Memphis police charge kidnapping suspect with murder after they confirm body found on Monday was that of missing billionaire heiress

Eliza Fletcher’s body was found ‘near elementary school’ seven miles from where she was dragged into SUV at 4.30am on Friday while jogging

Fletcher, 34, was abducted while jogging near the University of Memphis at 4.30am on Friday morning 

Body has been identified as missing mother-of-two Eliza Fletcher by police in Memphis, Tennessee

The human remains were located close to the home of kidnapping suspect Cleotha Abston’s brother, Mario Abston

Fletcher, a fitness fanatic who would regularly jog the same route, had her phone hurled to the ground and smashed during the crime. 

Following her disappearance, Cleotha was seen by neighbors washing the carpets of his 2013 GMC Terrain 

Abston, 38, has been charged with especially aggravated kidnapping and tampering with evidence

He made his first court appearance Tuesday and is being held at Shelby County Jail on a $500,000 bond

Mario Abston is in custody on charges of possession with intent to sell heroin and fentanyl and a gun offense

The married mother-of-two is the granddaughter of the founder of multi-billion dollar hardware company Orgill, Inc.

A violent felon who has been charged with kidnapping missing mother-of-two Eliza Fletcher was arraigned in court Tuesday, in connection with her death. 
Police charged Cleotha Abston, 38, with the first degree murder and first degree murder in the perpetration of kidnapping after abducting the teacher, whose body was found in long grass. 
Authorities are yet to confirm Fletcher’s cause of death, but they have identified the body as the billionaire heiress, which was found seven miles from where she was last seen early Friday. 
Abston was previously charged with kidnapping and tampering with evidence in relation to her disappearance, as well as other unrelated charges. He was being held on a $500,000 bond.
Abston was seen swaying from side to side in court as he was brought in, and turned around to look at those attending court for his hearing did not speak during his brief, 15 minute hearing before he was led way by officers with his hands cuffed behind his back. After he confirmed in an affidavit that he was unable to afford bond or legal representation, he was led way by officers, hands cuffed behind. 

Primary suspect Cleotha Abston appears in court charged with murdering Eliza Fletcher

34-year-old,Eliza Fletcher, a mother-of-two from Memphis was kidnapped after being forced into a black SUV on Friday. Authorities tracked the driver of that SUV, Cleotha Abston, through his vehicle.
Abston an ex-con with a violent past was arrested over the weekend and multiple police sources have confirmed that a body found is the missing teacher.

Fletchers’ family are understood to have attended the short appearance, which was adjourned until another hearing on September 7. 
He appeared in court wearing a mask and green issued prison uniform, swaying back and forth, looking towards the family of the victim before telling the court in an affidavit that he is unable to afford a lawyer or make bond. 
Abston did not speak during the short 15 minute hearing, and was led away by officers with his hands cuffed behind his back. 
Fletcher, an ultra-runner, vanished while out for a jog around 4.30am on Friday, sparking a four-day long hunt, which led officers to several wooded areas across Memphis. 
The area where the body was found is just a hundred yards from the Longview Gardens apartment complex, where the suspect’s brother, Mario Abston, lives.
The body was transported to the Medical Examiner’s office, six hours after the macabre discovery. 

Police sniffer dogs from the Shelby County Sheriff’s office working alongside search teams were seen around a dumpster close to Mario Abston’s home. That dumpster was later hauled away by police.
The police search team ultimately discovered the body later identified as belonging to billionaire heiress Eliza Fletcher in long grass behind an abandoned house after spotting vehicle tracks and smelling an ‘odor of decay’.
Cops discovered the missing mother-of-two in long grass close to where her Lululemon running shorts were found in a trash bag.
Authorities have not yet confirmed Fletcher’s cause of death, but they have confirmed the identity of the body, which was found seven miles from where she was last seen.
Fletcher, an ultra-runner vanished while out for a jog around 4.30am on Friday, sparking a four-day long hunt, which led officers to several wooded areas across Memphis.
Her remains was was discovered by the steps of a dilapidated one-story property just yards from where police last spotted the vehicle she was forced into. A bloodstain remained at the bottom of the stairs next to the patch of dirt where her body was found, with flies still swarming the area and locals reporting a ‘stench of decay’.
Abston, who is accused of abducting the athletic woman drove with her in his GMC terrain for an hour and a half before the vehicle was spotted turning into the road where her body was discovered.
The area where the body was found is just a hundred yards from the Longview Gardens apartment complex where the suspect’s brother, Mario Abston, lives.
Cleotha Abston was previously charged with kidnapping and tampering with evidence in relation to her disappearance, as well as other unrelated charges.
Fletchers’ family are understood to have attended the short appearance, which was adjourned until another hearing on September 7. 

Memphis police find remains they believe could be kidnapped billionaire heiress Eliza Fletcher.

Eliza Fletcher, 34, disappeared around 4:30am on September around 2, 4.30am: after she went for a jog near the University of Memphis campus and is bundled into a dark SUV.
By 7.45am cops who were dispatched after Richard Fletcher reported his wife missing disappearance. found her water battle and smashed cell phone in front of a home near the scene
A day later after police released CCTV the image of GMC Terrain allegedly linked to the abduction, Cleo Abston was arrested with especially aggravated kidnapping and tampering with evidence. He was identified as the owner of the flagged black SUV. He was apprehended after he was involved in a car wreck with an Alcohol an Alcohol Tobacco Firearms (ATF),vehicle on Saturday night. It is later revealed he was recently released from a 20-year sentence for a similar crime.
Initially Abston is charged with especially aggravated kidnapping and tampering with evidence. A day later, the search continues and the list of charges against Abston is increased to include identity theft, theft of property and fraudulent use/illegal possession of credit/debit card of $1000 or less.  

In the criminal complaint against Abston, witnesses were quoted as saying they saw the suspect at his brother’s home behaving strangely and washing the carpet of this 2013 GMC Terrain. 
Abston who neighbors reported seeing at his brother’s house nearly every day for the last month. allegedly, had stalked the area the snatching happened for almost 30 minutes before Fletcher’s abduction.
These reported sightings was supported by the footage obtained by police of the vehicle used in the kidnapping in the same area 24 minutes before the mother-of-two was taken at 4:20am. 
Surveillance footage obtained by police, which has not been released, show a man running ‘aggressively’ towards Fletcher and forcing her into the passenger side of the vehicle.
The pair struggled, and the car then sat in the parking lot for four minutes with Fletcher inside before driving off to an unknown location.
Shortly before the discovery of the remains, it emerged that Abston has priors for aggravated assault, aggravated assault with a weapon and rape, all while he was a juvenile, according to a new report from the Commercial Appeal.  

Abston’s arrest comes just over two years after her was released from prison where he served 20 years for the kidnapping and robbery of lawyer Kemper Durand in Memphis in May 2000.
He also appeared in juvenile court records in 1996, 1997, 1998, and 1999 for charges including theft, aggravated assault, aggravated assault with a weapon, and rape. 
Police tracked him down after finding his DNA on Champion sliders that were left behind during the struggle with Fletcher, as well as her cell phone and water bottle.
His bail has been set at $500,000, and it is understood that he is refusing to cooperate with police.
Police believe that Fletcher, a kindergarten teacher, suffered ‘serious injury’ at the hands of Abston and that blood was left in the vehicle.

The suspect’s brother, Mario Abston, 36, was also arrested on Saturday after offices searched his home when his brother was spotted acting ‘suspiciously’ by neighbors.
Officers found a semi-automatic handgun, a scale with a bag of heroin and fentanyl, and he was charged with being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, possession of a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony and possession of controlled substances.
Abston told police that his brother had been cleaning the interior of his GMC Terrain with floor cleaner, as well as washing his clothes in the sink of the house.
Furthermore, police found that Abston’s phone pinged near to where Fletcher was taken.

Authorities went to Abston’s last known address and found the same black SUV with the damaged taillight. The affidavit said Abston was standing in the doorway when police arrived and that he began to flee, but was soon apprehended.
Abston has not said what he did to Fletcher. However, the affidavit said evidence, including blood, found in Abston’s car led them to believe Fletcher suffered a ‘serious injury.’

Fletcher, a fitness fanatic who would regularly jog the same route, had her phone hurled to the ground and smashed during the crime. 
The Eliza Fletcher is the granddaughter of hardware magnate Joseph ‘Joe’ Orgill III who died in 2018. 
Fletcher’s mother, Adele, is Orgill’s daughter. Their hardware multi billion wholesale family business, Orgill Inc.
Prior to the finding of the body, her parents Beasley and Adele, her brother Gill and her husband Richie Fletcher had launched a public appeal for her recovery. The family had offered a $50,000 reward for any information that results in her safe recovery.