A body found this week in Memphis is that of a teacher who was abducted there while jogging last week, and a suspect is being charged with murder, police said Tuesday.
A body found this week in Memphis is that of a teacher who was abducted there while jogging last week, and a suspect is being charged with murder, police said Tuesday.
Eliza "Liza" Fletcher, 34, was identified as the person found dead Monday in the Tennessee city,
roughly 7.5 miles from where surveillance video showed she was forced into an SUV early Friday, Memphis police said on Twitter.
A suspect arrested over the weekend, Cleotha Abston, 38, has now been charged with first-degree murder in perpetration of kidnapping,
in addition to kidnapping and other charges previously filed, Shelby County Court records show.
Abston made a court appearance in the case Tuesday morning. The cause of Fletcher's death was not immediately announced.
Fletcher was jogging around 4 a.m. Friday in a neighborhood near the University of Memphis when a man chased her and forced her into a black SUV, authorities said.
After her husband reported her missing and someone found her phone on a street Friday morning, police found surveillance video of the area,
which shows a black GMC Terrain pass by her, according to a court affidavit.
A man was then seen getting out of the SUV and "aggressively" running toward her before forcing her into the vehicle's passenger seat, according to the footage cited in the affidavit.
The SUV remained in a parking lot for about four minutes after both people were inside and then drove away, the affidavit states.