girl and every time I look at her picture I see my Lucy right guys please help us And every time I look at her picture, I see my Lucy. Right. Right. Guys, please help us. 334-246-1391.

I've given you all the numbers. Ashley Gooden, WBMA, ABC 3340, joining me out of Birmingham. What more can you tell us, Ashley? On the heels of this community losing Camille Cupcake McKinney, people are really on high alert and fully invested in searching for Aniyah because we aren't wanting to lose someone else in our community, especially not someone so young with such a future ahead of them. This girl is missing. There is time to bring her home safely. And if you don't have a tip, please join us and pray that Aniyah is

brought home to her family. We wait as justice unfolds. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.