Police reported they charged a 38-year old man in the kidnapping of Tennessee school teacher Eliza Fletcher, a billionaire’s granddaughter who’s been missing since she went jogging on Friday.
Cleotha Abston was charged Sunday with especially aggravated kidnapping and tampering with evidence, hours after cops found him inside the black SUV wanted in connection with Fletcher’s disappearance.
Eliza Fletcher, 34, a wife and mother of two, was out jogging Friday morning when she was forced into a dark GMC Terrain. Her smashed phone and water bottle were found nearby by police.
Memphis police are still continuing to search for Fletcher.
A second man, currently not believed to be connected to Fletcher’s abduction, was also charged Sunday during the investigation.
Mario Abston, 36, was charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to manufacture and sell fentanyl, possession of a controlled substance with intent to manufacture and sell heroin, and convicted felon in possession of a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony.
Both men were booked into the Shelby County Jail early Sunday.
Fletcher’s family offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to her return.
“It’s just a matter of waiting and hoping and praying,” her father-in-law, Richard Fletcher Jr, told The Post. Fletcher said he visited his son, Richard Fletcher III, and they talked “about his wife being missing and how hard it is and how unexpected it is and how hard it is to cope with something that seems so random.”
The family thinks Fletcher was taken due to a ransom situation and are waiting to hear from the suspects. At least that’s what they are hoping as they pray a worse case scenario is not waiting for them.
Fletcher’s grandfather was hardware magnate Joseph Orgill III, who founded the private family business, Orgill Inc., which employs 5,500 people and does $3 billion in sales annually.
That scumbag should be hung today
Don’t let snyone connected with this out on bail! I know you have to presume innocent until proven guilty .. but if there are photos and he was caught in the vehicle…there is enough to charge him and deny bail! Why in the world was the woman jogging alone at 4 am? Especially if she is heir to big bucks… a bad decision that has created a horrific situation for everyone!
A perfect ingredient for something bad to happen. A lone woman jogging in the morning at 4am in MEMPHIS TN of all places.
Canadians have a right to do this as payback to all those cracker slave owners,,,
That’s very petty of you Tom! Ya jag off!
Another sad commentary on our society when a woman cannot safely go jogging early morning in the dark anywhere in the United States of America. Not safe to let your child wait for a school bus. Not safe to allow your child to walk to school. Not safe to allow your child to go out and wait for the ice cream man. Not safe for a woman to go to bed without a loaded gun under her pillow. Who said we are not the greatest nation on earth?
Yes, we are if you count aircraft carriers, drones, battleships, subs, nuke bombs, fighter aircraft, and bombers.