The Memphis Police Department has identified a body that was discovered on Monday in a Memphis neighbourhood as that of Eliza Fletcher, a jogger who was abducted on Friday morning when she was out for a jog. 

The Memphis police was able to see a surveillance video that captured the entire abduction episode. Fletcher was jogging near the University of Memphis when a dark GMC Terrain SUV stopped in front of her and a person forced the 34-year-old inside the car.

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The police have identified a suspect in this case- Cleotha Abston- who has been detained and charged with first-degree murder, first-degree murder in perpetration of kidnapping, aggravated kidnapping as well as tampering with evidence. Check out the Memphis Police’s Twitter post regarding the incident:

The dark SUV in question has also been identified by the Memphis Police, who have linked it to a home Abston has been residing at. CBS News reports that no online court record has been found that could clarify whether Abston has a lawyer who could speak on his behalf.

An arrest affidavit reveals that Abston’s DNA was found on a pair of sandals that the police discovered near the site where Fletcher was last seen.

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This is not the first time Abston’s name has been involved in an abduction case. Earlier in 2000, he had kidnapped a lawyer named Kemper Durand and forced him inside a car’s trunk at gunpoint.

Durand was in the car for a considerable amount of time before being taken out and forced to drive to an ATM at a gas station, from where Abston forced him to take out cash. Abston was only 16.

Abston was later arrested and sentenced to 24 years for kidnapping as well as aggravated robbery. He was released in 2020 and there were no cases registered against him in these two years before the abduction and eventual murder of Eliza Fletcher.