Authorities arrested Cleotha Abston, 38, on Sunday before she was charged with aggravated kidnapping and falsifying information after Fletcher disappeared on September 2.
Officers have footage of the vehicle used in the abduction, a black 2013 GMC Terrain, in the same area 24 minutes before the mother-of-two was taken at 4:20am. in Memphis, Tennessee.
Surveillance footage obtained by police, which has not been released, shows a man “aggressively” running towards Fletcher, 34, and forcing her into the passenger side of the vehicle.
The pair struggled and the car then sat in the car park for four minutes with Fletcher inside before driving off to an unknown location.
Officers also searched Martin Luther King Riverside Park, as well as a lake within the area and Pine Hill Park in connection with the missing mother.
Suspect Cleotha Abston, pictured here shortly after his release in 2020, is being held on $500,000 bond in connection with kidnapping charges
Eliza Fletcher, 34, was kidnapped after being forced into a black SUV on Friday. The driver of that SUV, Cleotha Abston, was arrested over the weekend
Officers also searched Martin Luther King Riverside Park, as well as a lake in the area and Pine Hill Park in connection with the missing mother
Fletcher was last seen at around 4.20am. on Friday when she was jogging (right) in Memphis and a man approached her and forced her into an SUV after a brief argument, police said.
A member of the Memphis Police Department gathers facts as police continue to seek clues in the search for Fletcher
Abston’s arrest comes just two years after she was released from prison where she served 20 years for the May 2000 kidnapping and robbery of Memphis attorney Kemper Durand.
Police tracked him down after finding his DNA on Champion sliders left behind during the fight with Fletcher, as well as her mobile phone and water bottle.
His bail was set at $500,000 and he is understood to be refusing to cooperate with police and tell them the location of the missing mother.
Police believe Fletcher, a kindergarten teacher, suffered “serious injury” at the hands of Ampston and that blood was left in the vehicle.
His brother, Mario Abston, 36, was also arrested on Saturday after authorities searched his home when his brother was spotted acting “suspiciously” by neighbours.
Officers found a semi-automatic pistol, a scale with a bag of heroin and fentanyl, and charged him with possession of a weapon, possession of a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony and possession of a controlled substance.
Abston told police that his brother was cleaning the interior of his GMC Terrain with floor cleaner, as well as washing his clothes in the sink at home.
Another neighbor confirmed Abston was acting “very strange” and police found his phone was dropped near where Fletcher was taken.
Officers removed a dumpster near the Abston brothers’ low-income apartment complex called Longview Gardens over the weekend.
Missing mother Eliza Fletcher was pictured with her husband Richie and their two children
Police were seen searching trash cans outside a McDonald’s restaurant along South Perkins Street in the city
That’s the SUV police say Fletcher was abducted from, identified as a dark-colored GMC Terrain that was discovered Saturday
Memphis police search for clues on the ground near the home of Cleotha Abston’s brother
Authorities went to Abston’s last known address and found the same black SUV with a damaged tail light. The affidavit said Abston was standing in the doorway when police arrived and began to run away, but was soon apprehended.
Abston still hasn’t said where Fletcher is or what he did to her. The affidavit said evidence, including blood, found in Abston’s car led them to believe Fletcher suffered “serious injury.”
“The investigation into Eliza Fletcher’s abduction is still active and ongoing. Investigators are continuing to investigate and are following up on all leads,” police said in a statement Sunday after Abston’s arrest was announced.
Police were also seen searching through trash cans outside a McDonald’s restaurant in Memphis on Saturday night as they searched for the preschool teacher and mother.
Police are looking for dogs from the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office working with search teams around a dumpster near Mario Abston’s home. The bin was later recovered by the police
His brother, Mario Abston, 36, was also arrested on Saturday after authorities searched his home after his brother was spotted acting “suspiciously” by neighbors.
Wife and mother of two Eliza Fletcher remains missing in Memphis as police intensify search for her after arrest
After the car was discovered, Fletcher’s family, her father, Beasley, mother, Adele, brother Gill and her husband appeared on camera with their lawyer, Mike Keeney.
After the car was discovered, Fletcher’s family, her father, Beasley, mother, Adele, brother Gill and her husband appeared on camera with their lawyer, Mike Keeney.
Cleotha Abston, 38, was charged with aggravated kidnapping and tampering after Fletcher disappeared on Friday
They have offered a $50,000 reward for any information leading to Fletcher being brought home safely.
In the statement, Keeney thanked law enforcement for their search efforts and said, “We believe someone knows what happened and can help.”
At this station, Fletcher’s husband was overcome with emotion.
Fletcher, a keen exerciser who regularly jogged the same route, threw her phone to the ground and it broke during the crime.
The mother of two is described as 5-foot-5 and 137 pounds with brown hair and green eyes. She was last seen wearing a pink jogging top and purple running shorts.
The kidnapped woman is the granddaughter of hardware tycoon Joseph ‘Joe’ Orgill III who died in 2018.
Fletcher’s mother, Adele, is Orgill’s daughter. Their family-owned wholesale hardware business, Orgill Inc., has annual sales of $3 billion, according to the company’s website.
The company’s description on the website calls Orgill “the world’s largest independent distributor of hard drives with $3 billion in annual sales.” The company is privately owned.
Eliza Fletcher, pictured, was abducted during a 4:30 a.m. jog. near the University of Memphis campus Friday morning
Abston still hasn’t said where Fletcher is or what he did to her. The affidavit said evidence, including blood, found in Abston’s car led them to believe Fletcher suffered “serious injury.”
A different resident posted this photo showing members of the Memphis Police SWAT Team preparing to raid the complex in search of Eliza Fletcher
More than 5,500 people are employed in the company.
On Friday, police searched a park near the site where a wealthy heiress was abducted and forced into the vehicle as they searched for clues in the complicated case.
A neighbor described Abston as a “pervert” who once snuck up behind her and propositioned her for sex.
He did the same with other women in the group, and sometimes sat in his black SUV looking at the women walking by or sitting on their stoops.
Another neighbor, Latoya, 35, said the suspect also proposed to her and her 20-year-old niece earlier this year.
Latoya told DailyMail.com: ‘She kept waving at him and he was like. “I have 100 dollars.
He also tried to get my niece, tried to get her to come to the apartment with him.
“As far as I know, nobody here has sex with him,” she said. “He’s creepy, he’s really creepy.”
