BLACK SAVAGE KILLS BLONDE MOTHER-OF-TWO

CLEOTHA ABSTON SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN BORN

All those responsible for his early release from prison must be flogged publicly
and charged as accessories to murder.

REVEALED: Eliza Fletcher’s ‘killer’ Cleotha Abston was convicted of rape before spending 22 years in jail for kidnap – as video shows him cleaning his SUV after her body was dumped 100 yards away

• New video has emerged showing the suspect in the kidnapping and murder of Eliza Fletcher, a mother of two, cleaning out his car following her disappearance 
• The video shows suspect Cleotha Abston, 38, driving to his brother's home and spending time standing by the passenger side of his SUV
• The footage was shot less than four hours after Fletcher's disappearance on September 2, with Abston driving her round for an hour and a half
• Authorities announced on Tuesday that Fletcher's body had been found after an exhaustive search and that Abston had been charged with murder 
• Records show that he was previously arrested for raping a man and several assaults before he turned 16, when he was jailed for 22 years after kidnapping a lawyer
  

Court documents reveal that violent felon Cleotha Abston was previously convicted of raping a man when he was a teenager – as new footage show the alleged killer cleaning his SUV hours after billionaire heiress Eliza Fletcher vanished.

Abston, 38, was just 11 when he first appeared in Shelby County Juvenile Court, in Memphis, Tennessee, charged with theft of property $500 or less.

He was detained 16 times from October 1995 to May 2000 for rape, aggravated assault and unlawful possession of a weapon.

According to Action News 5 the first charges were filed against him in June 1995, and that he was part of the ‘LMG’ gang – which stands for ‘Lemoyne Gardens Gangstas’.

Records show that Abston was accused of raping a man and was placed in the custody of Shelby County’s Youth Services Bureau.

Two weeks after he was released from his final spell at the SCYSB to his mother’s care, he was transferred to adult court for kidnapping lawyer Kemper Durand.

Abston was sentenced to 22 years in prison for the offence, and was released in 2020 before violently bundling Eliza Fletcher, 34, into an SUV on Friday. 

New footage shows the suspected killer driving to the home of his brother, Mario, at the Longview Gardens apartment complex around 8am on Friday morning. 

Less than four hours earlier Abston is accused of kidnapping the heiress seven miles away, close to the University of Memphis. 

In the video, he can be seen sitting in his car after arriving at the complex before getting up and going to the trunk of the car. It's unclear what he was getting from the trunk. 

Authorities in Memphis confirmed that the body found in long grass near an abandoned property, close to where Abston was seen cleaning his car.

After rummaging around in the vehicle's trunk, Abston runs into his brother's home before returnign to the car and spends more than an hour on the passenger side of the GMC Terrain. 

His brother Mario, 36, described his brother as acting 'strangely', and has also been arrested on several felonies that are unrelated to Fletcher's case 

Officers found a semi-automatic handgun, a scale with a bag of heroin and fentanyl, and he was charged with being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, possession of a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony and possession of controlled substances.

Abston told police that his brother had been cleaning the interior of his GMC Terrain with floor cleaner, as well as washing his clothes in the sink of the house.

Cleo Henderson, Abston’s father, is currently in prison for second-degree murder and is scheduled for release in 2044. 

Another neighbor confirmed that Abston was acting 'very strange', and police determined that his phone pinged near to where Fletcher was taken.

Officers removed a dumpster close to Abston's brothers low-income apartment complex over the weekend.

Cops discovered the missing mother-of-two in long grass close to where her Lululemon running shorts were found in a trash bag.

Authorities have not yet confirmed Fletcher’s cause of death, and Abston is set to appear in court today to be arraigned on further charges.

The Ultra-runner vanished while out for a jog around 4.30am on Friday, sparking a four-day long hunt, which led officers to several wooded areas across Memphis.

But she was discovered by the steps of a dilapidated one-story property just yards from where police last spotted the vehicle she was forced into.

A bloodstain remained at the bottom of the stairs next to the patch of dirt where her body was found, with flies still swarming the area and locals reporting a 'stench of decay'.

Abston, who is accused of taking the keen jogger, drove with her in his GMC Terrain for an hour and a half before the vehicle was spotted turning into the road where her body was discovered.

The area where the body was found is just a hundred yards from the Longview Gardens apartment complex - where Abston's brother, Mario, lives.

Abston was previously charged with kidnapping and tampering with evidence in relation to her disappearance, as well as other unrelated charges.

He appeared in court yesterday wearing a mask and green issued prison uniform, swaying back and forth, looking towards the family of the victim before telling the court in an affidavit that he is unable to afford a lawyer or make bond.

Abston did not speak during the short 15 minute hearing, and was led away by officers with his hands cuffed behind his back.

A van believed to belong to the medical examiners unit left the scene six hours after the remains were found, and is thought to have been transporting the body.

Devestated neigbours left tributes to the mother-of-two, including a pink stuffed animal and heart shaped balloons on the front step.

[...]

He was sentenced to 24 years in prison but was released early in 2020 according to the Tennessee Department of Corrections.

Coffindaffer condemned the decision to release Abston two-years early, saying that keeping him in prison would have prevented the alleged crime.

'Any time someone is let out early and then goes on to commit another violent crime, yes, I think society’s let down,' she said. 'I think we are all let down by his early release.'  (read more)