Eliza Fletcher killer admits abducting and murdering billionaire heiress during her morning run

A slayer unexpectedly pleaded blameworthy to abducting and murdering an heiress simple schoolhouse coach during her greeting run.

Cleotha Abston, 40, admitted to nan September 2022 sidesplitting of Eliza Fletcher, 34, successful a Memphis tribunal Monday morning. 

The profession criminal was branded 'evil' by Fletcher's family arsenic he was sentenced to life without parole for first-degree execution and aggravated kidnaping.

It was a astonishment move of events, arsenic Abston was owed to guidelines proceedings successful February, 2024, and prosecutors had said they would activity nan decease penalty.

The mom-of-two, a member of a billionaire Tennessee package family, vanished during an early greeting tally aft being forced into a car by Abston.

Abston lowered his caput arsenic he said successful tribunal but showed nary guidance aft pleading guilty, arsenic reported by WREG-TV.

'We person nary thought what happened to you to move you into personification truthful filled pinch a desire to wounded people,' Fletcher's family said successful a connection publication successful court.

'Whatever it was, it does not excuse aliases explicate what you person done. You person changed our lives forever, and thing will ever beryllium nan same. 

'Your actions were evil. There is nary different connection for it. You murdered Liza, moreover though she did thing to merit it. She did not wounded you. In fact, she would’ve been nan first to thief if you needed it.'

Fletcher was grabbed from a thoroughfare while she was jogging earlier dawn adjacent nan University of Memphis connected September. 2, 2022, and forced into an SUV. Her assemblage was recovered days later adjacent a vacant duplex.

Abston, who besides has gone by nan sanction Cleotha Henderson, was arrested aft constabulary detected his DNA connected sandals recovered adjacent nan location wherever Fletcher was past seen. An autopsy study showed Fletcher died of a gunshot coiled to nan head.

'We had been gathering pinch him regularly for nan past fewer months and had been telling him that we request to settee this case, that we cannot spell guardant pinch a proceedings and expect to succeed,' said Juni Ganguli, Abston’s lawyer.

In a statement, Fletcher’s family said they 'miss nan agleam ray of Liza’s life each day.' 

Abston was sentenced to 80 years successful situation May 17 for raping a female a twelvemonth earlier he was charged successful Fletcher’s death. 

He was convicted successful April of raping nan female while holding her astatine gunpoint successful September 2021.

Abston, whose history of criminal charges dates backmost to nan 1990s erstwhile he was a juvenile, was not charged successful nan 2021 rape lawsuit until aft being charged a twelvemonth later pinch sidesplitting Fletcher because of a agelong hold successful processing nan intersexual battle kit.

After Fletcher’s death, nan Legislature passed a rule requiring nan Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to rumor a quarterly study connected intersexual battle kit testing times.