Four grueling days of searching for Eliza Fletcher ends, now a city has moves to honor her

By the time the crime scene tape went up, onlookers had already started to pool at various points of a multi-block search grid in the lush, slightly hilly South Memphis neighborhood.

Throughout the weekend, various search sites mushroomed across Memphis in dry creek beds and city parks. This search was the final one in a 96-hour race to find Eliza Fletcher, the 34-year-old pre-K teacher, athlete, mother and spouse.

According to court documents, it was tire tracks through tall grass that alerted an officer to a conclusion that much of Memphis was dreading — Fletcher did not survive an attack and an abduction, allegedly at the hands of 38-year-old Cleotha Abston, who was released from prison in November 2020, also for aggravated kidnapping.

Police did not immediately identify the remains found as those of Fletcher; but that did little to counter the growing consensus murmured among South Memphis residents that the 4-day search had ended with a result feared by many who followed the case.

Statistically speaking, non-family abductions are rare. But statistics only go so far to dispel a sentiment echoed by women who run across the country, in response to the news of Fletcher's reported abduction: That could have been me.

Fletcher suspect has prior kidnapping conviction

As typical for a athlete of Fletcher's caliber, her last run started around 4 a.m., well before sunrise. It was still dark when a Flock safety camera recorded a black GMC Terrain passing by, then stopping.

She was wearing purple shorts and a pink sports bra.

When Fletcher ran past the SUV, the camera showed, Abston allegedly exited the vehicle and grabbed Fletcher. A struggle ensued as he forced her into the vehicle. Once he did, footage showed, the SUV remained parked in a University of Memphis parking lot for four minutes before heading in an unknown direction.

The public does not yet know what took place in those four minutes; investigators know enough to have said Fletcher was likely seriously injured in the SUV.

What is known, however, is that Abston's long history with the criminal justice system in Shelby County started early. The late Kemper Durand — Abston's first kidnapping victim — detailed Abston's first run-ins with Shelby County juvenile court in his victim impact statement; the first one was in 1995, when Abston would have been 12 or 13-year-old.

Abston was 16 when he forced Durand at gunpoint into the trunk of a car, according to Commercial Appeal archives. Along with two other men, he drove Durand to ATMs in unsuccessful attempts to have Durand withdraw cash.

Durand, who died of natural causes in 2013, escaped at the third ATM, after calling out to a Memphis Housing Authority armed guard who happened to walk into the gas station.

If Abston is convicted of his charges, it will mean that 27 years of punitive measures failed to prevent him from devolving back to an impulse to harm others.

The modern trend of true-crime fervor boils over in case

News of Fletcher's abduction jumped from local press and social media circles to national conversation almost instantaneously.

"True crime" has long been popular fodder for entertainment. The late 80s birthed docuseries like "Unsolved Mysteries" that would go on to predate series like "Dateline NBC."

But real-time involvement with violent crimes, vis a vis social media, is still a relatively new phenomenon.

Within hours of the abduction — Facebook groups sparked by organizers with names like "True Crime Misfits" and "True Crime Sisters" emerged as forums to share updates and speculation.

These groups, of which there are several, have tens of thousands of members collectively. It didn't take long for would-be sleuths to try and convict Fletcher's husband with no supporting evidence and no indication from authorities that he was ever a person of interest.

A moderator for one of the groups, "Justice for Eliza Fletcher," told The Commercial Appeal they would remove posts accusing members of the Fletcher family of any involvement. When the moderator was asked for their name, the reporter was blocked from further messaging.

A rarely seen response for a somewhat common occurrence

During a Tuesday press conference, Memphis Police Chief C.J. Davis called the efforts of several law enforcement agencies, all working to find Fletcher, "symphonic."

For four days, officers and agents of the Memphis Police Department, Shelby County Sheriff's Office, U.S. Marshals Service, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives worked together for the duration of the search for Fletcher and Abston.

The scale of the response is not often seen in missing persons cases in Shelby County; videos clearly showing a violent abduction occurring are also not common.

Fletcher's disappearance coincides with an ongoing national discussion about which victims receive ample media attention and robust resources.

It's a discussion that gained steam after the disappearance of Gabby Petito — the slain vlogger from Florida who was documenting travels across the U.S. in a converted van with her fiancé, Brain Laundrie, who police suspect killed Petito.

There have been at least 100 incidents classified as kidnapping in Memphis this year, according to public safety data posted on the city's website; many of those victims have since been found, some have not.

Currently, the National Missing and Unidentified Persons database lists 145 persons from Shelby County who remain missing. The oldest of such cases dates back to 1986.

George Robertson, the head pastor at Second Presbyterian Church where Fletcher's family attends, acknowledged Memphis' missing at the start of the search.

"Someday we’ll eliminate this kind of tragedy,” Robertson said. "We grieve all of this kind of violence and evil in our city. It just makes us grieve. We grieve for ourselves, we grieve for the Fletchers and we also grieve for our city. Our whole city is hurting.”

A plan to honor Fletcher's dedication to the sport

The discovery of Fletcher's body on Monday brought an end to four days of not knowing where the beloved teacher was; now a city begins the work of making sense of what happened and how to prevent it from happening again.

Now, newly-elected Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy is directing his office's first high-profile case under his tenure.

On Tuesday, as dozens of law enforcement officials gathered in the shade of the Memphis police administration building for a press conference, he called the attack and abduction an "isolated incident, " and dismissed the rumor mill sparked by Fletcher's disappearance as "baseless speculation."

Among the condolences offered from elected officials and institutions, Fletcher's family released their own statement.

"We are heartbroken and devastated by this senseless loss. Liza was such a joy to so many – her family, friends, colleagues, students, parents, members of her Second Presbyterian Church congregation, and everyone who knew her," the statement read.

As they've had to do before, the Fletcher family reiterated their request for privacy — and the space — to grieve.

While the family mourns, hundreds, if not thousands, of runners will set out to finish what Fletcher began the day she was taken.

At 4:20 Friday morning those runners will line up at the University of Memphis to "Finish Liza's Run," and honor the teacher, mother and athlete whose dedication to the sport was renowned among those that knew her.

It's a way to honor the one request Fletcher's family has asked of those who have followed the last four anguish-ridden days: to remember and celebrate a person who, by all accounts, sparked joy for countless others.

Micaela Watts is a reporter for The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at micaela.watts@commercialappeal.com.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: How it happened four days of search for Eliza Fletcher ends in Memphis