MEMPHIS, Tenn.—Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against a man charged with kidnapping a Memphis, Tennessee, school teacher during an early-morning run and killing her, a district attorney said Thursday.
Cleotha Abston, 39, is charged with snatching Eliza Fletcher from a street near the University of Memphis on Sept. 2 and forcing her into an SUV. Her body was found days later near a vacant duplex. He has pleaded not guilty to charges including first-degree murder and especially aggravated kidnapping.
Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy has filed notice with the court that prosecutors will seek the death penalty if Mr. Abston is convicted of first-degree murder, Judge Lee Coffee said. State law says cases that are considered heinous, atrocious, and cruel are eligible for the death penalty, Mr. Mulroy said outside of court.
“We are alleging that applies in this case,” Mr. Mulroy said.
No trial date has been set. Mr. Coffee said he would like it to take place this year, but it was not clear if lawyers could meet that timetable.
The killing of Ms. Fletcher, a 34-year-old kindergarten teacher and mother of two, shocked the Memphis community led to a flood of support for her family. Runners in Memphis and several other cities held an early-morning running event in her honor a week after she was abducted.
Mr. Abston was arrested after police detected his DNA on sandals found near the location where Ms. Fletcher was last seen, an arrest affidavit said.
An autopsy report showed Ms. Fletcher died of a gunshot wound to the head. She also had injuries to her right leg and jaw fractures.
A massive police search for Ms. Fletcher lasted more than three days. Her body was found near an abandoned duplex. Officers noticed vehicle tracks next to the driveway, and they “smelled an odor of decay,” an affidavit said.
Mr. Mulroy, the Democratic district attorney, was sworn into office the day before Ms. Fletcher disappeared. He has said he has long opposed the death penalty and would vote against it if he were a legislator, but that as district attorney and Memphis’ top prosecutor, he is required to follow the law when it comes to cases that could qualify for capital punishment.
Mr. Mulroy previously announced that prosecutors would seek the death penalty in an unrelated first-degree murder case against a man charged with killing three people and wounding three others during a livestreamed shooting rampage shortly after Mr. Mulroy took office.
Ms. Fletcher’s family was consulted about the decision to seek the death penalty against Mr. Abston and supports it, Mr. Mulroy said.
Mr. Abston, who is also known as Cleotha Henderson, previously served 20 years in prison for a kidnapping he committed at age 16. He is also charged with raping a woman in September 2021—about a year before Ms. Fletcher was killed. He was not arrested on the rape charges before Ms. Fletcher’s killing because of a long delay in processing the sexual assault kit, authorities have said.
After Mr. Fletcher’s death, the Legislature passed a law requiring the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to issue a quarterly report on sexual assault kit testing times. Tennessee Democrats noted in a news release Thursday that three state crime labs are returning test results to local law enforcement in 22.7 weeks, on average.
That’s down from 45.4 weeks last August, before Ms. Fletcher’s kidnapping, the TBI report showed. The state police agency is outsourcing some testing to a Florida company, using $1.9 million in federal grant funding, the Democrats’ news release said.
By Adrian Sainz
