The Frightening Case Of Eliza Fletcher - videohaat.com

The Frightening Case Of Eliza Fletcher - videohaat.com

 The Frightening Case Of Eliza Fletcher - videohaat.com

34year-old Eliza Fletcher was a

kindergarten teacher and a married

mother of two young

[Music]

boys she had met her husband Richard at

church and they married in that very

church in 2014

eliza was part of a well-known and

successful family being the heirs of

Orgill Inc a huge hardware supply

company but working for the family

business was never her calling or

passion it was always

teaching she taught kindergarten at

Promise Academy in Nashville and also

coached some of the kids in

sports she then moved to St mary's

Episcopal School in Memphis which is

recognized as one of the best allgirl

schools in Tennessee

eliza adored her job and her class and

you can really feel her nurturing and

warm energy in this video of her singing

to her students if you can join in with

me we're going to sing this little light

of mine okay ready this little light of

mine I'm going to let it shine hide it

under a bushel no miss you girls now you

need to let the light shine at your

house and I will see you later but wait

one second i heard somebody that you

might want to meet jamie come here

girl come here

Jamie come here

Jamie hey look girls this is Janie and

Janie is the girl in our house because

there's two little boys and a Mr

fletcher and so there's just me and

Jane and I miss all of you girls so much

september 2nd

2022 4:00

a.m while most were still sleeping Eliza

was getting ready for an early morning

jog near the University of Memphis

campus working out especially running

was a massive part of her life she was a

keen marathon runner having finished

22nd out of all of the women running the

St jude Marathon that year and this

placement allowed her to qualify for the

Elite Boston Marathon she ran about 8 m

every day always the same route and

always the same time today was no

different 6:45 a.m a cyclist found a

water bottle phone and a pair of

Champion sandals on the ground he turned

his bike around ready to cycle off to

try and find the owner of the phone but

an hour later they would know who the

phone belonged to when the Memphis

Police Department got a call from

Eliza's husband Richard she had not

returned home from her run the phone and

water bottle were hers but no one

recognized the sandals

police quickly got hold of the

surveillance footage from the area and

Eliza could be seen running her usual

route wearing a pink sports top and blue

purpley Lululemon shorts as they tracked

her through the streets things instantly

got more

disturbing a dark GMC terrain that had

been driving around the area for about

half an hour suddenly pulled over and

waited for a moment at the side of the

road when Eliza ran past a man jumped

out charged towards her and dragged her

inside the vehicle remained stationary

for 4 minutes before speeding off

nothing could be made out about the

suspect the footage wasn't great it was

still very dark outside and everything

had happened so quickly they could see

that one of the lights on the car

appeared to be damaged between this and

the other cameras they also got a

partial number plate the sandals clearly

belong to the suspect they were sent off

for testing

[Music]

from the skies and on foot police

scouring this Memphis neighborhood

Sunday searching for a mother now

missing uncle of Liza Fletcher on behalf

of Liza's family her husband Richie her

children her mom Adele her father

Beasley her brother Gil and all the

members of her family we want to make a

brief statement

we want to start by thanking everyone

for their prayers and outpouring of

support liza has touched the hearts of

many people and it shows we want to

thank the Memphis Police Department

Shelby County Sheriff's Department TBI

FBI and all of the other law enforcement

agencies who are working tirelessly to

find Liza the family has met with police

and we have shared with them all the

information we know more than anything

we want to see Liza returned home safely

the family has offered a reward for any

information that leads to her safe

return we believe someone knows what

happened and can help if you have any

information on this crime or Liza's

location call the police at

901545 cops or call Crimestoppers at

901528 cashe thank you setting up their

mobile command center and with

investigators on site the department has

released surveillance images of Fletcher

from her morning run shown in a pink

athletic top and purple bottoms they

also released two images of the vehicle

the suspect abducted her in the city of

Memphis attorney Jennifer Sink did tweet

earlier today saying Fletcher is her

niece asking community members to

contact the police if they see her

police haven't released any information

on Fletcher's immediate family in an

effort to make runners more aware as

they go on early mornings and late night

runs an avid runner in the Memphis area

says she recommends all female runners

run in pairs or

groups a $50,000 reward was offered for

Eliza's safe return and through her

uncle her family spoke to the media

begging for all the help and support

they could get

they searched hers and Richard's house

as well taking away various items

including a laptop and the family car

despite the fact the authorities believe

this was a totally isolated incident a

random attack from a total stranger some

people following the case and discussing

it on social media speculated that her

devastated husband Richard might have

been involved even going so far as to

suggest it may have been to do with

inheritance

this was something very painful for her

already distraught family to deal with

and those people would be forced to

backtrack and apologize when

investigators finally closed in on their

suspect and they had found him in less

than a couple of days in a parking lot

police located a dark GMC terrain with a

damaged light and DNA testing on the

sandals quickly came back too giving

them a name that was already in their

system and had been for almost three

decades 38-year-old Cleopa Abston who

sometimes went by the surname

Henderson he had a long criminal history

going back to when he was just 11 years

old he had only been out of prison for a

couple of years having served 20 years

for kidnap between 1995 and May 2000

Cleopa had been arrested 16 times

including for the rape of an anonymous

male when he was aged 14 theft

aggravated assault and unlawful

possession of a weapon and in regards to

the kidnapping conviction he had only

just been released for Kemp Duran said

he was lucky to escape after being

dragged into the back of a vehicle at

2:00 a.m back in 2000 by the then

16-year-old Cleopa and his accomplice

Marquette kemper who was a prominent

lawyer and had escaped after catching

someone's attention and calling out

believed he would have been killed that

day during his time behind bars records

show that Cletha was accused of 19

separate instances of indecent exposure

cletha Abston was arrested and charged

with especially aggravated kidnapping

and tampering with evidence but the

search for Eliza was still ongoing as

Clea wasn't

talking leavon it's been a long day not

only for the family but of course

authorities and everyone praying for

Eliza Fletcher's safe return now this

just in do know that a bond has been set

now set for the suspect in this case

Cletha Abston that's at

$500,000 this is just day three in the

search uh from missing kindergartner

teacher Eliza Fletcher memphis police

and other agencies soon had help from

the FBI and started trying to link Clea

to Eliza by cross- refferencing their

phone

data and 4 days after she went missing

about 7 miles from where she was last

seen tonight Memphis Police say they

have discovered a body yesterday evening

September 5th at approximately 5:07 p.m

the Memphis Police Department and other

law enforcement partners discovered the

remains of a body a human body in the

rear of a vacant duplex apartment at the

1600 block of Victor Street further

forensic investigation by the MPD

traffic unit positively identified the

body was in fact Eliza

Fletcher eliza's beaten body was found

behind an abandoned house in a wooded

area she had been shot in the head had

jaw fractures and injuries to her

legs they also found her running shorts

discarded in a bag nearby

the toxicology report noted that there

was fentinyl in her system but it did

not say how long the fentinyl had been

in her body nor did it say if she had

been sexually assaulted but no sources

suggested Eliza took drugs at all and

police believed she had been sexually

assaulted whilst the vehicle was

stationary his phone had been right in

the area where Eliza had been snatched

from and he had been seen driving around

the area her body was later found in

clea had been spotted by neighbors

cleaning the inside of his car with

floor cleaner and his brother Mario said

he found him washing his clothes in the

sink in the hours after her

abduction while the outcome of this

investigation is not what we hoped for

we are nonetheless pleased to remove

this dangerous predator off the streets

of Memphis

first-degree murder was added to

Cletha's list of charges as well as

additional charges of identity theft

theft of property under $1,000 and

fraudulent use of a credit

card his brother Mario was also arrested

on separate charges: possession of a

controlled substance with the intent to

manufacture and sell fentinel possession

of a controlled substance with the

intent to manufacture and sell heroin

and possession of a firearm during the

commission of a dangerous felony

[Music]

the case had really triggered a huge

outpouring of community concern which

spread far beyond

Memphis people were shaken up and their

sense of safety was at an all-time low

one week later hundreds of people in

Memphis gathered for an event called

Let's Finish Liza's Run following the

same route she set out to do that

morning people are running you can see

behind me we've got somebody running

this uh this road uh on Central uh

Avenue and South Goodlet uh but people

are just really coming together and you

can see the community is really

tightening up and showing their support

and celebrating the life of Eliza

Fletcher and many people met here at 4

this morning and started this 8.2 mile

run at 4:20 around the time that Eliza

would have started running

despite an overwhelming amount of

evidence Cleoa pleaded not guilty and

his trial would later be scheduled for

February

2025 the prosecution said they would be

seeking the death penalty against

him while all this was going on Cleoa

was now facing yet more serious charges

in relation to a separate case

aggravated rape especially aggravated

kidnapping and being a convicted felon

in possession of a firearm he had held a

young woman Alicia Franklin at gunpoint

and raped her a year before he kidnapped

and killed Eliza but due to a delay in

the sexual assault kit being processed

the dots were not connected cletha was

out free without being arrested alicia

said as a result of how her case was

handled she was suing the city of

Memphis and its police department she

said that due to their botched

investigation into her rape and letting

him walk free he was able to kidnap and

murder Eliza her lawyer said they knew

who it was they did nothing and as a

result Eliza Fletcher winds up murdered

when he should have been in jail if they

had done their job she'd be

alive alicia's rape test kit was not

completed for 9 months and the DNA

collected from the kits had finally been

entered into the National Law

Enforcement Database on September the

5th 3 days after Eliza was abducted

and a verdigree follows count one we the

jury find the defendant guilty of

aggravated rape as charged in count one

of the indictments friday criminal court

judge Lee Coffee announcing verdicts in

a three-count indictment against Cleopa

Abston the man charged with raping

Alicia Franklin in 2021 in addition to

aggravated rape Abston was found guilty

of aggravated kidnapping and unlawful

possession of a firearm by a convicted

felon he was sentenced to 80 years in

prison for his attack on

Alicia and finally it was agreed that

his not- guilty plea in Eliza's case

would be changed first at four in a

surprising turn of events the man

charged with kidnapping and killing

Eliza Fletcher enters guilty p on all

charges his lawyer said there was simply

too much against him and there was no

way he wouldn't be found guilty we had

been meeting with him regularly for the

past few months and had been telling him

that we need to settle this case that we

cannot go forward with a trial and

expect to succeed he said at the end of

2024 Clea pleaded guilty to the kidnap

and murder of Eliza Fletcher he was

sentenced to life in prison without the

possibility of parole he sat there the

same as he had done every time he was in

court expressionless and emotionless

through a written statement Eliza's

family said "We have no idea what

happened to you to turn you into someone

so filled with a desire to hurt people

whatever it was it does not excuse or

explain what you have done you have

changed our lives forever and nothing

will ever be the same you murdered Liza

even though she did nothing to deserve

it she did not hurt you in fact she

would have been the first to help you if

you needed

it the district attorney said the

defendant gives up his right to appeal

so there won't be years and decades of

appeals this person will never be

released from prison he will die in

prison and that is a good thing for the

safety of the community

because of Eliza and Alicia's cases the

legislature passed down a law that

required the Tennessee Bureau of

Investigation to issue a quarterly

report on sexual assault kit testing

[Music]

times what happened to Eliza Fletcher is

the stuff of nightmares the same can

also be said for everyone that was

affected by the crimes of Clether Abston

and this case is a frightening example

of how much can happen when things slip

through the

cracks and given his lengthy list of

awful crimes it's probably safe to say

he had no intention of

stopping eliza's family said her smile

radiated happiness energy and comfort

her husband her children her parents her

brother the rest of her family her

friends her students her school families

her fellow teachers her church community

and so many others were moved by

countless examples of her faith kindness

and

compassion she meant so many things to

so many people and everyone's lives feel

a little less bright now shine all over

St mary i'm going to let it shine let it

shine let it shine let it shine