After the kidnapping and murder of billionaire granddaughter Eliza (“Liza”) Fletcher, the Shelby, Tennessee, County Attorney's Office has upgraded the charges against the alleged perpetrator to first-degree murder, the most serious form of homicide.
After evaluating surveillance cameras, law enforcement officials believe Cleotha Abston, 38, ambushed the teacher and mother of two in Memphis early Friday morning before forcing her into his SUV.
The case had rocked the United States for days when Fletcher failed to return home as usual after her morning run.
The body of the 34-year-old granddaughter of billionaire Joseph Orgill III, who died in 2018 at the age of 80.
was finally found Tuesday morning outside an abandoned house near the University of Memphis.
The perpetrator had thrown away her sportswear in a plastic bag.
Abston was arrested on Saturday after investigators found his DNA on sandals the kidnapper had lost on the street.
The thirty-eight-year-old is considered a serious criminal.
Even as a teenager, he attracted attention for crimes such as robbery, assault and rape.
Abston was sentenced to more than 24 years in prison in 2001 for the kidnapping of a prosecutor who was able to free himself.
However, he was released early two years ago.
After the discovery of Fletcher's body, speculation arose Tuesday that Abston did not choose his victim at random.
The late prosecutor Kemper Durand, whom the then just 16-year-old kidnapped more than 20 years ago, was one of Fletcher's uncle Michael Keeney's former colleagues.
Keeney, also a lawyer, repeatedly appeared in front of the cameras over the weekend with the husband and parents of the missing persons to request information on their whereabouts.