A former FBI agent stated that Eliza Fletcher’s kidnapping suspect had previously kidnapped her uncle’s former coworker.
NewsNation adds that Jennifer Coffindaffer disclosed that Cleotha Abston’s first kidnapping victim, Memphis Attorney Kemper Durand, worked in the same flaw company as Fletcher’s uncle, Michael Keeney.
Coffindaffer stated, “I believe this is a very significant piece of evidence, and I have no doubt that the FBI, US Marshalls, and TBI are thoroughly examining this relationship.”
Abston, now 38 years old, was just 16 years old in 2000 when he and his accomplice kidnapped Durand, placed him into his own trunk, and attempted to force him to withdraw money from an ATM at a gas station.
Abston served 22 years in prison for the crime, and two years after his early release in 2020, he is again in detention on suspicion of Fletcher’s kidnapping and murder.
Jennifer Coffindaffer, a former FBI agent, stated that Cleotha Abston’s first kidnapping victim in 2000 worked at the same legal office as the uncle of Eliza Fletcher. Coffindaffer stated that investigators will examine the connection while investigating Fletcher’s case.
Cleotha Abston, 38, served 20 years in prison for kidnapping one of her uncle’s former coworkers.
Eliza Fletcher, 34, was kidnapped on Friday after being pushed into a black SUV, prompting a four-day search. It occurred 22 years after Memphis attorney Kemper Durand (right) was abducted and stuffed into the trunk of his own automobile by Abston and an accomplice.
Durand, who died in 2013, stated in his victim impact statement that he feared for his life during his abduction, where he was saved by a neighboring Memphis Housing Authority security who heard his cries for help, as reported by the Commercial Appeal.
Durand remarked, “It is highly probable that I would have been slain had I not escaped.”
According to Durand’s impact statement, the attorney was disturbed by the teenager’s lengthy criminal record, which included theft, serious assault, and rape accusations dating back to when he was 12 years old.
According to the Tennessee Department of Corrections, Durand was freed early in 2020 after being sentenced to 24 years in prison.
Coffindaffer criticized the decision to release Abston two years early, arguing that putting him in prison would have avoided the alleged offense.
She stated, “When someone is released early and commits another violent crime, I believe society has been let down.” I believe we are all disappointed by his early release.
During the brief 15-minute hearing, Abston remained silent and was brought away by officers with his hands cuffed behind his back. In an affidavit, he stated that he could not afford bail or legal counsel.
As he was taken into court, Abeston was observed wobbling from side to side and turning to face everyone present for his hearing.
Police dogs from the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office are assisting search teams near a dumpster near Mario Abston’s residence. The bin was eventually removed by authorities, however it is unclear whether this is the dumpster where Eliza’s body was discovered.
Cleotha Abston, pictured here shortly after his release from prison in 2020, is being held on a $500,000 bond for his alleged involvement in kidnapping.
Authorities have accused Abston with first-degree murder and kidnapping in the disappearance of Fletcher, a mother of two whose body was discovered at an abandoned elementary school.
Authorities have not officially confirmed Fletcher’s cause of death, but they have identified her body, which was discovered seven miles from her last known location.
The Ultra-runner vanished while jogging at 4:30 a.m. on Friday, triggering a four-day search that led officers to many rural areas around Memphis.
The body was discovered within 100 yards of the Longview Gardens apartment complex, where Abston’s brother Mario resides.
A van believed to have belonged to the medical examiners unit and to have been transporting the body departed the location six hours after the remains were discovered.
Police said that Fletcher was last seen jogging in Memphis at 4:20 a.m. on Friday, when a man approached her and forced her into an SUV after a fight.
Eliza Fletcher is shown in a photograph with her husband, Richie, and their two children.
A map demonstrating the scope of Eliza Fletcher’s citywide search in Memphis
Seven miles away from where Eliza was reported missing, members of the Memphis Police Department’s Auto Theft Task Force were present at the search location.
The vanishing of Eliza Fletcher
Fletcher, 34, is bundled into a dark SUV after jogging on the University of Memphis campus at 4.30 a.m. on September 2.
Officers are sent at 7:45 a.m., when her husband, Richard, reports her abduction. They discover her water battle and broken cell phone in front of a nearby residence.
The police tow her family’s vehicle from her residence on September 3. Also labeled as evidence by the investigators were a pair of garden shears and a PC. They comb a local park and share GMC Terrain surveillance footage.
Cleo Abston, age 38, is arrested for aggravated kidnapping and evidence tampering. It was determined that he was the owner of the black SUV. Saturday night, he was captured following a collision with an Alcohol Tobacco Firearms vehicle. It is then revealed that he was recently released after serving 20 years for a similar offense.
Abston is charged with aggravated kidnapping and evidence tampering on September 4.
On September 5, police search a pond and a park. New charges of identity theft, theft of property, and fraudulent use/illegal possession of a credit/debit card of $1,000 or less have been brought against Abston.
A body is discovered near the home of Abston’s brother. It is not confirmed to be Fletcher’s.
Photos taken at the site revealed a police helicopter hovering above the search area. As the terrible discovery was made, horrified neighbors flocked to the crime site.
“It’s emotional, it hurts a lot,” April Jackson, 30, told DailyMail.com at 7.30 p.m., before the body was taken.
It might have been any student out running that morning, or anyone else. And he was just released from prison for another abduction two years ago, and now he’s doing it again,’ she claimed.
It makes me nauseous. Yesterday, she volunteered to assist in the search as police and a bloodhound were in the area within a few yards of the body.
In the criminal complaint against Cleotha, witnesses are quoted as stating they observed the suspect acting erratically and washing the carpet of this 2013 GMC Terrain at his brother’s residence.
The alleged abductor of the rich heiress Eliza had been jogging in the region where she went missing for over thirty minutes before to her abduction.
On Sunday, a neighbor of Mario Abston revealed in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com that she had seen the suspect visiting his brother’s residence practically every day for the past month.
Cleotha Abston, 38, was arrested and charged with exceptionally aggravated kidnapping and tampering with evidence following the September 2 disappearance of Fletcher.
Officers have surveillance footage of the vehicle used in the abduction in the same area 24 minutes before the abduction of the mother of two at 4:20 a.m. in Memphis, Tennessee.
Unreleased surveillance footage obtained by police shows a man sprinting “aggressively” toward Fletcher and shoving her into the passenger side of the vehicle.
The automobile stayed in the parking lot for four minutes with Fletcher inside before driving away to an unknown location after the duo struggled.
After the automobile was discovered, Fletcher’s father, Beasley, mother, Adele, brother Gill, and spouse appeared on camera with their attorney, Mike Keaney.
The scene depicting the hunt for Fletcher prior to the Monday evening revelation of the ghastly find, which has now been proven to be the missing jogger.
New allegations against Abston include identity theft, theft of property, and fraudulent use/illegal possession of a credit/debit card of $1,000 or less have also been filed.
Fletcher is the granddaughter of 2018-deceased hardware magnate Joseph ‘Joe’ Orgill III.
Adele, Fletcher’s mother, is the daughter of Orgill. According to the company’s website, their hardware wholesale family business, Orgill Inc., generates $3 billion in yearly sales.
Orgill is described on its website as “the world’s largest independent hardline distributor with $3 billion in yearly sales.” The business is privately held. The company employs greater than 5,500 individuals.