A body discovered due to the search for the missing Memphis area kindergarten teacher and heiress to a massive billion-dollar hardware fortune has officially been identified as the missing mother of two, as stated in a recent report.
This past Tuesday morning, many sources confirmed to local outlet FOX 13 that the body found late Monday around Victor Street and Person Avenue was none other than that of Eliza Fletcher, who had been kidnapped early Friday morning while out jogging. 38-year-old Cleotha Abston, an ex-con who had been charged with kidnapping previously, was taken into custody as of Saturday in connection with the abduction. Abston, who is now sitting in holding with a bond of $500,000, will appear in court on Tuesday.
“At 5:07 pm, officers in the 1600 block of Victor located a deceased party,” explained the Police Department of Memphis via a Monday evening social media post.
ON SCENE: The MPD Command Center has moved here near Marjorie & Person.
This is VERY close to where a dumpster was towed from outside #CleoAbston’s brother’s apartment yesterday morning.
We’re working to learn if this is connected to the #ElizaFletcher abduction pic.twitter.com/P6WdDyZMFb
— Bria Jones WREG (@BriaJonesTV) September 5, 2022
Fletcher, whose kidnapping was actually captured via surveillance footage, was out that Friday morning for a dawn job when allegedly the suspect ambushed her and forced her into a dark-colored SUV. Fletcher, who was a married mother of two, was a teacher in Memphis at St. Mary’s Episcopal School. She was the granddaughter of Joseph Orgill III, the late hardware wholesale tycoon that founded the still privately-owned Orgill Inc. The hardware company sports annual sales to the tune of over $3 billion.
The heiress’s body was discovered roughly seven miles from the scene of the original kidnapping, where police on Friday discovered her smashed mobile phone and a water bottle.
Additionally, Abston’s DNA was discovered on a pair of shows known as “slides” which were also ditched at the crime scene next to the University of Memphis. The GMC Terrain owned by Abston also matched the car spotted in the discovered surveillance video, and Abston was spotted cleaning out the inside of his car and washing off his clothing in a nearby sink shortly after the woman’s kidnapping, as reported by witnesses, one of which was Abston’s own brother.
The search carried out on Monday reportedly put a focus on the area not far from the home of Abston’s brother and a dumpster that police took with them for evidence purposes this past Saturday.
One of Abston’s neighbors stated to The Daily Mail that Abston once come to her to ask for sex and also routinely propositioned the other women who lived in the apartment complex they all lived in.
“When women were around, he would sit in the truck and stare,” she stated. “He was a weird pervert.”