MEMPHIS, TN (NewsNation) – The man accused of kidnapping a Tennessee woman jogging near the University of Memphis last week spent 22 years behind bars for a previous kidnapping, court records show.
U.S. Marshals arrested Cleotha Abston, 38, on Saturday after police detected her DNA on a pair of sandals found near where Eliza Fletcher was last seen, according to an arrest affidavit.
A massive search is now underway across Memphis for the missing mother of two.
New details in the Fletcher kidnapping were revealed on Sunday morning when NewsNation affiliate WREG got a copy of the police affidavit. Records indicate the abduction was violent and filmed.
A man riding a bicycle around 6:45 a.m. on September 2 discovered Fletcher’s cell phone and a pair of Champion-branded slides. The WREG reported that the items were then turned over to Memphis police for testing and analysis.
Police said surveillance footage showed a man violently and quickly approaching Fletcher before forcing her into the passenger side of a GMC Terrain with damage to the passenger side taillight.
According to police records, the vehicle was immobilized for 4 minutes in the parking lot before driving off. Records also indicate that the GMC Terrain in question was seen 24 minutes before the abduction in surveillance footage.
The DNA found on the slides belonged to Cleotha Abston, the person Memphis Police billed in relation to removal earlier Sunday morning.
“At this stage of the investigation, Cleotha Abston, 38, has been charged with particularly aggravated kidnapping and tampering with evidence,” the official said. Memphis police tweeted.
Abston previously kidnapped a prominent Memphis lawyer in 2000, the Business call reported. When he was just 16, Abston forced Kemper Durand into the trunk of his own car at gunpoint. After several hours, Abston took Durand away and forced him to a Mapco gas station to withdraw cash from an ATM. At the station, an armed guard from the Memphis Housing Authority entered and Durand screamed for help. Abston fled but was found and arrested. He pleaded guilty in 2001 to particularly aggravated kidnapping and aggravated robbery, according to court records. He received a 24-year sentence.
Cleotha was arrested Saturday in connection with the Fletcher kidnapping.
Investigators also managed to recover surveillance video showing Abston wearing the same slides days before the abduction. Additionally, investigators tracked Abston’s cell phone number and location history, which placed him in close proximity to the abduction around the same time it occurred.
When authorities arrived at Abston’s last known address on Saturday, they found the GMC Terrain in question, with damage to the passenger-side taillights set back in a parking space.
Abston immediately tried to flee from the police but was eventually captured by US Marshals.
Investigators also interviewed a woman who said that after the abduction, Abston behaved strangely. The witness informed investigators that Abston was in a strange mood and was vigorously cleaning the interior of his car with carpet cleaner and washing his clothes in the house sink.
After his arrest, Abston declined to provide Fletcher’s location.
According to the Tennessee Department of Corrections, Abston was released from prison in November 2020 after serving a 20-year sentence for the aggravated kidnapping in 2000.
Fletcher remains missing and investigators are continuing a rigorous search assuming that Fletcher was seriously injured during the abduction.
According to police records, “As the abduction was violent with, as captured on video, the suspect waiting, then rushing towards the victim, then forcing the victim into the vehicle, where she was confined and abducted and continues to be missing, it is believed and supported by the facts and material evidence that she suffered a serious injury, furthermore it is probable and evident from the statements of the witnesses that these injuries left traces, e.g. blood, in the vehicle that the accused cleaned up.”
One mile from Pine Hill Park, officers were seen removing a dumpster from Longview Garden Apartments, where a relative of Abston lives.
Officers then returned to the compound to conduct a manhunt, but did not provide specific details of the people they were looking for.
A second person has been charged during the investigation, but is not believed to be connected to Fletcher’s kidnapping.
Police said Mario Abston, 36, was in charge of “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 crime.”
Memphis police, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the FBI urgently sought out Fletcher, 34, who was last seen around 4:20 a.m. Friday.
“More than anything, we want Liza to get home safely,” Fletcher’s uncle Mike Keeney said.
Fletcher was jogging near the University of Memphis campus when a man approached her and forced her into an SUV after a brief struggle, university police said. Authorities said she was reported missing when she failed to return home from her usual morning run.
The mother-of-two is described as 5ft 6in and 137lbs with brown hair and green eyes. She was last seen wearing a pink jogging top and purple running shorts.
Fletcher’s cell phone and water bottle were discovered outside a home belonging to the university, police said.
Fletcher is the granddaughter of the late Joseph Orgill III, an extremely wealthy businessman who owned hardware distributor Orgill Inc., a company worth an estimated $3.2 billion, according to Forbes. Fletcher is the heiress to the business.
“We look forward to Eliza’s safe return and hope this award will help police capture those who committed this crime,” Fletcher’s family said in a statement released Friday night by Crimestoppers.
A $50,000 reward is offered for information about the case.
Authorities have asked for the public’s help, saying if anyone has any information regarding the investigation, they should report it to police immediately.
This remains an active and ongoing investigation.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
NewsNation affiliate WREG contributed to this report.
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