Memphis Police have confirmed that a body found Monday is missing 34-year-old kindergarten teacher Eliza Fletcher.
Fletcher’s body was found about a 7.5-mile drive from where Eliza Fletcher was seen on surveillance video being forced into a vehicle early Friday.
The suspect in Fletcher’s abduction, 38-year-old Cleotha Abston, is due in court today.
He will now face first-degree murder charges in addition to related charges from the abduction.
“At 5:07 pm, officers in the 1600 block of Victor located a deceased party. The identity of this person and the cause of death is unconfirmed at this time. The investigation is ongoing,” the Memphis Police Department shared on Twitter on Monday.
The location where the body was discovered is nearby to the apartment of Abston’s brother, Mario, who is not believed to be connected to the abduction, but was arrested on unrelated drug and weapons charges.
Fletcher, the granddaughter of a late billionaire businessman and philanthropist, had been jogging around 4 a.m. in a neighborhood near the University of Memphis when a man chased her and forced her into a black SUV.
Cleotha Abston, according to court records, was arrested in 2001 in the abduction of a Memphis attorney and sentenced to 24 years in prison. He was released in 2020.
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