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Body found during three-day search identified as missing Memphis heiress Eliza Fletcher after alleged kidnap | US News



A body found during a three-day search for heiress Eliza Fletcher, who was allegedly abducted while jogging, has been identified as the missing woman, Memphis police said.

The confirmation came from Tennessee authorities after a man, Cleotha Abston, 38, was charged Saturday as a suspect in Fletcher’s abduction and tampering with evidence after his DNA was discovered on a Champion skates at the place where she went missing.

34 year old heir and teacher disappeared around 4:20 a.m. while jogging around the University of Memphis On Friday morning, when someone allegedly forced her into a dark sport utility vehicle, US police said.

A vehicle believed to be used for the abduction is believed to be associated with a person on the property where the suspect, Abston, is staying.

Fletcher, the niece of the late businessman and philanthropist Joseph Orgill III, is believed to have been critically injured in the incident, police said earlier, based on surveillance footage.

The body was found on Monday After a series of searches for the missing woman, police said.

In a statement posted on Twitter, Memphis Police said: “Dead victim identified yesterday … has been identified as Eliza Fletcher, 34 years old.”

Abston is currently facing charges of first-degree murder and first-degree murder by a perpetrator.

The suspect also was previously charged with another kidnapping case when he was 16 years old.

Abston was arrested and served 24 years in prison for the kidnapping and robbery of Memphis attorney Kemper Durand in 2000 and was later released from prison in 2020.

Mr. Durand managed to escape after a few hours and passed away in 2013.

In a statement published by the Commercial Appeal, Mr Durand said: “It is my feelings to have been the victim of this crime, and the feelings of those around me, that I have been extremely fortunate to have escaped the impoverishment. Cleotha Abston’s detention.

“I was taken from the trunk of my car, where he and his accomplices had placed me for a number of hours, and taken for a drive to Mapco station.

“The point is that I use my ATM card to get cash for Cleotha Abston.”

He added: “Luckily an armed, uniformed Memphis Housing Authority security guard happened to enter Mapco station while Cleotha Abston, Marquette Cobbins (second defendant) and I are using an ATM.

“Most likely I would have been killed if I hadn’t escaped.”

Mr Durand told the court that Cobbins had come to the wrong place at the wrong time and had tried to convince Abston to stop.



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