A body was found in Tennessee Monday amid a search for missing Memphis teacher Eliza Fletcher, cops said.
The Memphis Police Department said that a “deceased party” was discovered at about 5 p.m. in the area where the woman went missing. The identification of the body was not immediately confirmed by authorities, nor was the cause of death.
However, multiple sources told local news station FOX13 that the body is that of the billionaire heiress.
Fletcher, 34, who comes from a pedigreed Tennessee family that founded a $3.2 billion private hardware company, vanished Friday after being violently abducted during her early-morning jog.
Cleotha Abston was charged Sunday with especially aggravated kidnapping in her snatching. His motive for kidnapping the mom of two remains unclear.
Tennessee authorities obtained surveillance footage of the kidnapping, which appeared to show Abston running “aggressively toward the victim, and then [forcing] the victim Eliza Fletcher into the passenger’s side of the vehicle,” according to a police affidavit which also said, “there appeared to be a struggle.”
Police described Fletcher’s abduction as “violent” and said it is believed that she “suffered serious injury.”
“Further, it is probable and apparent from witness statements that these injuries left evidence of blood in the car the defendant cleaned,” it continued.
A body was discovered near where Tennessee teacher Eliza Fletcher was abducted last week, authorities said. Instagram/Liza Fletcher
Fletcher was abducted during her morning jog last week in Memphis. Christine Tannous / The Commercial AppealThe body on Monday was found less than a mile from where witnesses told police they saw Abston cleaning the GMC Terrain that police confirmed he used to allegedly abduct Fletcher.
Abston had driven to his brother’s home in Memphis about three-and-a-half hours after the alleged attack. His brother and another witness reported seeing the 38-year-old cleaning the interior of the SUV and said he was “acting very strange.”
Investigators on Monday roped off about a mile radius surrounding the location where the body was found, near an abandoned elementary school, according to Fox News.
Abston was arrested Saturday morning, but authorities said he refused to tell them Fletcher’s location. He was busted after a good Samaritan found sandals at the scene of the crime with DNA linking him to the alleged kidnapping.
He is being held on $500,000 bond and has prior run-ins with the law, including a previous conviction for kidnapping an attorney when he was just 16 years old.
Abston served 20 years in prison for the earlier case and was released in 2020.
Police said the abduction was violent and it appears she “suffered serious injury.” Instagram/Liza FletcherNeighbors described Abston as a “creep” and “pervert” who constantly tried to pay women for sex, according to a report.
Fletcher is a married mom of two young boys and an elementary school teacher.
