A suspect has been charged in connection with the disappearance of Eliza Fletcher, a 34-year-old Memphis jogger whose abduction was caught on security video on Friday, CNN reports. Police said they used DNA from sandals found near where Fletcher was apparently abducted to identify and arrest Cleotha Abston, 38, who was charged Sunday with especially aggravated kidnapping and tampering with evidence. Fletcher's phone was reportedly found with the sandals.
Abston is being held on a $500,000 bond and has so far "declined to tell investigators whether he knew where Fletcher was," NBC News reports.
Mario Abston, 36 — Cleotha Abston's brother — was also arrested and charged with drug and firearms offenses, according to the Memphis Police Department, although he is "currently not believed to be connected to Fletcher's abduction." CNN reports that a witness "said she saw Abston at his brother's house after the abduction. Both the witness and his brother said Abston was behaving oddly as he cleaned the interior of his SUV and washed his clothes in the sink."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Fletcher is a mother of two and has brown hair and green eyes. She "has not been located at this time," according to investigators, and her family is offering a $50,000 reward through CrimeStoppers for information leading to an arrest.
-
Air strikes in the Caribbean: Trump’s murky narco-warTalking Point Drug cartels ‘don’t follow Marquess of Queensberry Rules’, but US military air strikes on speedboats rely on strained interpretation of ‘invasion’
-
Crossword: September 14, 2025The Week's daily crossword puzzle
-
Sudoku medium: September 14, 2025The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
-
2 kids killed in shooting at Catholic school massSpeed Read 17 others were wounded during a morning mass at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis
-
Australian woman found guilty of mushroom murdersspeed read Erin Patterson murdered three of her ex-husband's relatives by serving them toxic death cap mushrooms
-
Combs convicted on 2 of 5 charges, denied bailSpeed Read Sean 'Diddy' Combs was acquitted of the more serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking
-
Sniper kills 2 Idaho firefighters in ambushSpeed Read A man started a wildfire, then fired a rifle at first responders when they arrived
-
Weinstein convicted of sex crime in retrialSpeed Read The New York jury delivered a mixed and partial verdict at the disgraced Hollywood producer's retrial
-
'King of the Hill' actor shot dead outside homespeed read Jonathan Joss was fatally shot by a neighbor who was 'yelling violent homophobic slurs,' says his husband
-
DOJ, Boulder police outline attacker's confessionspeed read Mohamed Sabry Soliman planned the attack for a year and 'wanted them all to die'
-
Assailant burns Jewish pedestrians in Boulderspeed read Eight people from the Jewish group were hospitalized after a man threw Molotov cocktails in a 'targeted act of violence'
