The body found in South Memphis on Labor Day has been identified as missing jogger Eliza Fletcher, police said Tuesday, Sept. 6.

Fletcher’s body was found Monday shortly after 5 p.m. in the 1600 block of Victor Street near the apartments where her alleged abductor’s brother lives.

Police spent more than three days combing areas of Memphis searching for her. 

Human remains found in South Memphis

Cleotha Abston, her alleged abductor, appeared in court at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Sept 6, for charges related to her kidnapping. He is charged with especially aggravated kidnapping and tampering with evidence.

He will now also be charged with first-degree murder and first-degree murder in perpetration of kidnapping. Those charges will be heard Wednesday, Sept. 7.

It is unclear whether Abston’s brother Mario was involved. He was charged with separate drug charges not related to the kidnapping.

Eliza Fletcher was violently abducted about 4:20 a.m. around Central Avenue and Zach H. Curlin Street, Friday, Sept. 2.

New unrelated charges filed against Eliza Fletcher’s alleged kidnapper

Police said after he drove by her while she was running, he waited for her to pass. 

He aggressively ran toward her and forced her into the passenger side of his black GMC Terrain, according to police.

Surveillance cameras in the area show Abston in the campus area for about 20 minutes before the abduction occurred, police said.

Here’s what we know about Eliza Fletcher

Fletcher’s water bottle and phone were found in front of a house that is owned by the university in the 3800 block of Central Avenue.

Police were able to locate Abston based on DNA evidence from his Champion sandals he left at the scene of the abduction. They also used a partial plate reading and witness statements to identify and locate him.

Police located surveillance footage of him wearing the same sandals at a Malco theater. He allegedly found a wristlet after hours that belonged to an employee and used her cards to make purchases. 

Police said, due to evidence, facts and witness statements, it was likely Fletcher suffered significant bodily injury. 

Suspect in Fletcher abduction was acting ‘very strange,’ according to affidavit

This is not Abston’s first run-in with the law, and his most recent conviction came in a similar incident.

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

Fletcher is survived by her husband and two children. 

She is the granddaughter of the late Joe Orgill, 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.

Vehicle located, one person detained in Fletcher case; Family releases statement

Her parents are Adele and Beasley Wellford.

She was a schoolteacher at St. Mary’s Episcopal School and was an avid runner and athlete who ran fast enough to qualify for the Boston Marathon, one of the most elite marathons in the world. 

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