A body found in Tennessee has been identified as the Memphis teacher who went missing last Friday (September 2), NBC News reports.
Mom-of-two Eliza Fletcher was snatched during an early-morning jog last week.
Several days into their search for the missing teacher, the Memphis Police Department announced that a "deceased party" was discovered in the area.
Fletcher, 34, was a married mom-of-two and an elementary school teacher. She came from a wealthy family who found a private hardware company priced at around $3.2 billion.
Tennessee authorities have already arrested and charged convicted kidnapper Cleotha Abston after obtaining surveillance footage that showed him snatching Fletcher.
In the footage, Abston can be seen running "aggressively toward the victim, and then [forcing] the victim Eliza Fletcher into the passenger’s side of the vehicle," per a police affidavit. "There appeared to be a struggle," the document added.
Meanwhile, police have described the abduction as "violent" and said it is likely Fletcher "suffered serious injury" which "left evidence of blood in the car".
Authorities were prompted to view Abston as a suspect after a pair of sandals with DNA linking him to the crime were discovered at the scene.
Witnesses later reported that they had seen Abston cleaning the vehicle - a GMC Terrain - that he allegedly used to kidnap the teacher.
A body was then unearthed near an abandoned elementary school, less than a mile from the place where Abston was spotted scrubbing his car.
This is not the first time the suspect has had a run-in with the law. When he was just 16 years old, Abston was convicted of kidnapping an attorney - a crime for which he spent 20 years behind bars. He was not released until 2020.
On Saturday (August 3), authorities arrested the convicted criminal and questioned him about Fletcher's whereabouts. He refused to cooperate with police and was charged with kidnapping on Sunday (August 4). He is being held on a $500,000 bond.
After Fletcher's body was identified, authorities confirmed that Abston was given additional charges including first-degree murder and first-degree murder in the perpetration of kidnapping.
Featured Image Credit: Jack Sullivan / Alamy
This is a developing story. More to follow...
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