A disturbing new video shows the suspect arrested in the death of Eliza Fletcher cleaning his vehicle hours after the disappearance of the Tennessee schoolteacher.
The footage — obtained by WREG-TV — shows Cleotha Abston arriving at a Memphis apartment building hours after Fletcher’s Friday disappearance. Fletcher’s body was identified on Monday.
Authorities believe Fletcher was ambushed while jogging near the University of Memphis, and the career criminal Abston was charged with first-degree murder in relation to her death on Tuesday, according to the New York Post.
Authorities previously charged him with kidnapping before discovering Fletcher’s body.
In the video, Abston arrives at the Longview Garden apartments where his brother resides on Friday morning, hours after Fletcher’s disappearance, WREG-TV reported.
He takes something from the trunk of his GMC Terrain SUV before going inside.
When the suspect comes back outside, he spends more than an hour at the passenger door side of his vehicle.
Here is the footage of Cleotha Abston cleaning out his vehicle. I know some of you wanted to see it. I am grateful that he is not very bright. pic.twitter.com/V2f01350M5
— Rose (@901Lulu) September 7, 2022
Are you worried about crime in America?
According to court documents reviewed by WREG-TV, one witness describes Abston vigorously cleaning his car interior with carpet cleaner and behaving strangely.
Authorities believe that Abston purged evidence of Fletcher’s murder from his vehicle through the cleaning.
The day that Eliza Fletcher went missing, murder suspect Cleo Abston was observed cleaning the interior of his car with floor cleaner and washing his clothes in the sink, an affidavit says.
“These injuries left evidence, e.g., blood, in the vehicle that the Defendant cleaned.” pic.twitter.com/CqtRrUdhYm
— Mia Cathell (@MiaCathell) September 7, 2022
Witnesses from the same apartment complex interviewed by the U.K’s Daily Mail describe Abston engaging in sexually deviant behavior.
The felon reportedly made unsolicited offers of money for sex to women who lived at the apartment complex, and witnesses describe Abston sitting in his vehicle and strangely gawking at women.
Abston has spent more than half of his adult life in prison.
Fletcher was a preschool teacher and a married mother of two children.
God bless her soul. Video showing Eliza Fletcher singing to students at St. Mary’s Episcopal School. Clearly she was a very kind and loving soul #lizafletcher #ElizaFletcher #Memphis pic.twitter.com/eTZ9QQZ0s8
— That Guy Shane (@ProfanityNewz) September 6, 2022
Abston reappeared in court on Wednesday after being charged with murder in Fletcher’s death, according to the New York Post.
The judge revoked the $510,000 bond he had been previously offered on the kidnapping charge.
Tennessee has the death penalty, and Abston could ultimately be sentenced to death if he’s convicted of killing Eliza Fletcher.
