Tuesday, police confirmed that a body discovered in a Memphis neighborhood on Monday belonged to a Tennessee woman who was taken late last week. Early Friday morning, surveillance footage captured Eliza Fletcher, 34, being forced into an SUV while jogging near the University of Memphis.
The accused suspect, 38-year-old Cleotha Abston, is charged with first-degree murder and first-degree murder in the commission of a kidnapping, according to police.
Tuesday was slated for Abston’s arraignment. In the widely known case, he had been charged with aggravated kidnapping and tampering with evidence.
According to an arrest affidavit, U.S. marshals arrested him on Saturday after authorities discovered his DNA on a pair of sandals located near where Fletcher was last seen.
Police also connected the vehicle believed to have been used in the kidnapping to a resident of the residence where Abston was residing. Tuesday morning, online court records do not indicate whether Abston has an attorney who could comment on his behalf.
The schoolteacher Fletcher is the granddaughter of the late Memphis hardware merchant and philanthropist Joseph Orgill III. The family has issued a video statement pleading for assistance in locating Fletcher and has offered a reward of $50,000 for information in the case.
In 2000, Abston abducted a famous Memphis attorney, according to the Commercial Appeal. Abston pushed Kemper Durand into the trunk of his own automobile at gunpoint when he was 16 years old. After a number of hours, Abston ordered Durand to drive to a Mapco petrol station and withdraw cash from an ATM.
At the station, an armed Memphis Housing Authority guard entered, prompting Durand to call for assistance. Abston fled, but was located and arrested. According to court documents, he pled guilty in 2001 to particularly severe kidnapping and aggravated robbery. His sentence was 24 years in prison.
In a victim impact statement, Durand wrote: “I was extraordinarily fortunate to have escaped from Cleotha Abston’s custody… Almost certainly, I would have been killed if I hadn’t escaped “reported the Commercial Appeal
Durand passed away in 2013, seven years prior to Abston’s release in November 2020 at the age of 36. Prior to his arrest on Saturday, Abston had not been charged in Shelby County in the two years since his parole, the Commercial Appeal said.
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