Remembering Aniah

It’s been a year since Homewood native Aniah Blanchard was abducted while at a gas station in Auburn and killed.

As the seasons pass, though, those who loved Blanchard say it hasn’t gotten much easier.

“Every minute is different for all of us,” said Blanchard’s mother, Angela Harris. “One minute I feel like I don’t even want to be here. The next minute I’m trying to push through and get work done.”

Blanchard’s friends, family, teammates and neighbors gathered at Patriot Park on Oct. 23, which was the date that Blanchard went missing one year prior. Attendees lit candles in remembrance of Blanchard, and those who were close to her spoke about memories they shared.

“I never thought that one year ago today would be the last day I got to see my beautiful baby,” Harris said. “To hug her, to kiss her, to touch her, to hear her laugh. I miss her so bad. We all miss her so bad.”

Corrina Thomas, whose kids Blanchard regularly babysat, sang the song “Your Words” by Tori Kelly, changing the second verse to relate to Blanchard: “The best of times we’ve ever seen before that fall of fallen leaves. This story’s told from Homewood to here, a life of love and memories.”

But as Thomas sang, “The streets are now gold for you, and God is now holding you,” she began to have trouble singing through tears. Sounds of sniffles throughout the park filled this silence as those watching began to cry, too.

LOOKING BACK

Blanchard began babysitting for Thomas’ three children in 2018. From the first day they met, Thomas noticed Blanchard was genuine and caring, she said.

“There was just something different about her and something special,” Thomas said. “I thought she was going to be in our lives forever. Even from that first interview, I could tell.”

Over time, Thomas said they grew closer, and Blanchard would often stay for dinner at the end of her babysitting shift. Together they talked about everything from childhood memories to overcoming struggles and more. Blanchard also grew closer to the three children and would host them at her apartment complex pool, even on her days off.

On Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2019, Thomas and Blanchard sat at the kitchen table and reviewed Blanchard’s hours. Thomas always wanted to make sure she paid Blanchard the right amount of money, even down to the last cent, she said. Blanchard had asked off for the next day so she could attend a funeral. So as Blanchard left that night, both women said to each other, “See you Thursday!”

That next day, Thomas sent Blanchard a message around noon confirming that she would come babysit Thursday. Blanchard responded that she would be there.

When Blanchard didn’t show on Thursday, Thomas didn’t panic.

“There had been a couple of times that she didn’t show up or didn’t call, and during those times, I would freak out because I would always worry about her,” Thomas said. “So the couple of times she overslept, I would call her phone a few times, and she would say, “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry, I overslept.”

Because Blanchard had always been OK, Thomas thought there was no reason to assume otherwise, she said. But by 11 a.m., Thomas started to think to herself that Blanchard hadn’t ever slept in so late. Then Thomas received a message from Blanchard’s brother asking if Thomas had heard from Blanchard.

“I didn’t think the complete worst,” Thomas said. “Maybe her phone’s dead or something. But I just thought, this is not like her at all.”

Her internal dialogue changed after seeing a post on Facebook from Harris that said Blanchard was missing. While trying to continue her work day at a payment processing center in Auburn, Thomas said she remembers taking frequent bathroom breaks to try to process what was happening.

“I hoped all day for a reasonable explanation for what was going on,” Thomas said. “But I didn’t think it was this.”

Friends and family searched for Blanchard for more than a month until Nov. 25 when her remains were found in Macon County.

A TOUGH YEAR

The year that has passed since losing Blanchard has been trash, Thomas said.

“I think about her every single day,” she said. “I’ve been mostly avoiding my feelings about it. If I let myself feel as deeply about it as I know I can, I don’t know what would happen.”

When Thomas was younger, she struggled with anger issues. As she’s gotten older, she has tried not to feel that emotion as deeply. But the events surrounding Blanchard’s death make her angry, and she said she’s just recently trying to deal with that emotion.

“It’s been a very slow grieving process — like very slow,” she said. “I’m trying to actually deal with it now because I realize what I’ve become.”

Thomas’ three children — Melody and Dominic, 8, and Noah, 5 — also attended the Oct. 23 vigil and told the crowd how much they missed Blanchard. Thomas said it’s been difficult for them, too.

“My daughter asks a lot of questions, especially at the beginning,” Thomas said. “Is Aniah in Heaven? Is she with Jesus? Did she die and Jesus came down to take her to Heaven? Are we going to see her in Heaven?”

Harris said she has spent the past year keeping herself busy.

“I’m not going to let Aniah down,” she said. “I’m going to keep working in her name forever, and I’ll never let her memory go away.”

She created the Aniah’s Heart nonprofit in June with the goal to educate others about personal safety habits. In the future, she hopes to also create a search team to aid other families with a missing loved one, she said.

Harris has been working to pass Aniah’s Law as well. This was put on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic but is expected to go in front of lawmakers again in February. The law would make it more difficult for suspects of violent crimes to get off on bond. The suspect in Blanchard’s case, Ibraheem Yazeed, was out on bond at the time of his arrest in Blanchard’s disappearance for two counts of kidnapping, two counts of robbery and one count of attempted murder from January 2019.

“Our family, together, we’re trying to do things to help save other people,” Harris said. “That’s the only thing good I can say has happened. We started Aniah’s Heart, and want to prevent this from happening to anyone else.”

Harris was finally able to lay Blanchard’s body to rest in November.