eliza-fletcher – Photo credit: Memphis Police Department
After the announcement that runner Eliza Fletcher had been found dead, Memphis authorities tried to calm rumors on social media that surfaced during the four-day search. At a news conference Tuesday, Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy struggled to say that Fletcher’s family was “fully cooperative” with law enforcement during the search almost immediately after he offered them his condolences. “Contrary to all the unfounded speculation you may have seen, we have no reason to believe this was anything other than an isolated attack by a stranger,” he said.
The seemingly accidental kidnapping and, as it later emerged, death of Fletcher, a 34-year-old kindergarten teacher, garnered national attention. Almost as quickly, the horrifying incident sparked an online debate about women’s safety, victim accusations and wild theories about who might be to blame.
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Fletcher left for her morning jog around 4:00 a.m. on Friday. She was a serious runner, having previously qualified for the Boston Marathon and regularly following a route near the University of Memphis, according to a campus police safety alert. Around 4:30 a.m., security cameras showed a black GMC Terrain passing Fletcher, stopping and waiting for her to catch up. A man then got out of the SUV, “aggressively” ran towards them and, after a struggle, forced them onto the passenger side of the vehicle. The driver sat in the car with Fletcher for four minutes before driving off. At 7:00 p.m., her husband called the police and said she had not returned. On Sunday, police announced charges against 38-year-old Cleotha Abston, who is said to have been the man who drove the SUV. Despite this, Fletcher remained missing. On Monday evening, officers found a body near Abston’s brother’s home. On Tuesday morning, authorities announced it was her.
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Fletcher was a member of a prominent Memphis family. Her grandfather, the late Joseph Orgill III, ran a multi-billion dollar hardware company. Her 2014 marriage to Richard Fletcher was featured in Memphis Magazine, which described the bride as “outdoor, athletic, and warm-hearted.” The couple have two young children together. On Saturday, Fletcher’s uncle Mike Keeney addressed the press on behalf of her parents, brother and husband and thanked law enforcement for their efforts in finding Fletcher. He said the family spoke to the police and told them everything they knew. He asked the public for their help in finding Fletcher. In the video address, Fletcher’s husband stood next to Keeney and wiped away tears.
As authorities spent the holiday weekend searching for Fletcher, social media erupted into its typical cesspool of gossip, judgment and conspiracy theories. People followed Fletcher because she jogged too early, was out alone because she was wearing the wrong clothes. “Don’t dress like that to embarrass yourself, be a little more modest so as not to attract that kind of energy,” one person tweeted. Fletcher was last seen jogging in purple shorts and a pink sports bra, hair tied in a tight bun, on that sweltering August morning.
To fight back against the blame game, TikTok users have started posting about their early morning runs in honor of Fletcher. A woman named Lucy Loveless, who self-identified as Fletcher’s girlfriend, took video of herself on a dark New York street before sunrise Monday morning while Fletcher was still listed as a missing person. “She ran, she worked out, she did what I’m about to do,” Loveless said in the video. “She is a fantastic runner. [It] bring her comfort, bring her purpose, she’s good at it, and it was taken from her.” She acknowledged that her friend’s kidnapping had sparked a wider conversation about women’s running. She showed viewers the personal alarm she wears with a siren and light, as well as a mace and Apple ID tag in her bra that her husband tracks. “I’m angry, and I’m heartbroken, and I’m often speechless,” she said before dedicating her 13-mile run to Fletcher.
Other social media users began sharing their own theories about who killed Fletcher and why. Some wildly speculated that her husband was responsible, motivated to steal her inheritance; others said she appears to be the victim of a blackmail scheme that has gone sideways. Some users even posted their theories on Fletcher’s personal Facebook page, where Fletcher expressed a penchant for true crimes alongside his love of running. In late 2020, she posted a request for crime podcast recommendations and shared her admiration for the weekly series Crime Junkie and Tom Brown’s Body, a Texas Monthly series about the unsolved murder of a high school student.
Meanwhile, authorities have not indicated they are considering any suspects other than Abston, although they have acknowledged the investigation is ongoing. It was a pair of shoes that ultimately led police on Abston’s trail. According to an affidavit, later on the morning of Fletcher’s kidnapping, a passing cyclist found Fletcher’s cell phone in the area – along with a pair of Champion sandals. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation was able to obtain a DNA profile from the slides that matched that of Abston in the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), which contains DNA from previously convicted felons. Shelby County court records show that Abston served 20 years in prison after pleading guilty in 2001 to kidnapping a lawyer by locking him in the trunk of the lawyer’s own car and then demanding that he withdraw money from an ATM takes. Surveillance footage also showed Abston carrying the slides the day before, and cell phone data put him in the area of Fletcher’s abduction around the time she was abducted.
On Saturday, police located the GMC terrain and arrested Abston, who was attempting to flee nearby. He “declined to provide investigators with the whereabouts of the victim,” court filings said. Police announced on Sunday that Abston had been charged – again – with particularly aggravated kidnapping and evidence tampering. On Tuesday, authorities said he was also charged with first-degree murder and first-degree murder committed in the commission of a kidnapping. Independent of Fletcher’s murder, he was also charged with identity theft, property theft, and credit card fraud. An attorney for Abston could not be immediately reached for comment. His indictment was originally scheduled for Tuesday but has gone ahead. A hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.
Abston’s brother Mario and another witness told police that after the time of Fletcher’s kidnapping, they saw Abston cleaning the interior of the GMC with floor cleaner and washing his clothes in the sink at Mario’s house, “acting very strangely.” Mario was also arrested on drug and weapons charges, but police said they do not believe he was involved in Fletcher’s kidnapping. Abston works for a cleaning service, his employer confirmed to the police.
Just after 5 p.m. Monday, police discovered a body behind a vacant semi-detached house near Mario’s apartment. Memphis police said Tuesday morning that the body belonged to Fletcher. At a news conference, Memphis Police Chief CJ Davis offered condolences to Fletcher’s loved ones and commended law enforcement’s efforts. “While the outcome of this investigation is not what we hoped for, we are nonetheless pleased to remove this dangerous predator from the streets of Memphis,” she said. Authorities did not disclose the manner of death or the location where they believe Fletcher was killed.
Fletcher’s family also released a written statement after the press conference. “We are heartbroken and devastated by this senseless loss,” the statement said, in part, before politely asking the public to leave them alone. “We hope that everyone, including members of the media, understands the need for the family to be able to grieve in peace and without outside interference at this painful time.”
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