Memphis Police Identify Body of Abducted Jogger

Police in Tennessee said Tuesday that a body found during an exhaustive search lasting more than three days is missing billionaire heiress and teacher Eliza Fletcher, who was abducted and forced into an SUV while jogging last week near the University of Memphis.

Her body was found Monday in South Memphis about two miles from where the man charged in her disappearance was seen cleaning out a vehicle tied to the abduction case.

Memphis police said on Twitter Tuesday that investigators identified the body of Fletcher, 34, a school teacher and granddaughter of a prominent Memphis businessman.

"The deceased victim that was found yesterday in the 1600 block of Victor has been identified as 34-year-old Eliza Fletcher," the police department announced on Twitter Tuesday. "Additional charges for 38-year-old Cleotha Abston have been added for first-degree murder and first-degree murder in perpetration of kidnapping."

Police have not yet officially reported Fletcher's cause of death. 

There was a heavy police presence for several hours Monday afternoon at the South Memphis location near where the 38-year-old suspect in the case, Cleotha Abston, was seen cleaning out the SUV connected to the case and "behaving oddly," reports The Washington Examiner, quoting an affidavit made public by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

Abston had already been charged with "especially aggravated kidnapping and tampering with evidence," the Memphis police said on Twitter.

Abston was arraigned Tuesday. Relatives of Fletcher and more than 20 media members were in the courtroom Tuesday morning for the hearing, which was Abston’s first appearance before a judge on charges of kidnapping, tampering with evidence, theft, identity theft, and fraudulent use of a credit card. Abston was issued a $510,000 bond. Abston said he could not afford bond and he could not afford a lawyer. General Sessions Judge Louis Montesi appointed a public defender to represent Abston.

Meanwhile, his brother, Mario Abston, 36, was detained and charged with firearms and drug charges, but the Memphis Police Department said his arrest was not connected with Fletcher's kidnapping.

Surveillance video recorded about 4 a.m. Friday at the University of Memphis campus shows Fletcher, 34, struggling with her kidnapper before he threw her into an SUV, according to the affidavit.

The kidnapper lost his sandals at the scene, where they were found along with Fletcher's phone. DNA found on the sandals led police to Abston, reports NBC News.

The affidavit in the case says Fletcher "suffered serious injury" while trying to fight off her kidnapper and that she left blood in the SUV that Abston was seen cleaning.

Fletcher, the granddaughter of hardware billionaire Joseph Orgill III, is married to Richard Fletcher III and is the mother of two children.

This report contains material from Newsmax wire services.

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