What is going on to crime fans? I'm your host Tee. And I'm your host Daphne. And you're listening to going west. Howdy everybody. Hope you're having a great day today.

I just want to give a special thank you to Kelly. Kelly sent today's case in months ago. So thank you to Kelly and thank you all for tuning in today.

I know I say this a lot, but we get recommendations for cases everywhere. But the best place to send it in is to going west podcast at gmail.com. That is where we will see it.

I'm a little behind a replying. So sorry if it takes me a minute to get back to you, but I will see it and I will reply. So thank you in advance.

Hopefully everybody is having a great October so far. We're getting ready to put up our Halloween decorations. I know it feels a little late. We should have done it like weeks ago.

We're always early, but I feel like I wait for October all year because it's the best month. And then when it arrives, it's like, oh shit, we got to do all this stuff to do.

Last year, we were really ahead though. We were like September 1st. Had them up. So we got to go get some cool stuff and then go to like Halloween hornites at Universal Studios. We have to do that.

Oh yeah, that's going to be great. Well anyway, let's get into this case.

Alright guys, this is episode 245 of Going West. So let's get into it.

In October of 2019, a 19 year old college student vanished after stopping at a gas station late one night in Alabama.

Shortly after she was reported missing, her blood stained damaged car was located in an apartment parking lot almost an hour away.

But thanks to surveillance footage and eyewitness testimony and DNA evidence, a suspect was charged.

This is the story of Anaya Blanchard.

Anaya Haley Blanchard was born on June 22nd, 2000 to Angela and Elijah Blanchard in Northport, Alabama, which is about an hour outside of Birmingham.

Anaya and her mom shared a birthday, which her mom thought was very special. My mom's birthday is the day before me and my twin's birthday. It is very fun.

Yeah, it's nice to have a birthday that's so close to another family member.

So she also had an older brother named Elijah Jr., who was only 17 months older than her. And he remembers Anaya as his best friend.

And he also laughed remembering that they were constantly getting mistaken for boyfriend and girlfriend.

Mother Angela worked as a pediatric emergency room nurse in Birmingham. And their father Elijah was a local businessman and a pastor.

And his wife Faith played a prominent role in all of their lives. At some point, the family moved to Homewood, which is a close suburb of Birmingham, only about a 10-minute drive from downtown.

In 2004, when Anaya was three years old, the Blanchards did divorce, but the kids remained close with both parents.

And both parents also happily remarried. Angela marrying a UFC fighter named Walt Harris. And Walt was a former college basketball player who signed to the UFC in 2013.

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