Footage of the abandoned house in Memphis where the body of Liz Fletcher was found
Footage of the abandoned house in Memphis where the body of missing teacher Liz Fletcher was found
The Memphis felon accused of kidnapping and killing a local mother of two is due back in court Wednesday morning on more charges in connection with the Labor Day Weekend attack.
Cleotha Abston, 38, is accused of abducting 34-year-old teacher Eliza Fletcher from her early morning jog near the University of Memphis on Friday, Sept. 2.
Abston allegedly camped out in the area for about 24 minutes before Fletcher was taken. Police say surveillance cameras recorded him sprinting out of a GMC Terrain SUV and forcibly grabbing Fletcher around 5:30 a.m. In the ensuing struggle, he lost his Champion slides at the scene, and police found his DNA on them, according to an arrest affidavit.
Fletcher, an avid runner and Memphis mom, was reported missing later that morning by her husband after she failed to return home.
Cleotha Abston appears before a judge in Memphis, Tennessee, on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022. (Adam Sabes/Fox News Digital)
Police found her body Monday behind a vacant home close to Abston's brother's apartment, where witnesses told investigators they saw him washing out the SUV with chemical cleaner.
Investigators saw tire marks outside the property and took a closer look, stumbling upon the scent of decay and, behind the back stoop, Fletcher's remains.
When police rolled up the crime scene tape and withdrew from the scene Tuesday afternoon, they warned reporters to be careful in the area.
A neighbor told Fox News Digital that the house had been vacant for more than 15 years.
Authorities were offering a $50K reward to help find mother kidnapped while jogging. (Memphis Police Department/ TBI)
"It makes me feel kind of angry, because I hate that he did this," she said, declining to give her name out of a stated fear of retribution. "It really makes you feel scared – you might want to scream. That was her, but we have senior Black women up here, how do we know what they'll do to us?"
Fletcher was a pre-K teacher at a Memphis Christian school, a mother of two young boys, a wife and a daughter. She had also qualified for the Boston Marathon and routinely ran for exercise. Neighbors recall her as a prominent member of their church, and she was, according to a family spokesperson, "a joy to so many."
ELIZA FLETCHER ABDUCTION: TIMELINE OF THE MEMPHIS TEACHER'S DISAPPEARANCE AND MURDER
Abston is a repeat offender with juvenile convictions that include rape and aggravated assault, according to court documents. At 16, he was charged as an adult in another kidnapping case, in which he later pleaded guilty to abducting prominent Memphis lawyer Kemper Durand at gunpoint and driving him around to multiple ATMs to withdraw cash.
Durand eventually escaped, and in a victim impact statement said the ordeal gave him recurring nightmares and that he believed Abston would have killed him if he had not seized the opportunity to break free first.
Police at the crime scene in the case of Eliza Fletcher (Michael Ruiz/Fox News Digital)
"Because of his extensive record at juvenile court, because he got two other people involved in his crime, and because of his obvious lack of remorse, it appears that a maximum sentence will at least keep him off the streets for a great number of years," Durand wrote to the court. "Accordingly, I recommend the maximum possible sentence just to keep him out of society."
Abston faces a slew of charges, including first-degree murder and tampering with evidence.
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Fletcher’s death also led to unrelated charges for an alleged workplace theft Abston is accused of committing just days earlier.
He was being held on $510,000 bond.
His Wednesday arraignment was scheduled for at 9 a.m. CT.
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