Eliza Fletcher

Hi, I'm Holly. And I'm Hailey. Welcome to Mountain Mysteries Tales from Appalachia. I'm ready.

Hi friends. Hello. We're back. Ready for more?

We're energized. Yeah, sort of. Sort of. Yeah.

We're here. Present. Alive. Physically present.

Mentally. Mentally checked out. Mentally checked out. How did you read?

It's been insane. Yeah, same. I sliced my finger open last night trying to cut open some steaks. Okay, I'm glad you said the stick.

You know what? You were doing last night. We had a big cookout thing at my church and they put me on opening the packages. There's supposed to be like the peel ones where you can take the two pieces of plastic and just open it.

Y'all know how to open plastic. I'm trying to explain. Y'all had to open those. Anyway, some of them didn't have that started so you couldn't peel them so I had to use a knife to cut into them and I was having attention and I just sliced my finger right on open.

So, you know, in the daylight it doesn't look bad. It's just like a step above a paper cut but it really bled. You know what? I think that in retrospect probably wasn't a good idea to put you in the middle of the day.

No. No. Any kind of sharp objects or even the possibility that you may have to use a sharp object. Yeah, it was a bad call.

It was a bad call. You know? I made it through about three-fourths of them before I had to hand it over to somebody else and I was like, I'm bleeding everywhere now. I cannot be.

Do the man tell you that he was on blood then? He sure did. So, let's see what happens. He took it over and he's like, well I'm on blood then or so we'll see how this goes.

But he was successful. He was successful. Okay. Yeah, he was much more responsible with the knife than I was.

We need to do this little like kitty knives. Yes, I mean the safety knives. Yeah, safety knives. Yeah, safety first, Haley.

Yeah, that was rough. I'm glad you're okay though. I'm glad you're here. You've lived to tell the tale.

Well, I said, you know, I can't afford stitches so we're going to have to figure this out. Exactly. I mean, who can these days? Right.

Come to my house. I'll get my sewing kit out. It's about to say, I think we've got some needle in thread at the house. We'll make it work.

I'll do that right on that. It'll be fine. Well, I'm glad you're alive. Glad you didn't bleed out.

You did not bleed out. That's cool. She doesn't even have a band-aid on it. No, I took it off last night and I was like, it's fine.

And she said, she was talking about her again. I'm glad you got it. And she's like, you have to do better than that. Just keep pulling pressure on it.

I did. I soaked that paper towel though. It looks like a murder scene in there. The product of two EMTs.

Yeah. Just saying. We're just like, man, it'll be all right. That thing that we probably stitches on now.

We'll just put a band-aid on that. Well, Neo's foreign mixture. We don't get an infection. Staring strip it back together.

You're going to be fine. All right, Haley. I've got a famous story today. I'm excited about this one.

This story is actually one that you've probably heard quite a bit in the news recently. I heard it in the news and I thought, you know what? Let's talk about this story. It takes place in Memphis, Tennessee.

So we're getting a little further west, but still in one of our favorite states, Tennessee. This is the story of Eliza Fletcher. Okay. All right.

So September 2nd, 2022. So I mean, we're talking weeks ago. Yeah, like three weeks ago. Yeah.

Around 4 a.m. Eliza, known to her family and friends as Liza Fletcher, left her home and began jogging around the University of Memphis campus. I'm not much of a jogger. I'm barely a walker.

I mean, I'm barely ambulatory. Let's go. I tried once upon a time. To be a runner.

Yeah, I was like, you know, this seems like something I should do. I made it about a week and then I was like, no. I also, about four years ago, decided I'm going to start running. So I'd go to the park and I would do the sprinting.

And it was great for a little while. And then I just totally got off it. And I, you know, I'm just not about it. But I really have so much admiration and respect for the folks who are runners.

I'm like, man, you're killing it. I know. I see people out running on, like, especially after. So when I get off work, I get off work in school systems.

So I get off work and I'm, you know, driving back to my house. And I'll pass people on my street that have gotten off work, also at the same time as me in school system. And they'll keep like their running clothes in their bag and they'll change at school and they'll go run like three miles. And I'm like, I just want to die after I get to the park.

The same thing, you know, I will typically be on my way to the Taco Bell. And I will be passing people, you know, who are running great physical shape. And I'm just looking at the end going, good job, you. And then I'm like, hello, may I take your order?

Yes. I would like the burrito with a side taco, please. I mean, it's just sour cream. Like, you know, I mean, it's just, it's so sad.

But I mean, those people that do that, way to go you. Exactly. And I think you're amazing. Liza was an avid runner.

Yeah. And she actually had been, I guess, potential for the Boston Marathon. Crazy. She ran the St.

Jude Marathon in like, astonishing times, you know, like just. Liza. Yes. So she grew up in the Memphis area.

Her family has a multi-billion dollar hardware company. Crazy. Yeah. Her grandfather, great grandfather, had started it and was very successful.

So she grew up in a pretty well off of fluent family. Right. She was from Hutchinson School, which was an All-Girl School, in 2006 and enrolled that fall at Baylor University in Texas. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in exercise and sports science.

I mean, obviously. I mean, obviously, if you're an out-of-runner. Right. That makes sense.

It wouldn't make sense if that were Haley and I, as major. No. I mean, imagine our first day. And they're like, so you have to get off the bench.

No. I'm on my period. I can't. I'll get the doctors.

So then I woke up. I slept incorrectly. I can't. My neck hurts.

We would come up with all the excuses. We would not graduate. I know. I would have flunked out at semester one.

Chunky science, you know, like Master of Chunky Science. Oh, man, I gave my PhD. I could do that. Yeah, just like, you know, eating chocolate.

So after she got her undergrad degree, she returns to Tennessee where she attended graduate school at Belmont University. This is in Nashville. It's so pretty. One of my friends actually applied to Belmont.

Anyway, she graduated with her Master of Arts degree in elementary education, which is my undergrad is an elementary education. Yeah, none of my degrees are in elementary education. Uncle. I love you too.

She always says, kids under seven. I just, I don't know if you can't do what I can't do with them. I don't know what to do. I just kind of look at them and they look at me and I'm like, nah, nah, nah.

And they know you're scared. Yeah, they can smell your fear. They can smell fear. They can't.

They just know that you're scared of them and they will just take over. Yeah, that's terrifying. Yeah. So scared.

Well, I mean, you played off well. My son doesn't, he doesn't sniff out your fear yet. I'm not. Yeah, we're cool.

Yeah, we're cool. He's pretty accommodating. Yeah, he's pretty like, he needs to where you are. He does.

He's one of those that makes me think like, oh, yeah, I can, I can hang out with his age. And then I meet other ones that are not your son and I'm like, absolutely not. Yeah, I meet other ones who are not my son. I'm like, yep, nope.

He's a special kid. He's a special boy. He's great. He is beautiful.

So upon graduation, Liza began her teaching career at Promise Academy. I love that name in Nashville. Where's she? Promising.

A quality education. I love it. I do too. I mean, if you pay enough, you'll get a quality.

True. It will make you a lot of promises. Yeah. And this is where she also coached the soccer team.

So again, she continues, you know, now that she's an education, she continues that physical side. Right. Right. She eventually moved back to Memphis and taught kindergarten at St.

Mary's school. And her friends and colleagues said that she was pretty much adored by all. According to the school, she knew each student individually and did whatever she could to excite them for learning. I know it's so cute.

And then the quote went on to say, you could always find her celebrating both big and small successes in the classroom. I love that because it makes students feel like I'm good enough. It doesn't, you know, like so many students feel just inadequate. Like I'm not measuring up to maybe my peers.

And so meeting them where they are and looking at the incremental changes in growth is maybe even more important than the big things. Right. You know, talk about meeting them where they are. It's really important.

Eliza attended Presbyterian Church where she met her husband Richard Fletcher III known as Richie. The two were married at church in 2014. And the senior pastor described Eliza as full of life and said that she and Richie were always involved in church activities. Eliza and Richie had two sons who were also very active and lived an active lifestyle like they did involved in sports.

You know, they enjoyed running and living a healthy lifestyle. Same. Do you know? Yeah.

That's a try. I go to the gym sometimes. I don't anymore. But I do try to, now that I'm back in school, I'm trying to like, not in school, but like working at school.

I'm trying to like, you know, eat healthier. I need to. It's so hard. But we had Subway Friday last week and I just had a big old subway sandwich.

It's not bad. That's pretty good. Yeah. Sometimes you just need that.

Sometimes you do. You just need some salami. Yep. Just get through the dough.

That was good. So the pastor also said that Eliza and her husband were excellent parents and that their sons would always come up to him each Sunday and offer him a hug. I know. I thought that was very sweet.

Cute. Eliza and Richie had a profound sense of faith. And according to their pastor, that really made a significant impact on their lives, their relationship and how they treated others. You know, I think that when you sort of have in whatever your theology, your beliefs, but I think, you know, if you have just this certain path that you're working towards and you you understand, you know, that humans are humans and treating everybody with kindness, you know, it's so important that a lot of people don't get the memo about.

Right. So let's jump back into what Eliza was doing the morning of Friday September 2nd. So this is leading into Labor Day weekend. So Eliza, like normal, was up and had her running shoes on by four, just like me, to get in that morning jog before the work day started.

But unfortunately, Eliza never returned home and her worried husband, Richie, called the police to report her missing. Police were able to access video surveillance cameras from the university that showed Eliza wearing a pink running top, purple shorts, running shoes and a hat. And other reports also said that it was one of those headbands, like what headbands. So it depends on what you read.

Anyway, around 4 20 a.m. While running down Central Avenue, a dark colored GMC terrain, which is an SUV, pulls up to the sidewalk and waits for Eliza to run by. That's scary. Yeah.

I've been in a few situations where it's like, I don't know. And it's just like a gut feeling that something's not right. Yeah. So she runs by a man gets out of the SUV, runs towards her aggressively, according to the video, grabs her and tries to force her into the passenger seat.

Police state that the video shows there appear to be a struggle as the man tried to force her in the car. So you know how they always tell you, you know, fight. Like if somebody's trying to get you in the car, fight, yell, scream, do all those things. Right.

You don't want to go to the second location. Exactly. Do not let them like they're going to kill you. Let them kill you right now.

But the thing is, he was clearly more powerful than she was. And it's 4 a.m. It's dark. There's no one really around.

There's no one for him. So there's no one around at this time. And no one could help you really. So even if she were screaming and fighting, no one would have heard her.

So and this man clearly overpowered her. He was on a mission. Right. So previous surveillance video, so they went back a little further from that morning, shows the same vehicle driving around campus about 38 minutes prior to Eliza's abduction.

So this was a stakeout. This was somebody clearly looking for a victim. So this is intentional. This is with, you know, malice.

So around 645 that morning, a few hours later, a resident of the area found Eliza's cell phone and a pair of champion slide sandals lying in the street near where Eliza had been abducted. The champion slides were larger in size and clearly did not appear to be Eliza's shoes. The resident gave the items to Eliza's family who turned it over to the police. Now, this doesn't make sense to me.

Unless they were like family, like, how would you know that? Right. Because what you'll find out is the husband didn't report her missing until, you know, after seven. Right.

So I don't, maybe it's like, oh, I got her phone and maybe, you know, you hit the button and the lock, you know, picture was like her and her family or I don't know. I don't know. Yeah. Maybe it's a really tight knit community and everybody knew each other could very well, and maybe, you know, she dropped herself on before and somebody found, you know, oh, and you know, you find somebody's cell phone and you're like, oh gosh, they really need this.

And you know, I've had that before. You've had the grocery store where I've left it in a cart or something, you know. So maybe it was just a kind resident. Yeah, who happened to know her family.

I don't know. But nonetheless, the family member turns it over to the police. So the champion brand slide sandals were sent to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation for DNA testing. So all this is kind of going on.

And by 745 that morning, police received two phone calls from the husband. So he reports her missing. And this is like three hours after she was abducted. But I think about it this way.

You know, she may have been the type to have been like, you know, yeah, I'm gonna go for a run, but then maybe I'll go have a cup of coffee and a coffee shop. Or, you know, so he may have not suspected anything or maybe he even thought maybe she ran by work, maybe she went to work early, you know, and just forgot to tell me. So all these things are just so normal, you know. So anyway, national news outlets covered the missing mom and kindergarten teacher.

So this became, you know, yeah, I'm overseeing it. Yeah, me too. And this is actually how I heard about the story. It was presented as, you know, kindergarten teacher goes missing, you know, that's kind of how it was presented.

So within a day's time, this, this is impressive. Within a day's time, the DNA lab had secured a match on the samples. That's crazy. Yeah, because how, how many times do you hear like, well, in eight weeks, we'll get the results right?

Right. I mean, they were working hard and fast. Yeah. So the DNA matched that of Cleopha Abston, who instantly became a person of interest in Eliza's disappearance.

So for our sake, I'm going to call him Cleo because that's often the name that he went by. Got it. Cleo drove a dark colored GMC terrain and his brother lived very close by in the area. Investigators were able to find a surveillance video from a few days prior of Cleo at a movie theater wearing those exact same champion's light sandals.

They were his. Yeah. When investigators obtained his phone records, which allegedly showed his phone pinging at 3876 Central Avenue around 4 20 a.m., which is exactly where she was abducted. Right.

On Saturday, September 3rd, around 10 45 a.m. Members of the U.S. Marshall Service located Cleo's GMC terrain in a parking lot of the 5700 block of Waterstone Oak Way. This was the apartment complex where he lived.

Investigators staked out the residence until a male matching his subscription was spotted. Cleo spotting the police tried to make a run for it. So I mean, he knew what was up. Right.

I knew that this was not about to come to it. Yes. Yeah. And so I also think, you know, if you're staking it, were you in an unmarked car or was it was it pretty obvious?

Right. And I don't know if maybe they had gotten out of the car and they're like, excuse me, Mr. Abson, we need to speak with you and he starts running. I mean, it could have been that scenario.

But police caught up with him and he was swiftly taken into custody. Right. While police interviewed him, the crime lab went towards work searching his vehicle. The car had Eliza's blood and other evidence, leading them to believe that Eliza had suffered serious injury in the vehicle.

So a note here, allegedly, Cleo tried to clean out the vehicle at some point. And people had reported seeing him cleaning out like the back of the vehicle. He would not talk to the police at all regarding her disappearance, like would not talk to them. Wouldn't say like, you know, and the biggest question is, well, where is she?

Right. And he would not answer it. So Eliza was described as a white female, five foot six inches tall, blonde hair, green eyes, 137 pounds. I mean, honestly, all of that except for the 130, I mean, that could be me.

Yeah. Or maybe it is me. It's half of me. I'm just kidding.

Not that heavy. Wow. Her family offered $50,000 for any information leading to her being found safe. Yeah.

By that Sunday, September 5th, so the day before Labor Day, Cleo was charged with aggravated kidnapping, tampering with and fabricating evidence, identity theft of property $1,000 or less, and illegal possession of a credit or debit card for $1,000 or less. Bail was initially set half a million dollars, but would be increased as more charges were added. So on Monday, September 6th, Labor Day, the next day, around 507 PM. So now we're about three days since she was gone missing.

Eliza's body was found in the rear of a vacant duplex apartment, not far from where she'd been kidnapped. Right. The next day, Cleo appeared in court and was arraigned on first-degree murder charges, premeditated murder, and murder and perpetration of kidnapping. The defendant requested that his name be changed from Cleo-the, Cleo-the, let's see, Abston to Cleo-the Henderson, which the judge ordered.

I don't. Okay. So I don't know if he was going by this name, Abston, as, you know, maybe he was just like going by it, but it wasn't his real name. I'm very confused here.

Anyway, but nonetheless, the judge said, sure, sounds good. Weird little detail? It's super weird, but nonetheless, there you go. So apparently around the same time that Cleo was in court, his brother, who you remember lived nearby, was in another courtroom being presented on charges of fentanyl possession.

Oh, great. Yeah. And if you all know anything about fentanyl, that's a drug that'll kill you. Yeah, that's a very scary drug.

So details about Eliza's cause of death has really not been released as of yet. There is an interesting detail to the story, however. So it's been making, you know, a lot of circles around the media. There's a lot of coverage on it.

Well, one lady who was listening to the coverage stopped and thought, Oh my gosh, I know that guy. So a year prior to Eliza's kidnapping, a woman by the name of Alicia Franklin met Cleo on a dating app. Oh, yeah, that's so scary. She met him at that same duplex where you remember behind they found Eliza's body.

Yeah. So she meets him at the duplex, which number one, never meets someone public public place, like meet him at the Taco Bell. The Taco Bell. That's where you do that.

That's where you do business. Oh, that's where you meet. Yes. You know, you have a beef burrito and you say, Hey, I like cats.

So she states that once she got there, he allegedly pulled a gun on her blindfolded her took her into the duplex and raped her. Oh my God. After the attack, he told her to wait until she heard his car drive away to make an escape. Alicia immediately after he went away, went to the hospital and a rape kit was done.

Thank God. She's so smart. Like what a how brave is she? Right.

You know, because you would second guess yourself and think, Oh my gosh, this is a trap because what if he's not really gone? Right. But super brave and how many go to the hospital? I know, you know, some are just so scared that they don't have so brave.

Anyway, so the rape kit allegedly was not expedited. So just kind of sat there. And Alicia claims that the police showed her an old photograph of the making identification really challenging. Right.

And that would be it's like, well, I don't know, because that guy looks younger. Right. Obviously. She also claims that they did not take any physical evidence from the rape scene.

She had taken them back there actually and shown them where this happened. But nobody bagged in tags in the evidence. Oh my God. Yeah.

She also stated publicly that she feels like the police failed to take him off the streets. Like that was their opportunity. She felt like they had a lot of evidence against him and he was never arrested and you know, subsequently she feels like a licensed murder could have been, you know, prevented. Right.

So that's where we are for right now. And again, I'm using these terms like allegedly because I don't know, no one is guilty until proven guilty. Right. You know, and so I want to offer that space up.

However, I mean, there does seem to be a lot of evidence. Yeah, it seems overwhelming. And you know, more information is coming out sort of day by day on the story. And I figured that I'll update you guys as we go.

I mean, we know a big trial will be coming in this case. I don't know. What are your thoughts? Have you heard about this?

Yeah, I have. And I just, I mean, it always, you get the other side of people being like, Oh, well, she shouldn't have been out, you know, before you invite yourself and you know, kind of a victim blaming peace that you see a lot. And which is enrages me because it's like, well, I mean, maybe whoever did the tuition of, you know, then that to her. You know, the fact that I as a woman can't go on a more not that I personally would, but I can't go on a four AM job without having to worry about being freaking drug into a vehicle.

We don't see that. One thing that we can count on, Haley will not be abducted while running. I won't. Intentionally, intentionally running.

Correct. Correct. I will not be. But that doesn't mean that it's not just, no, I mean, there's, there's potential for anything.

Right. The thing is it, she was doing what she did every single day. This guy was looking for a victim. Yeah.

And just happened to, and just based on what it sounds like, it sounds like he was kind of praying the college campus to see if any maybe young girl was out. And maybe the motive was rape. I mean, she fought back and, you know, again, I don't know all the details here and everything is alleged. But yeah, it's just, it was very.

It was very. No, no, and for anyone to even like make that statement is just disgusting and you're a bad person. This was a 34 year old mother of two. Do you know what she did every single day?

Doing what she did every day, giving back to her community, teaching. She was strong in her church, strong in her faith, loved her kids, loved her family. It's senseless. It is absolutely senseless.

And you know, even if she hadn't been all those things, it doesn't give anybody any right to you or your body or your life or you know, it's just we've got and I feel like we've done a little bit of a better job in the past few years. But we've got to stop thinking about what did she do wrong. You know, oh, she didn't have whatever self-defense, you know, item on her to fight off her attacker. And it's like, you know, we all as women, we do think about that.

I think about that walking in my car at night or, you know, I do the keys between my knuckles trick and, you know, I look at my, I think about where I park in a parking lot at night. I think about, you know, I have my phone out. I try not to be on the phone so I can listen and alert the alert of what's going on around me or if I have headphones and I either have one in or I have them in and I'm not playing anything. There's always a would have should have could have maybe, you know, I mean, there's just always that, but, you know, and he just came out of nowhere to be honest.

So you're doing anything, you know, if does she have her hand on her mace ready, you know, she's probably getting her run on, you know, thinking about what she had to do that day kind of lost in the reverie of thought and all of a sudden this man comes out of nowhere. There's that fight, flight freeze like that instant that something happens, you know, she was probably shocked like what and then all of a sudden he's grabbing her. It is very hard in that moment to then make a split decision of what am I going to do? But she tried really hard to fight for her life and he just overpowered her.

So no, she, she did everything that she was supposed to do and this was not her fault. And I, you know, I know that her family would, would know that and say that. But I cannot imagine the pain they're going through. I cannot imagine.

And those little boys like, when is mommy coming home? You know, like, how do you have that conversation? Oh, no. Oh, that kills me.

Absolutely kills me. Anyway, but that anyway, sorry to bring the mood down. But this is a story that I would love to continue to update you all on just so, you know, we, as more details come out because again, we don't really know the cause of death. We don't know more about his history.

You know, it's just a very brief synopsis, but I thought it was an important story to do. Yeah, so I mean, it's current. It's happening right now. We're all watching it.

Yes, you know, it was national. So I just, I'm glad that this one seems like it's going to have a swift ending to it. So hopefully, you know, there's a lot of these other cases that are out there. We can have the same momentum around.

Well, and if this individual has committed this rape and has committed this murder, I'm so grateful that he is off the street. Yeah. You know, it is one less person that he's going to hurt, but it is devastating that he had to hurt anybody. Yeah, for sure.

Anyway, on that happy note, Haley, let us know how they can get in touch with us. Yeah, you can find some Facebook, Mount Misery's Tales from Appalachia, find us on Instagram, Mount Misery's dot Appalachia, or you can find us on our email. You can choose an email, find us on email, send us an email, whatever they ask for. They actually look through the emails.

It's Mount Misery's dot Appalachian at gmail dot com. And Patreon, Patreon, I was talking about that one. Why? It's the most fun.

Patreon, it's patreon dot com slash Mount Misery's. It's a good time. Maybe from now on, I should just say the thing. I know, it's like, I don't know where I say, Haley's like, I don't know.

What do we have? What are we doing? What's my name? Where am I?

What day is it? I don't know. It is Thursday. Thursday.

Yeah. It's October. We're making dreams. This is what we do here.

It's crazy. That's right. It's this. All right, y'all.

So I am going to give a big old shout out to Are You Ready? Drum roll. Durham, North Carolina. Hey, all right, which is in around the O'Reilly area.

Middle of the state. Yes, the capital. I love it. Yeah, Durham is not the capital.

Raleigh is, but nonetheless. Now that you've had that geography lesson, catch us next week when we talk about science or algebra. No, none of the above. A squared plus B squared equals C squared.

It is. We'll do some quadrilateral, quadrilateral, quadrilateral equations. I think that sounds fun. We'll make sure they're balanced.

Why solve for why? That sounds terrifying. Okay. Whatever.

I won't be just hitting that actually. The holly will be. I can't even say it. We'll see you next week.

Bye.