MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Police in Tennessee said Tuesday that a body found during an exhaustive search lasting more than three days is a woman who was abducted and forced into an SUV during an early morning jog near the University of Memphis.
Memphis police said on Twitter that investigators identified the body of Eliza Fletcher, 34, a school teacher and granddaughter of a prominent Memphis businessman.
The body was found Monday after a series of searches over the Labor Day weekend for the woman who was kidnapped at about 4 a.m. Friday, police said. A man approached her and forced her into an SUV after a brief struggle, police said. Fletcher was reported missing when she did not return home from her regular morning jog.
A man charged with especially aggravated kidnapping and tampering with evidence in the nationally-publicized case had an arraignment on Tuesday. U.S. Marshals arrested Cleotha Abston, 38, on Saturday after police detected his DNA on a pair of sandals found near to where Eliza Fletcher was last seen, according to an arrest affidavit.
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Abston will now also be facing a charges of first-degree murder and first-degree murder in perpetration of kidnapping, Memphis police said in a tweet Tuesday morning.
This booking photo provided by the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, shows Cleotha Abston on Saturday, Sept. 3, 2022.
Relatives of Fletcher and more than 20 media members were in the courtroom Tuesday morning for the arraignment, which was Abston’s first appearance before a judge on charges of kidnapping, tampering with evidence, theft, identity theft, and fraudulent use of a credit card. Abston was issued a $510,000 bond. Abston said he could not afford bond and he could not afford a lawyer. General Sessions Judge Louis Montesi appointed a public defender to represent Abston.
Police also linked the vehicle they believe was used in the kidnapping to a person at a home where Abston was staying.
Late Monday, police tweeted that a body had been found in a Memphis neighborhood but that the identity of that person and the cause of death was unconfirmed. A large police presence was reported in the area where authorities reported finding the body just after 5 p.m. Memphis police had searched several locations with dogs, ATVs and a helicopter throughout the long weekend.
Fletcher is the granddaughter of the late Joseph Orgill III, a Memphis hardware businessman and philanthropist. The family has released a video statement asking for help in finding Fletcher and offered a $50,000 reward for information in the case.
Abston previously kidnapped a prominent Memphis attorney in 2000, the Commercial Appeal reported. When he was just 16 years old, Abston forced Kemper Durand into the trunk of his own car at gunpoint. After several hours, Abston took Durand out and forced him to drive to a Mapco gas station to withdraw money from an ATM. At the station, an armed Memphis Housing Authority guard walked in and Durand yelled for help. Abston ran away but was found and arrested. He pleaded guilty in 2001 to especially aggravated kidnapping and aggravated robbery, according to court records. He received a 24-year sentence.
Durand, in a victim impact statement, wrote, “I was extremely lucky that I was able to escape from the custody of Cleotha Abston. … It is quite likely that I would have been killed had I not escaped,” the Commercial Appeal reported.
Durand died in 2013, seven years before Abston would be released in November 2020 at age 36. In the two years since his release, there were no further documented charges against Abston in Shelby County prior to his Saturday arrest, the Commercial Appeal reported.
Photos: The search for missing Memphis teacher Eliza Fletcher
Memphis police officers search an area where a body had been found in South Memphis, Tenn., near Victor Street and East Person Ave., Monday, Sept. 5, 2022. Police have not confirmed the identity of the body and the cause of death was unconfirmed. (Mark Weber/Daily Memphian via AP)
Onlookers watch Memphis police officers search an area where a body had been found in South Memphis, Tenn., near Victor Street and East Person Ave., Monday, Sept. 5, 2022. Police have not confirmed the identity of the body and the cause of death was unconfirmed. (Mark Weber/Daily Memphian via AP)
Memphis police officers search an area where a body had been found in South Memphis, Tenn., near Victor Street and East Person Ave., Monday, Sept. 5, 2022. Police have not confirmed the identity of the body and the cause of death was unconfirmed. (Mark Weber/Daily Memphian via AP)
Memphis police officers search an area where a body had been found in South Memphis, Tenn., near Victor Street and East Person Ave., Monday, Sept. 5, 2022. Police have not confirmed the identity of the body and the cause of death was unconfirmed. (Mark Weber/Daily Memphian via AP)
Memphis police officers search an area where a body had been found in South Memphis, Tenn., near Victor Street and East Person Ave., Monday, Sept. 5, 2022. Police have not confirmed the identity of the body and the cause of death was unconfirmed. (Mark Weber/Daily Memphian via AP)
This morning’s top headlines: Tuesday, Sept. 6
A federal judge has granted a request by former President Donald Trump’s legal team to appoint a special master to review documents seized by the FBI during a search of his Florida home last month. The decision by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon came despite the objections of the Justice Department, which said an outside legal expert was not necessary in part because officials had already completed their review of potentially privileged documents. The appointment may slow the pace of the department’s investigation into the presence of top-secret information at Mar-a-Lago, but it is not clear whether it will affect any investigative decisions or the ultimate outcome of the probe.
President Joe Biden is assailing “MAGA Republicans” and the extreme right in Labor Day remarks to union members. He addressed workers’ gatherings in Milwaukee and outside Pittsburgh. Labor Day traditionally kicks off political crunch time, with campaigns scrambling to excite voters for Election Day on Nov. 8. In Milwaukee, Biden said he is not critical of all Republicans, but singled out those who have taken Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign cry to dangerous or hateful lengths. He also paid tribute to organized labor, saying “the middle class built America” but “unions built the middle class.”
Liz Truss has become U.K. prime minister to replace Boris Johnson in the post. Truss immediately needs to confront the enormous task ahead of her including increasing pressure to curb soaring prices. She will also need to ease labor unrest and fix a health care system burdened by long waiting lists and staff shortages. At the top of her in-box is the energy crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The conflict threatens to push energy bills to unaffordable levels, shutter businesses and leave the nation’s poorest people shivering in icy homes this winter.
Among the 10 people killed when a floatplane crashed in the waters of Puget Sound was a Spokane civil rights activist and the founder of a Washington state winery and his family. The U.S. Coast Guard released the names of the crash victims early Tuesday. The body of one of the dead was recovered by a good Samaritan after Sunday’s crash. The other nine remain missing. Killed was Ross Andrew Mickel, founder of Woodinville-based Ross Andrew Winery, and his family. Also killed was Spokane activist Sandy Williams, a lecturer, filmmaker and editor of The Black Lens, an African American-focused newspaper. The plane went down off Whidbey Island. The NTSB is investigating.
Canadian police are hunting for the remaining suspect in the stabbing deaths of 10 people in an Indigenous community and nearby town in the province of Saskatchewan after finding the body of his brother amid a massive manhunt for the pair. Damien Sanderson, 31, was found dead Monday near the stabbing sites and authorities believe his brother and fellow suspect, Myles Sanderson, 30, is injured, on the run and likely in the provincial capital of Regina, said police chief Evan Bray. RCMP Commanding Officer Assistant Commissioner Rhonda Blackmore said authorities are not sure of the cause of death yet but the injuries were not self-inflicted.
A new and worrisome school year has begun in Uvalde, Texas, where a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers inside Robb Elementary School in May. Students began arriving at Uvalde Elementary before dawn Tuesday, walking through newly installed 8-foot metal fencing that surrounds the campus and past a state trooper standing guard outside an entrance. Some teachers hugged students climbing out of cars in the drop-off line Tuesday morning and guided them toward other teachers in turquoise shirts who were waiting for them behind the fence. School resumed even though district officials said that several enhanced security measures remain incomplete. Robb Elementary School will not reopen.
Authorities say California is facing its highest chance of blackouts this week as a brutal heat wave continues to blanket the state with triple-digit heat. Officials are pleading for more conservation as people crank up their air conditioners. The state says energy use could hit its highest-ever levels Tuesday afternoon. The National Weather Service is predicting highs of as much as 115 degrees. It’s particularly tough on firefighters, battling 14 large fires around the state. In Southern California alone, two people were killed and one was injured by the Fairview Fire, which has burned more than 2,000 acres near the city of Hemet.
Massachusetts Republicans are weighing which candidate has the best chance of keeping the governor’s office in GOP hands as they vote in Tuesday’s primary. Their choices include a former state lawmaker endorsed by Donald Trump and a political newcomer who’s cast himself as the more moderate choice. Geoff Diehl and Chris Doughty are vying for the chance to replace incumbent Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, who’s opted not to seek a third term. Democrats have a simpler decision. Attorney General Maura Healey is facing no challengers. She would become the first woman and first openly gay candidate elected Massachusetts governor if she wins.
Drugstore operator CVS Health says it’s buying home-healthcare provider Signify Health for $8 billion. CVS announced the agreement on Tuesday and said it expects to close the deal early next year. CVS says Signify has more than 10,000 clinicians including doctors, nurses and physician assistants. The CEO of CVS, Karen Lynch, says the deal will increase her company’s connection to consumers in their homes. The deal is also part of a long-term trend of CVS growing from its pharmacy-chain roots into other sectors of the health industry. Back in 2018, CVS paid $69 billion to buy health insurance company Aetna.
Frances Tiafoe has ended Rafael Nadal’s 22-match winning streak at Grand Slam tournaments by beating the 22-time major champion 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the U.S. Open’s fourth round. Tiafoe is a 24-year-old from Maryland who is seeded 22nd at Flushing Meadows and reached the second major quarterfinal of his career. He is the youngest American man to get that far at the U.S. Open since Andy Roddick in 2006. This surprise came a day after Nick Kyrgios eliminated No. 1 seed and defending champion Daniil Medvedev. That makes this the first U.S. Open without either of the top two seeded men reaching the quarterfinals since 2000.
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