Eliza Fletcher, a Memphis teacher, mother of two and granddaughter of a billionaire, was abducted on Friday. Now, Cleotha Abston has been detained and charged with especially aggravated kidnapping and tampering with evidence.
However, Abston’s bond was set at $500,000, and he’ll only have to post $50,000 to be released from jail, Fox News reported.
The 34-year-old Fletcher was last seen on Friday as she jogged near the University of Memphis campus around 4:30 a.m.
“She was forced into a vehicle. There is no known direction of travel,” the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation tweeted on Friday.
Have you seen this woman or vehicle?
Eliza Fletcher was abducted this morning in midtown Memphis while running.
She was forced into a vehicle. There is no known direction of travel.
Tips? Call @MEM_PoliceDept at 901-528-2274 or 901-545-2677, or TBI at 1-800-TBI-FIND. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/HpTfQbKjAy
— Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (@TBInvestigation) September 2, 2022
Fletcher was reported missing around 7:45 a.m. on Friday after her husband, Richard Fletcher III, called the police to report that his wife had not come home from her run, Newsweek reported.
Though Abston has been charged, Fletcher still remains missing, the Memphis Police Department tweeted.
Do you think this bail is too low?
“Eliza Fletcher has not been located at this time. MPD Investigators and officers, along with our local and federal partners, continue searching for Mrs. Fletcher,” the tweet read.
Eliza Fletcher has not been located at this time. MPD Investigators and officers, along with our local and federal partners, continue searching for Mrs. Fletcher.
— Memphis Police Dept (@MEM_PoliceDept) September 4, 2022
The police also tweeted that a second person, “currently not believed to be connected to Fletcher’s abduction,” was also arrested in the investigation.
There is also an affidavit for Abston which outlines that two witnesses, including Mario Abston, Cleotha’s brother, told the police that they saw Abston cleaning the interior of a GMC Terrain, which the police named a “vehicle of interest,” Fox reported.
Based on video surveillance in the area where Fletcher was abducted, there was a GMC Terrain “passing and then waiting for the victim to run by” before Abston allegedly ran “aggressively toward the victim.”
According to the affidavit, the witnesses also said that Abston was “washing his clothes in the sink of the house” and acting “strange.”
Fox also reported that the police were able to match Abston to the crime after using DNA evidence that was found on a pair of slide sandals that were left in the area of the alleged crime.
Police, furthermore, suspect that Fletcher may have “suffered serious injury” and “left evidence, e.g., blood, in the vehicle that the defendant cleaned,” the court documents outline, according to Fox.
Abston is set to appear in court on Tuesday at 9:00 a.m.
