Authorities suspect Cleotha Abston, who they believe kidnapped and murdered rich heiress Eliza Fletcher on September 2, raped Memphis lady Alicia Franklin.
In Memphis, a woman who claims she was sexually assaulted by Eliza Fletcher’s accused murderer last year has filed a lawsuit against the city’s police force, accusing them of negligence for failing to thoroughly investigate her case.
According to the lawsuit, which was filed on September 20 by Alicia Franklin, Memphis police may have been able to save the rich heiress if they had properly investigated the attack in September 2021.
Authorities think Cleotha Abston murdered rich heiress Fletcher on September 2 while she was jogging early in the morning. Franklin, 22, claims she was raped by Abston.
According to the lawsuit filed in Shelby County Circuit Court, “Cleotha Abston should and should have been arrested and charged for the aggravated rape of Alicia Franklin several months earlier, most certainly in the year 2021.”
The lawsuit claims that “the kidnapping and murder of Eliza Fletcher would not have happened” if officials had taken action after Franklin reported her attack.
Franklin’s lawsuit identifies the City of Memphis as the only defendant and asks for an undisclosed sum in damages for pain and suffering.
The issue, in Franklin’s opinion, wasn’t a top concern. “You know, I was just a regular black girl in Memphis.”
Franklin said that she wanted her identity and image to be known so that other women may escape similar circumstances.
According to the lawsuit, which was brought by Memphis lawyers Jeffrey S. Rosenblum and Gary K. Smith, police neglected to gather crucial physical evidence from the site of Franklin’s attack, such fingerprints.
Additionally, they claim that Abston, who is now accused of killing Fletcher, was not pursued by the police department sufficiently.
Dan Springer, a municipal spokesman, told the Daily Memphian in an email, “As is common practise, we do not discuss ongoing litigation.”
Days later, after the state crime lab’s DNA findings, he was accused of raping Franklin.
Abston was recognised as a suspect in the kidnapping of Fletcher in under 18 hours when a sandal left at the site of the crime returned with a match to his DNA.
Virgie Abston, the mother of Abston, has maintained that her son is innocent and that the convicted criminal is just being ‘railroaded’ once again for a heinous crime.
The mother, who lives in a low-income apartment building in north Memphis, told DailyMail.com that she is sticking behind Abston after he assured her from behind bars that he was innocent.
She recalled their conversation: “I talked to him, and he said he didn’t do it.” They’re trying to include me in certain things, mum, he remarked to me.
I think he’s right, she added. I don’t think he was responsible. I will believe it if it comes from his lips.
She disputed claims that her kid was portrayed as a monster by saying, “He’s simply a wonderful guy, kind, and lovely,” as stated in the complaint.
According to the lawsuit, “MPD already had enough evidence to assume that Cleotha Abston was the perpetrator of the Alicia Franklin rape, yet MPD officers did not strive to capture him.”
The building owners of the apartment where Franklin was raped were also named in a second complaint by Franklin’s legal team for failing to maintain adequate security.
Police reports state that the rape took place on September 21, 2021, at a vacant apartment located at 5783 Waterstone Oak Way, next door to which Abston allegedly resides.
Franklin claims she used the dating service Plenty Of Fish to find a man she only knew as “Cleo” and agreed to meet him at a sizable apartment building in southeast Memphis.
Franklin declined his invitation to meet for dinner at Olive Garden because her car was using a spare tyre and she didn’t want to travel that far. Instead, they decided to meet at what he claimed to be his apartment.
However, she claims that when she got there, Abston put a pistol to her head and forced her into one of the flats, which was unoccupied and undergoing restoration.
He then led her to a white Dodge Charger, where he assaulted her before putting a T-shirt over her eyes and leading her back into the apartment. She did not think she would make it through that horrific experience.
She told the Daily Memphian, “I genuinely feared he was going to shoot me in the back of my skull.”
“Would you kindly let me leave? She remembered begging with her assailant, “Please let me go.”
After the assault, the assailant poked around in her handbag, touched her phone and keys, before taking some money and running away.
The residence is at 5783 Waterstone Oak Way, which is only a few doors away from Abston’s apparent residence and the place where he was apprehended for Fletcher’s murder a year later.
Franklin also claims to have given the authorities her attacker’s phone number.
Cops did provide Franklin with a photo lineup, but she claims she was unable to positively identify Abston because the image provided was outdated and depicted him sporting a hairstyle that he no longer wore, dreadlocks.
“Memphis Police Department officers then indicated to Alicia Franklin that they would obtain another (and more recent) photo of a suspect for her to review,” the lawsuit claims. “However, at that time, no officers obtained another photo of Cleotha Abston.”
Additionally, it is said in the lawsuit that “MPD had access to more recent images of Cleotha Abston via the Tennessee Department of Correction.”
They never provided me with an updated image. I contacted a few months later and said, “Hey, you know, (the detective) mentioned that she was going to attempt to conduct another photo lineup with updated photographs and…” Franklin remembered, “I haven’t heard from her.
The victim said that after that, they responded, “Oh, well, she’s really been promoted since then, so she’s no longer the detective on your case.”
The lawsuit claims that although police did not ‘expedite’ Franklin’s rape kit at the time of her attack, they did so after Fletcher passed away, which helped them find Abston within hours.
However, the lawsuit claims that since Franklin provided more than enough information, authorities did not even need the rape kit to locate Abston.
According to the lawsuit, “MPD already knew that Alicia Franklin had supplied MPD with the first name of “Cleo” for the suspect who had sexually assaulted her, a phone number for him, information from his social media accounts, and a description of the automobile he had driven.”
In the past, Abston spent 20 years in jail for an abduction he carried out when he was 16 years old.