The autopsy report on Eliza Fletcher has been released, and it shows the pre-kindergarten teacher died of a gunshot wound and blunt force injury to the head.

According to a report released by the West Tennessee Regional Forensic Center, a bullet entered the back of Fletcher’s head and bones in her face were fractured. 

Developments linked to Eliza Fletcher case shift violent crime discourse

The report also determined she had a 1/4” bruise and another a 1-1/4” bruise on her right thigh. 

A bullet shell casing was recovered from the scene where her body was found, an abandoned house on Victor Street in South Memphis. 

There was no obvious indications of sexual assault though results of the rape kit collected from the body are not yet available.

Fletcher was abducted Friday, Sept. 2, about 4:30 a.m. as she passed Central Avenue and Zach H. Curlin Street on the northeast corner of the the University of Memphis.

Her disappearance was discovered after items were found at the scene. Her phone and water bottle were left at the scene. Henderson’s slides were also left at the scene.

She was a member of Second Presbyterian Church, and she taught junior kindergarten at St. Mary’s Episcopal School.

She was married and had two children. 

She is the granddaughter of the late Joe Orgill III, a philanthropist and hardware businessman who ran Orgill Inc., a hardware supply company that currently employs more than 5,500 people. He died in 2018.

The late Judge Harry Wellford is her paternal grandfather. He was a Senior United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee. He died last year.

Her parents are Adele and Beasley Wellford.

Her alleged captor, Cleotha Henderson, also known as Abston, was charged with especially aggravated kidnapping and first- degree murder.

He was detained Saturday, Sept. 3, driving the GMC Terrain SUV, for which authorities had searched since it was spotted on surveillance cameras around the U of M about the time Fletcher was abducted.

He is also charged in a separate 2021 rape of a woman who has now sued the city, contending police could have prevented Fletcher’s abduction and killing earlier this month if they’d taken her September 2021 assault more seriously and pursued evidence that pointed to Henderson.

Eliza Fletcher’s alleged killer investigated in 2021 for rape

As a result of the apparent backlog of rape kits, the state will add and fill 25 new positions at the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation crime lab, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee announced Thursday. 

Henderson was convicted in 2001 for kidnapping local attorney, Kemper Durand. 

Durand, who died in 2013, was a member of the same law firm as Michael Keeney, Liza Fletcher’s uncle. According to Tennessee Department of Corrections records, Henderson’s sentence in the Durand case ended Nov. 7, 2020. 

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