Investigators are searching a South Florida landfill for the remains of Leila Cavett, a missing Georgia mother whose toddler son was found wandering alone in an apartment complex in July.
FBI Special Agent Michael D. Leverock said investigators are searching Pompano Beach's Monarch Hill Landfill on Thursday.
Cavett was last seen on July 25 on security footage at a RaceTrac gas station in Hollywood, Florida.
Her 2-year-old son, Kamdyn, was found wandering alone in an apartment complex in nearby Miramar on July 26. The boy was barefoot and wearing only a t-shirt and soiled diaper.
A self-proclaimed "witch doctor" Shannon Ryan was arrested and charged with kidnapping and lying to the FBI about Kamdyn.
Investigators found blood droplets and a shovel inside Ryan's gold Lexus. A car identical to Ryan's Lexus was seen on surveillance footage outside the apartment complex just moments before Kamdyn was found by a resident.
Kamdyn remains in foster care while family members go through the legal process to gain custody of him.
A 22-year-old college student was reported missing after he left his dorm room to withdraw money from an ATM machine.
Adam "Belle" Dowdell is a second-year student at Alabama State University in downtown Montgomery.
He left his dorm around 8 p.m. Tuesday to get money from an ATM, but his friends say he never returned.
His mother, Toya Cohill, says Dowdell did not have a car on campus. He left his backpack and cell phone charger and now his phone is dead.
He was last seen wearing a white T-shirt, black and white checkered pants and a pair or Air Jordan "Taxi" 12 sneakers.
"I've slept three hours a day," Cohill said. Cohill and relatives made the 70-mile trip to Montgomery from the Alabaster area, where Dowdell is from.
"He always talks to all of us," she said. "From my mama to my daughter to my son, somebody's going to talk to him every day."
Cohill said she last spoke to her son on Monday, and his siblings spoke with him the following day. But on Wednesday, she got messages from friends saying he hadn't returned to his dorm and no one had heard from him.
A Florida man has been arrested in the case of a missing Georgia woman whose 2-year-old son was found wandering around an apartment complex.
Shannon Demar Ryan, 38, was arrested on Saturday, Aug. 15, in connection with the disappearance of Leila Cavett, 21.
Cavett was reported missing after her son, Kamdyn, was found wandering alone in a Miramar, Fla. apartment complex on July 26.
The boy wore only a t-shirt and a soiled diaper. He is currently in the custody of Florida's child protective services.
Ryan, a self-described "witch doctor," was the last person to see Cavett alive.
According to a criminal complaint, Ryan claimed he knew Cavett for over a year and he persuaded her to drive to Central Florida from Georgia to sell him her truck for $3000.
Police located Cavett's abandoned truck in Hollywood, Fla. and set up surveillance on the vehicle.
Police spotted Ryan near the truck and surrounded him. He claimed he did not know where the young mother was. He said he took Cavett and her son to Fort Lauderdale beach, then they returned to Hollywood, where he dropped them off at a RaceTrak gas station around 2:30 a.m. on July 26.
After dropping Cavett and her son off at the RaceTrak gas station, Ryan said she and her son left in a dark sedan "with several unknown black males." He said that was the last time he saw her alive.
The criminal complaint accuses Ryan of lying to investigators about his interactions with Cavett.
"The video surveillance did not show Ryan's car at the pumps where he described it, nor did it show [Cavett] leaving in a dark sedan," FBI agent Samuel Band said Monday.
Video surveillance did show a gold Lexus similar to Ryan's in front of the Miramar apartment complex minutes before Kamdyn was found, Band said.
FBI agents are still searching for Cavett who is presumed dead.
Ryan used Cavett's debit card to make purchases at Walmart and RaceTrak gas station., according to the complaint.
The complaint revealed he bought bleach, duct tape, a box of extra large 39-gallon trash bags and two boxes of extra strength carpet deodorizer.
A search of Ryan's Lexus turned up a half empty bottle of all purpose cleaner with bleach, several black trash bags and a white powdery substance under the front passenger seat.
In Cavett's truck, investigators found shovels with what appeared to be blood droplets on them.
Band said Ryan's phone records showed Google searches on July 26 for "What day does commercial garbage pickup for Hollywood, Florida" and "Does bleach and alcohol make chloroform."
"According to the National Institute of Health, chloroform is commonly used to incapacitate a victim by rendering them unconscious," the complaint says.
The South Florida Sun Sentinel spoke with Ryan's mother who said there was no way her son was involved in a kidnapping.
"Shannon is not no evil, violent person," she said from her home in Alabama on Monday. "Shannon loves every living thing around him. My son ain't kidnap no child. That's a bunch of bull. He's not that type person. He would not harm anyone."
She said Ryan traveled back and forth from South Florida to Alabama to do psychic readings.
"He'd stay with a friend or at a motel or wherever he could stay," she said.
"My son would not hurt a flea or a fly," she said. "There's no way I believe he would do anything to anybody. He's not that kind of person."
Ryan made hundreds of posts on Facebook after he was initially questioned by law enforcement more than a week ago. Some of the posts taunted the police to come and arrest him.
Ryan, who describes himself as a witch doctor, spiritual adviser, teacher and CEO on his Facebook page, posted a video on Aug. 9, stating he was the last person to see Cavett but he denied being involved in her disappearance.
"Why is it you have a missing woman, and the last person that's seen her, which is me, who talked to the police, you ain't heard nothing about me," Ryan says in the video.
Ryan said investigators called him to do a follow-up interview earlier this month, but he declined to meet with them unless they had an arrest warrant in hand.
He is being held without bond in the Broward County Jail.
Cavett, who has been missing since July 17, was not in the truck, according to Hollywood police who took over the missing person case from Miramar police.
She was reported missing by her family after her 2-year-old son, Kamdyn Cavett Arnold, was found wandering alone inside an apartment complex in Miramar, Fl. on Sunday morning. He was wearing only a soiled diaper and a t-shirt.
A neighbor, Lori Rodriguez, took the boy in and changed his diaper before calling 911.
Police collected surveillance video from a Walmart store in Hollywood, not far from where Kamdyn was found. A witness spotted Cavett and Kamdyn with a man at the Walmart on Sunday.
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"Miramar Police received information that Leila Cavett had recently traveled to Florida from Alabama, and that her last known location was possibly in the area of Hollywood Boulevard and US 441. Additionally, Miramar Police located Ms. Cavett's vehicle in Hollywood's jurisdiction," Hollywood police said in a statement.
A man who says he is Kamdyn's father, Daniel Lee West, told the Miami Herald he wants to take custody of his son. He has been in contact with the Florida Apartment of Children and Family Services.
"CPS [the Florida Department of Children and Families] is supposed to tell me what to do. I am coming there as soon as they do," West told the Herald.
CPS requested a DNA test from West to establish paternity. He said he was never in a relationship with Cavett, who was dating another man, Levi Arnold, at the time.
"We were never together; it was just a hookup. Our relationship was about Kamdyn only," said West, who is currently engaged to another woman.
Arnold's name is on the birth certificate, but he denied being Kamdyn's father. West said he gave Cavett money for Kamdyn, and he was supposed to see his son on Friday, July 24, but Cavett never answered her phone.
Kamdyn was reunited with his two aunts who traveled from Alabama to Miramar police headquarters on Wednesday, but he will remain in the care of a foster parent until a court hearing in August.
Cavett's grandmother is prepared for the worst because Cavett would never abandon her son.
"I think she been snatched up off the streets. She would have never left her baby, never," said Carol Ferdinand, Cavett's grandmother, from Nashville, Tennessee. "She's my granddaughter, I know her, she would never have left Kamdyn; that's not her character."
Police in Miramar, Florida have identified the toddler who was found wandering barefoot in an apartment complex on Sunday.
On Monday evening, Miramar police confirmed that the abandoned boy is the son of a missing Georgia woman, 21-year-old Leila Cavett.
Cavett lives in Atlanta and works at a Dunkin' Donuts, according to her Facebook page.
"Detectives are actively searching for Leila Cavett, who may be the mother of the child found yesterday," Miramar police tweeted. "We are concerned for her safety and well-being," police said.
Cavett was last seen driving a mid-to-late 90s white Chevy 3500, with a red tailgate and a "Baby on Board" sign on the passenger window, according to police.
Ebony Williams, a resident of an apartment complex in Miramar, had just returned from the store when she spotted the toddler standing alone in a parking spot before 8 a.m.
"I heard him crying when I got out of the truck, but when I approached him he wasn't crying anymore," Williams said.
The barefoot boy was wearing nothing but a soiled diaper and t-shirt, she told WPLG-TV.
"He's very pleasant, very friendly. I asked him, 'Where's your mommy?' And he kind of just like pointed everywhere."
The mom-of-4 said the boy grabbed her two fingers when she held her hand out to him.
Williams approached neighbor Lori Rodriguez, a blonde Latina who has children who resemble the toddler.
Rodriguez took the boy in and changed his diaper. The two women continued searching the apartment complex for the boy's parents before calling 911.
"All of my friends, we are all still waiting for the Amber Alert to say that somebody was looking for this baby," Williams told WPLG. "It's heartbreaking because nobody is looking."
"Please help me find my sister my heart is breaking," Gina Lewis, who said she was Cavett's sister, wrote in a Facebook post Monday afternoon.
"I cannot breathe," she added.
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Lewis, who asked for donations to travel to Miramar on Monday, said she was certain that the curly haired tot in social media photos is her 2-year-old nephew, Kamdyn Cavett.
"That is my nephew, 100%," Lewis told 7News via FaceTime. She said she last saw her sister on July 17.
Lewis said she is relieved the boy is safe, but now she's worried about her sister, who doesn't have friends or family in Florida.
"She never mentioned to us about going anywhere. We're in the middle of a pandemic, so I don't understand why she would just go on vacation to Florida," Lewis said.
According to True Crime Society, Dannylee West, who claims to be Kamdyn's biological father, posted Facebook photos of himself with a toddler who looks like Kamdyn.
He took offense to Facebook users saying he was a deadbeat dad.
"I do know my son," he wrote. He added that he was supposed to see his son on Friday, July 24, but Leila never responded.
West, who is engaged to another woman, said he last spoke to Cavett on Friday, and he was waiting for child custody to call him back.
According to Websleuths, another man, Levi Arnold, is named on Kamdyn's birth certificate as the biological father.
But Arnold denies fathering Kamdyn. He said he dated Leila when she was pregnant, but they broke up and he hasn't seen her in a year.
Cavett wasn't friends with her siblings on Facebook and none of them 'liked' any of her photos.
"Only the worst things possible are going through my mind because I know my sister, and she might do some crazy things sometimes," Lewis said.
"I definitely worry that she's in danger, sure. It would mean everything to find her and know that she's safe because this is just out of character. She would not leave Kamdyn in those conditions."
The woman who found Kamdyn wandering alone credits God with putting her in the right place to find him before anything bad happened to him.
"He could have gotten hit by a car... anything could have happened to him," she said. "I wanted vanilla coffee creamer at 7 in the morning — that's really how it happened. God's good. He knew what he was doing and he put me in the right spot. I am not a hero, not anything else. I'm just a mom."
Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Miramar Police at 954-602-4000.
Police in North Carolina are asking for the public's help to find a missing lesbian couple who recently got engaged after moving in together.
Stephanie Mayorga, 27, and Paige Escalera, 25, disappeared shortly after moving in together. They have not been seen since April 15, the Wilmington Police Department said Monday.
The women recently became engaged though they haven't known each other long, Escalera's sister Stevie Jenkins told Oxygen.com.
She said one of the women left her cell phone behind on her bed. The couple's new roommate found the phone.
"They had only lived there a week or so before they went missing," Jenkins told Oxygen.com. "As I have been contacting her close friends, I have found that every single one of them had been blocked from her social media over the last week or two.
"It is normal for family to not hear from her, but not her closest friends. As I spoke with Stephanie's friends, they say it isn't normal at all that they don't hear from Stephanie."
Jenkins said Mayorga's phone had been cut off on April 15 -- the same day they vanished.
"Her boss says he tried calling her when she never showed the next morning."
Jenkins said her sister has had her share of troubles but said "she is an amazing person and has always pulled out making the right choices."
Police believe the women may be traveling in a dark grey Dodge Dart with South Carolina tags.
Sandy Springs police are still searching for Sheree Whitfield's 77-year-old mother, Thelma Ferguson, who was last seen in March.
Whitfield, an original cast member on Real Housewives of Atlanta, said she last saw her mom on March 23 when she left her Sandy Springs home to go to a bank.
Ferguson was last seen wearing grey pants and a black shirt and driving a grey 2009 Honda Accord with Georgia tag RMZ5773.
Her family says she has no medical or mental problems.
In a post on Instagram.com, Whitfield said her mother has "taken personal vacations without letting the family know" in the past. "However, this is the longest she have gone without reaching out to anyone from the family or her friends."
She asked anyone with information on her mother's whereabouts to call Sandy Springs police at 770-551-6923.
Lori Vallow, the mother of 2 missing children, has been arrested in Hawaii. She is being held on $5 million bail.
Vallow and her new husband, Chad Daybell (pictured), fled to Hawaii after police and federal agents in Idaho questioned them repeatedly about the location of Joshua Vallow, 7, and his sister, Tylee Ryan, 17.
Vallow was arrested on Thursday in Kauai, a month after she missed a court-ordered deadline to bring the children to the Rexburg Police Department in Idaho.
Tylee and Joshua were last seen in September 2019, according to police. Surveillance cameras at an Idaho storage facility showed Vallow and Daybell removing heavy items from a storage unit.
Police served a search warrant on the storage unit, but did not disclose if any evidence was found.
The case has frustrated law enforcement who believe the children are deceased.
At least 5 people have died under suspicious circumstances in Vallow's inner circle, including her late husband, Charles, and Daybell's wife, Tammy, who told police that a man fired several shots at her in the weeks before she died mysteriously in her sleep.
Vallow and Daybell married 2 weeks after Tammy's death. Tammy's body was exhumed by police. Toxicology results are pending.
Vallow's first husband, Charles, was shot and killed by her brother, Alex, on July 11, 2019. Alex claimed he shot Charles in self-defense. Vallow was at home at the time of the shooting. She corroborated the story that her brother gave police.
Alex mysteriously died on December 11, 2019 of unknown causes.
Vallow and Daybell are cult members who were preparing for the second coming of Jesus in July 2020. Daybell is not in custody, police confirm.
The search continues for Tylee and Joshua. Tylee was preparing to return to college at the time of her disappearance. Joshua, who was adopted, was diagnosed with autism.
An attorney from Milwaukee who was reported missing after a night out in Atlanta died from injuries he sustained in a car crash in Clayton County.
Demetrice Allen was last seen on Dec. 6 when he stopped by TEN ATL, a bar in East Atlanta Village, to drink with friends.
Allen's best friend said Allen's next stop was The Graveyard Tavern on Glenwood Avenue. By 2 a.m., the group noticed Allen was gone.
In response to a text message from LaShauna Wint, Allen said he was heading to The Cookout restaurant on Moreland Avenue for a burger before going home.
Clayton County police were called to a multi-car accident with injuries in the area of Interstate 285 and Old Dixie highway.
Allen's 2015 BMW 328i was among the vehicles involved in the accident. He was determined to be the at-fault driver.
The 30-year-old employment attorney was described as "alert, conscious and combative" with police.
His injuries were not considered life-threatening, but his condition prevented police from identifying him at the accident scene.
Police following up with the hospital where Allen was taken learned he succumbed to his injuries. Hospital staff called the Georgia Bureau of Investigations, who took custody of his body for an autopsy in the GBI crime lab.
Allen's godmother, Daphne Handley, with whom he was staying, reported him missing on Dec. 8.
It wasn't until days later that police realized the deceased man was the attorney reported missing in local and national headlines.
Allen was in Atlanta to interview for a job in the legal department at Delta Airlines, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
"He's overcome so many obstacles in life," said Wint before Allen was identified.
Wint said Allen lost his single mother about 10 years ago.
"He still pushed through and he finished college, top grades, got into the top law school," Wint told Fox6 Now. "He's just a fighter."
South Fulton Police announced Allen's death on Friday, Dec. 13. There was no explanation why authorities failed to contact his next-of-kin after he died.
A man claims he is D'Wan Sims, a Detroit boy who went missing from a mall while Christmas shopping with his mother in 1994. D'Wan would now be 29 years old.
D'Wan's mother, Dwanna Harris, told police her son went missing while she was shopping with him at the Wonderland Mall in Livonia on Dec. 11, 1994.
Detroit police reviewed surveillance video from the mall at the time Harris claimed her son went missing. There were no sightings of D'Wan with his mother, leading police to believe D'Wan was never in the mall.
"I was here at the department and we looked at all of the video, we checked everything, and we never saw D'Wan with his mother," Taig told Detroit 4 News.
Sgt. Shelley Holloway told The Detroit Free Press in 2009 that investigators were "pretty confident D'Wan never made it to the Wonderland Mall."
Now a man on Facebook claims to be D'Wan. Detroit police were alerted to the man's Facebook post in which he claims he is the missing boy. Dailymail.com identified the man as Mike Cash.
Cash shared a baby photo of himself on Facebook, saying his baby picture bares a close resemblance to D'Wan when he was 4.
Screengrab: Facebook.com
But Internet users wondered how a man who was 4 when he went missing has a baby photo of himself.
Cash contacted the Detroit police who obtained a sample of his DNA. Police are skeptical of his story after he said he didn't want his information released to the news media.
"I guess what's odd is that he claimed that he didn't want any of this information out in the media and from what I understand he had put this out on social media," Livonia police Capt. Ron Taig told Detroit 4 News.
Cash spoke with Harris on Facebook, but he said she blocked him. He also asked her to meet with him at the Detroit police station, but she said she was not comfortable with that.
"She did contact and talk to this person and ask him about some personal information that only her and D'Wan Sims would know, like birthmarks," Taig said. "He wasn't able to answer those questions, along with the date of birth."
Cash complained in a Facebook post, saying Harris blocked him. "I need a f****** lawyer man," he wrote.
In a 1994 press conference, Harris complained she was being treated unfairly and compared to the Susan Smith case.
Smith is a South Carolina woman who claimed her 2 sons were kidnapped by a Black male during a carjacking. Smith later confessed to drowning her sons in a lake. She is now 48 and serving life in prison.
The Detroit Free Press reported in 2009 that Harris changed her name and moved to South Carolina.
D'Wan is still listed as missing on the National Center of Missing & Exploited Children website.
Santa Ana, California police are asking the public's help in locating 19-year-old Mylinna Linder who went missing with her 1-year-old son, Montana Rashad Linder.
Police say Mylinna and Montana were last seen with her boyfriend, identified only as Vincent, at Jerome Park on Tuesday, Nov. 26.
The couple may be in the city of San Bernardino. Vincent is believed to be driving a champagne-colored late 1990s four-door Toyota Camry.
According to ABC7, Mylinna is described as 5 feet 4 inches tall, about 150 pounds with jet black hair and brown eyes. Montana has black curly hair and brown eyes.
Police ask anyone with information to contact Det. Garcia at (714) 245-8408 or email agarcia3@santa-ana.org.
A decorated Navy veteran who was reported missing two years ago was found deceased in his DeSoto, Texas apartment last week. Police say he had been dead in his apartment for three years.
The family of Ronald Wayne White reported him missing three years ago. But police said there was nothing they could do because Mr. White was an adult who traveled extensively.
"My son would call me at least twice a month," his mom Doris Stevens told WFAA. "He would call me from Egypt. He would call me from the Philippines. He would call me right from Dallas," she said.
One day three years ago, the calls stopped. His mom said she became suspicious when she couldn't reach him on his birthday in April of 2017.
Stevens said she never heard from her son again.
"All them days, holidays, I just suffered. Because nobody wanted to help find him," Stevens told WFAA.
Then, last week, management at the DeSoto Town Center Apartments on East Pleasant Run Road, checked apartments where the residents were not using water.
Maintenance personnel forced open the door to unit 1320 on the third floor. They found White's skeletal remains on the floor of his kitchen. He was 51 at the time of his death.
The medical examiner determined the time of death was approximately three years ago.
"When the medical examiner told me three years, my knees gave away," Stevens said. "Three years? And that's what I can't get past in my brain. I can't get past three years. My biggest question is, how in the world could my son have been dead in that apartment and nobody knows anything?"
Police said White's month-to-month lease and his other bills were paid through automatic withdrawals from his Navy retirement bank account. He had set up automatic payments because he traveled a lot.
White's apartment was relatively new construction, well-insulated and all the windows and doors were locked and sealed tight.
Approximately two years ago, a downstairs neighbor complained to management about a putrid liquid seeping through the ceiling.
Police said there was no sign of foul play in the apartment. "The way he was found, the way the apartment was arranged and so forth, there was zero indication of foul play," said Pete Schulte, a detective with the DeSoto Police Department.
White's family said he was a diabetic. Police found diabetic medication in the apartment. White was single, having divorced 20 years ago.
WFAA searched public records but were unable to find a Ronald White at the DeSoto address. Stevens said she didn’t know where White lived.
"It is sadness to see that a veteran, a decorated veteran, had to go out like this," said White's friend and fellow Navy veteran Jerry Hannon.
An Atlanta college student who was reported missing last week was found dead on Friday. Alexis Crawford, a 21-year-old senior at Clark Atlanta University, was discovered dead in a DeKalb County park, WSB-TV reports.
Crawford's roommate, 21-year-old Jordyn Jones, led police to the body, Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields said at a press conference on Friday.
Crawford's family reported her missing on Nov. 1 when she failed to show up for class or work. She lived in an off-campus apartment with her roommate.
Jones reportedly confessed to her role in Crawford's death. Jones' boyfriend, Barron Brantley, 21, is also considered a suspect in Crawford's death, Shields said.
Atlanta police are in the process of securing arrest warrants for Jones and Brantley, Shields said.
"Jordyn had been Alexis' friend and her roommate," Shields said. "The case has come to one of the saddest conclusions possible and has been absolutely heartbreaking."
An emotional Shields said, "To all the APD investigators who worked on this diligently and around the clock. I say 'Thank you.' Thank you for treating Alexis like she was one of our own."
The mother of missing 5-year-old Taylor Rose Williams has stopped cooperating with the police investigation into her disappearance.
Authorities say Taylor was last seen alive when her mother, Brianna Williams, put her to bed in her Jacksonville home around midnight on Tuesday. Brianna told police that when she woke up the next day, she noted Taylor was gone and the back door was unlocked.
A car that was parked in the home's driveway was towed to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office to be searched for evidence, according to 11 Alive News.
Taylor was last seen wearing a purple shirt and pink pajama pants. Brianna Williams phoned 911 to report Taylor missing, but she has since stopped cooperating with Florida authorities, according to NBC News.
Police say Brianna, a Navy petty officer, stopped cooperating after they noticed inconsistencies in her story.
"Yesterday we were talking to her about some inconsistencies in her statement and that's when she chose to stop cooperating with us," Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams told reporters on Thursday.
Sheriff Williams, who is not related to the family, said Brianna is not considered a suspect at this time, according to NBC News.
"We remain hopeful that we'll find Taylor," he added. "We're not going to stop on our efforts to locate her and there's not one scenario or theory that we're not exploring and every possibility is being looked at."
Florida Crime Stoppers is offering a $3,000 reward. Anyone with information is asked to call 1-866-845-TIPS. You can remain anonymous.
A suspect has been arrested in the disappearance of Alabama college student Aniah Blanchard, 19.
Ibraheem Yazeed was taken into custody by U.S. Marshals in Florida late Thursday, Nov. 7, according to published reports. Yazeed was booked into the Escambia County Jail at 2:32 a.m. on Friday, Nov 8. He was treated for injuries he sustained while resisting arrest.
Escambia County Jail
Yazeed, 30, was out on bond in a different kidnapping and attempted murder case. A judge revoked his bond on Thursday. He was arrested in 2012 for attempted murder and again in February 2019 for kidnapping and attempted murder.
Blanchard was last seen at a gas station convenience store in Auburn, Alabama, near her apartment on Oct. 23. The suspect, Yazeed, was also seen on surveillance video in the same convenience store at the same time.
Blanchard had communicated with her roommate just before midnight on Oct. 23. She said she was on her way home, but minutes later she sent another text telling her roommate she was with someone named "Eric".
When her roommate asked who Eric was, Blanchard texted back, "I just met him." Her family reported her missing on October 24.
Two days later, Blanchard's car, a black 2017 Honda CR-V, was found abandoned at an apartment complex in Montgomery, Alabama, nearly 60 miles away from where she was last seen alive.
There was extensive damage to the right bumper, right wheel well and right passenger side door. Her family said the car was not damaged when they last saw her on Oct. 23.
Evidence recovered from inside the car led investigators to believe Blanchard was harmed and a victim of foul play.
Blanchard is the stepdaughter of heavyweight UFC MMA fighter Walt "Big Ticket" Harris, 36. He used social media and his contacts in the UFC community to help get the word out about her disappearance.
A post shared by Walt Harris (@thebigticket205) on
Harris first met Blanchard when she was 3 years old in 2003, when he started dating her mother, registered nurse and entrepreneur Angela Haley-Harris.
He said Blanchard and her older brother, Elijah, felt like his biological children. "I knew I had to protect her and take care of her," Harris says.
Harris said Blanchard has a "heart of gold." Years ago, when his wife worked the night shift at a hospital, Blanchard helped out with her two younger siblings, his and Angela's biological children. She was very responsible and helped to change their diapers, he said.
"She's a selfless kid and she always put people before her," Harris says. "She has a huge heart. She's my everything."
"It's hard, trying to stay strong," Harris tells PEOPLE magazine. "[But] as the head of my house I have to say strong because I know she needs me to be strong to find her."
Blanchard's biological father, Elijah Blanchard, is hopeful she will be found alive. "We say a special prayer every night for our daughter's safety," he said.
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Mr. Blanchard left his family when his children were very young. He is married to prominent Alabama attorney Yashiba Glenn-Blanchard. The Blanchards are pictured on the left with Aniah Blanchard's mother and stepfather, right.
"Her family loves her, and we want her home," Elijah Blanchard told The Montgomery Advertiser on Monday. "She's special to me. She's special to our family. She's special to her friends."
"It's heart-wrenching because Aniah is such a people person," Elijah Blanchard told The Advertiser. "For someone to try to take advantage of that, someone who was probably just trying to be nice and try to go home, it's heart-wrenching."
He denied social media reports that his daughter arranged to meet a man she met on a dating app. Mr. Blanchard said that's not in her character.
"I never thought twice that Aniah was meeting anyone at any time of night. I just know her personality and the type of girl she is. My daughter was at the wrong place at the wrong time," he said.
A task force of a dozen law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, the Auburn Police Department, and Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, are involved in the investigation.
Reward money for information in the case has grown to $105,000.
This post was edited to correct the date of Yazeed's arrest.
