Eliza Fletcher, a rich heiress, was abducted on Saturday night, the Memphis Police Department said early on Sunday morning.
Following Fletcher’s abduction on Friday, Cleotha Abston, 38, was charged with exceptionally aggravated kidnapping and tampering with evidence.
“The Eliza Fletcher kidnapping inquiry is still open and continuing.” According to Fox News, police stated in a statement that investigators were investigating all leads and that the search was still ongoing.
The black SUV that Fletcher was allegedly “abducted and forced into” while out on a morning run close to the University of Memphis has been recognised as belonging to Abston. After he collided with an Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms vehicle on Saturday, he was caught.
The suspected car has been found, and the man inside has been taken into custody. Police reported that Eliza Fletcher had not been found.
On Saturday night in Memphis, police could also be spotted looking through trash outside a McDonald’s restaurant in their hunt for the mother and kindergarten instructor.
They were knocking on doors of homes with cameras to ask whether we have anything useful on our Ring, a local in the McDonald’s neighbourhood told KWAM. They instructed us to check the tape from yesterday between 4:30 and 6:30 in the morning and to provide them any important information through a phone number they had supplied for us.
Police searched an apartment building just before that search as they were in a confrontation with someone inside a unit.
A complex resident shared a picture of the SWAT Team of the Memphis Officers Department getting ready for the raid on Saturday night and said that there was a standoff between police and the occupant of the unit.
According to the witness, police entered an apartment via the door and brought a lady, her daughter, and a newborn.
Another resident of the The Lakes at Ridgeway condominium, which was completely encircled by law enforcement, reported seeing an ambulance at the site.
In connection with the abduction, police “detained” a suspect and discovered the automobile they were looking for.
The individual who is being held captive’s identity has not been made public by the authorities.
Ian Ripple of ABC24 reports that the SUV wanted in connection with the crime was discovered after a collision with an ATF vehicle near to the property.
Police were seen checking dumpsters outside of a McDonald’s restaurant on the city’s South Perkins Street not long after the raid.
Fletcher’s family, including her father Beasley, mother Adele, brother Gill, and husband, as well as their attorney Mike Keeney, appeared on video after the finding of the automobile.
Keeney said in the statement, “We trust someone knows what occurred and can assist,” and thanked the police for their search efforts. Fletcher’s spouse lost control of his emotions at this station.
As part of their investigation into the puzzling case, police examined a park close to the location where a rich heiress was kidnapped and thrown into a car on Friday.
Eliza Fletcher, 34, was last seen at 4.20 am on Friday while out on a jog in Memphis when a guy approached her and, after a short struggle, pushed her into an SUV, according to police.
Although the family’s wealth is unknown, Fletcher is the heiress to a fortune from the Orgill hardware firm, which her grandfather turned into a well-known brand worldwide.
Friday night, Fletcher’s family announced a $50,000 reward via Crimestoppers for information that results in the capture of those accountable for her abduction.
The Fletcher family previously stated in a statement, “We look forward to Eliza’s safe return and hope that this prize will assist authorities arrest those who perpetrated this tragedy.”
Less than 1.5 miles from the location of Fletcher’s kidnapping, Shelby County Sheriff’s Office officers spent a good portion of Friday evening investigating a forested area of Overton Park.
As night passed, the search was abandoned without producing any results, and according to WREG-TV, detectives were apparently checking into a tip related to the kidnapping case.
State police released a grainy CCTV photograph of the SUV driving away from the incident late on Friday, identifying it as a dark-colored GMC Terrain.
Memphis police were seen removing Fletcher’s white Jeep Wagoneer family vehicle from her residence.
Investigators were also seen labelling a PC and a set of garden shears as evidence. The family’s residence was heavily policed the whole evening.
Pre-kindergarten instructor Fletcher, sometimes known as Liza, works at St. Mary’s Episcopal School.
Richie works as a manager at a boat store in Memphis, according to his LinkedIn profile.
He has had positions as a Crossfit instructor and a project manager in the past.
Richie worked as an equipment mechanic with the US Coast Guard from October 2001 until October 2005.
Law enforcement personnel are at the area where it’s thought that 34-year-old Eliza Fletcher was abducted.
Near the intersection of Central Avenue and Zach H. Curlin Street, where Eliza Fletcher, 34, is thought to have been abducted about 4:30 a.m. on Friday, law enforcement personnel are on the scene.
She was reported missing after she failed to return home after her usual morning run, and police later found her cellphone and water bottle outside a property owned by the University of Memphis.
Fitness enthusiast Fletcher, who often ran the same route, had her phone thrown to the ground and broken as a result of the crime.
The mother of two is described as having brown hair, green eyes, and a height of 5 feet 6 inches. Pink running shorts and a pink jogging top were the last things seen on her.
The kidnapped lady is the granddaughter of late hardware tycoon Joseph “Joe” Orgill III.
Adele, Fletcher’s mother, is Orgill’s offspring. Orgill Inc., their family-owned wholesale hardware firm, reports $3 billion in yearly sales on its website.
Orgill is referred to as “the world’s biggest independent hardlines distributor with annual sales of $3 billion” in the business description on the website. The business is privately held.
The company employs more than 5,500 people.
A friend of Joe Orgill III described him as being a cross between Bono and Mr. Rogers in the hardware community in an obituary article that appeared in the Memphis Commercial Appeal in 2018.
An apparent allusion to his warm personality and charitable deeds.
The family of Fletcher made the following short statement while announcing the reward money: “We look forward to Eliza’s safe return and hope that this payment will help authorities arrest those who perpetrated this tragedy.”
Fletcher claimed in a post on Instagram in February that she had gone to the Orgill trade show in Orlando, Florida.
The Second Presbyterian Church in East Memphis is where Fletcher and her husband attend services.
According to reports, a note informing students at Fletcher’s school that a teacher had been abducted was distributed on Friday.
We haven’t mentioned Mrs. Fletcher to our younger pupils. According to Fox News, Albert Throckmorton, the school’s head, said in the letter, “We are supporting the older pupils when they hear of this news.”
Richard “Richie” Fletcher III, Fletcher’s spouse of eight years, stands at her side. The couple is parents to two kids.
Richie works for Venture Libre, a firm that creates “bespoke specialised storage solutions for adventure vehicles,” and he has apparently hired a lawyer.
Fletcher was described as as a person whose “smile illuminates every space she visits” in a Facebook post on the school’s page in 2021.
She is a compassionate and dedicated teacher who is always seeking for innovative methods to educate to all learners, it continued.
She knows each pupil personally and does all in her power to motivate them to study, the post’s conclusion said.
She often acknowledges both significant and insignificant accomplishments in the classroom.
She graduated with her class of 2006 from Memphis’ Hutchison School. Fletcher received a degree in fitness and sports science from Baylor University. She graduated from Belmont University with a master’s degree in education.
Fletcher taught and coached soccer at the Promise Academy in Nashville before beginning his employment at St. Mary’s.
She was an accomplished runner who had earned a spot in the Boston Marathon. With a time of three hours and 26 minutes, Fletcher completed the St. Jude marathon in 2019 and placed 22nd overall.
Police have not yet indicated a possible motivation or whether they think Fletcher was kidnapped by an opportunistic predator or by someone who was familiar with the young mother’s favourite jogging path.
Her neighbourhood has been shaken by Fletcher’s abduction. A Facebook group named “Eliza Fletcher Missing in Memphis, Tennessee” had more than 2,000 members by Friday afternoon.
Near the University of Memphis, she was seized. “Me and my friend were probably one the first to see the police vehicles come out but we had no clue,” said Sam Sparrenberg, a student at the school, to WREG.
I’ve never heard of anything like occurring, he continued. I went to college for a while. I’ve attended the Universities of Tennessee and Mississippi, and I’ve never heard of anything like this occurring.
In a magnificent magical woodlands-themed wedding ceremony in 2014, Fletcher wed Richard ‘Richie’ James Fletcher III, as Memphis Magazine reported. The bride is characterised as “outdoorsy, sporty, and warm” in the profile.
Venture Libre, a firm that creates “bespoke tailored storage solutions for adventure vehicles,” is where Richie works.
The family had a long trip in early August, according to photos on his Instagram feed.
According to the Memphis Commercial Appeal, the senior pastor of the church that Fletcher and her husband, George Robertson, attend characterised the missing lady as being “full of life.”
She and her husband Ritchie are both extremely involved and outstanding leaders in our church, Robertson continued. Every week, I get a hug from their two small sons who live there.
She and her spouse, he said, are simply inspirations in that they both love to exercise and participate in sports.
The pair, according to Robertson, “have a deep and sincere confidence in Christ.” That is Ritchie’s current trust, he said.
On its Facebook page, the Second Presbyterian Church said that it was available for prayer at all times.
You don’t want to hear that that’s happening, Hart Robinson, a friend of Fletcher’s, said in a statement to WREG. We need to track her down.
Robinson said, “We have no idea what’s going on, but everyone is searching furiously for her, and the local police are looking into it. As you can see, there is a lot of activity. If you have any information or believe you saw anything early this morning, please contact us.
Richie celebrated the couple’s anniversary in March of this year on Instagram, writing: “[Eight] years in the making with this blazing sexy girl.” No other method is what I would like. even if our whole family is suffering from the stomach flu.
He said on Instagram a year prior: “Yesterday celebrated 7 years married to this beautiful!”
“We definitely would have responded NO if you had asked us whether we would make it to year 7 at that point,” he said. We clearly missed the notice that having a happy marriage is not going to be simple. Fortunately, we prioritised God and recovery, were open to believing in each other, and sought for assistance.
We are extremely grateful for friends, recovery, couples counselling, and individual therapy, he continued. Sincerely, we can state that we wouldn’t want it any other way!
Richie has been detained several times for alcohol-related charges, including public intoxication and drunk driving, according to records.
Police have identified the kidnapper as a guy, but no suspects have yet been located.
Memphis has had at least 100 occurrences this year that have been classed as kidnappings, according to publicly accessible safety statistics on the city’s website.
The prize for information that results in Eliza Fletcher’s safe return is $50,000. Anyone with pertinent information is requested to contact Memphis CrimeStoppers at 901-528-CASH, which may be done anonymously (2274).