Memphis police first knew they found the body of Eliza Fletcher, a kindergarten teacher and mother-of-two whose violent kidnapping on Friday morning was caught on surveillance video, by “an odor of decay.”
The grim detail is included in an amended probable cause affidavit obtained by The Daily Beast, which was unsealed Tuesday afternoon in Shelby County General Sessions Court. It notes that officers, along with federal agents and members of the county sheriff’s office, fanned out shortly after 5 p.m. Monday near a vacant home in search of the 34-year-old granddaughter of late hardware-distribution mogul Joseph Orgill III.
“The officers noticed vehicle tracks in the grass adjacent to the driveway... and the officers smelled an odor of decay,” the affidavit states, adding that a set of remains were discovered immediately to the right of the home’s steps.
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“The scene investigation revealed that the female fit the description of [the] missing person, Eliza Fletcher,” it continues.
A “discarded trash bag” located nearby “contained purple Lululemon running shorts that were consisted [sic] with the ones Eliza Fletcher was last seen wearing,” according to the affidavit.
In a brief statement early Tuesday, the Memphis police department said Cleotha Abston, the man arrested Saturday and charged in connection with Fletcher’s kidnapping, now faces additional charges of first-degree murder and murder in perpetration of kidnapping.
Reached by phone Tuesday afternoon, Abston’s uncle Nathaniel Isaac told The Daily Beast he’s “not surprised” by his nephew’s arrest.
“I mean, he is a bad dude. What else is there to say?” Isaac said, before cutting his comments short so as not to get further “involved in this mess.”
Police Chief Cerelyn Davis said at a press conference that Abston also faces unrelated charges of identity theft, theft of property, and credit card fraud.
“While the outcome of this investigation isn’t what we hoped for, we are nonetheless pleased to remove this dangerous predator off the streets of Memphis,” Davis said.
Davis said it was too early to determine Fletcher’s place and cause of death. Her body was found Monday about seven miles, or a 15-minute drive, from where she was snatched.
Fletcher was out for a jog early Friday morning when she was ambushed and forced into a black GMC Terrain.
When she didn’t return home, her husband called the police—who found a string of clues that led them to Abston, a local man who served two decades behind bars for another kidnapping.
The original police affidavit filed Sunday says a local resident riding his bicycle happened upon Fletcher’s cellphone and a pair of slides belonging to Abston at the kidnapping scene. The sandals contained Abston’s DNA—which was on record since he was convicted of robbing and abducting a defense lawyer in 2000. Police said they also found video of Abston wearing those sandals the day before Fletcher’s abduction.
Additionally, pings from Abston’s cellphone showed it was in the area where Fletcher was taken at the time she was abducted, the affidavit states.
Finally, Abston’s own brother, Mario Abston, told police that his brother came to his home on Friday and washed the interior of the GMC and his clothing and was “acting strange,” police said.
Surveillance video obtained by WREG showed Abston cleaning out his car just three hours after Fletcher’s abduction. In the video, Abston is seen arriving at Longview Garden apartments—where his brother lives—around 7:57 a.m. and sitting in his car before going to the trunk. It is not immediately clear what Abston is doing inside the trunk, but he is seen running to his brother’s unit after a short while.
Several minutes later, Abston is seen in the video going back to his car and spending about an hour in the passenger side of his SUV.
Investigators said Abston would not tell them where Fletcher was.
Davis said Tuesday that police are still following leads and there was a “possibility” others may be charged. However, Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy described it as a random, isolated attack. He said Fletcher’s family have been “fully cooperative.”
“In contrast to whatever baseless speculation you might have seen, we have no reason to think this was anything other than an isolated attack by a stranger,” he said.
In 2000, Abston was convicted of abducting Memphis attorney Kemper Durand. A jury found the then-16-year-old Abston guilty of forcing Durand into the trunk of a car at gunpoint and driving to a nearby gas station, where Abston demanded Durand withdraw money from an ATM. It fell apart when a uniformed cop walked in on Durand and his captors in the midst of the tense transaction.
“It is quite likely that I would have been killed had I not escaped,” Durand said in a victim impact statement.
Durand testified in court that Abston was responsible for the crime, not co-defendant Marquette Cobbins—who he described as an “unwilling accomplice,” according to his old law firm. He asked the judge to be lenient. According to state prison records, Cobbins (who could not be reached for comment Tuesday) served just one year behind bars. Abston spent 20 years in prison and was released in 2020. Durand died in 2013.
On Tuesday, Durand’s former law partners said in an email to The Daily Beast, “Everyone at Lewis Thomason is just devastated at the news of Eliza Fletcher’s death and devastated for the family. Beyond that, we are not going to be participating in any media stories about the past kidnapping.”
Durand’s widow and sons did not respond to requests for comment.
Fletcher’s family released a statement of their own Tuesday to say they were “heartbroken and devastated” by her death.
“Liza was such a joy to so many—her family, friends, colleagues, students, parents, members of her Second Presbyterian Church congregation, and everyone who knew her,” the statement said. “Now it’s time to remember and celebrate how special she was and to support those who cared so much for her.”
