Hi, I'm Holly and I'm Hailey. Welcome to Mountain Mysteries Tales from Appalachia. Hey, welcome back everybody. Hello.
We are going to jump right in because, you know, Hailey had been sick and he missed an episode and because of that, we want to give you something extra. So we want to give you a little bonus. So this could be your Tuesday bonus? Sure.
Whatever day. Whatever day we're feeling like you get some extra. So Hailey recently we did an episode on Eliza Fletcher, which if you all remember, you know, she was the kindergarten teacher, mother of two. She was living in Memphis when she went for a 4am job on September 2nd, 2022.
So just recently she was reported missing a few hours later by her husband when she did not return home and police used the circuit TV video to retrace her steps and they discovered that she had been kidnapped and thrown into a dark GMC terrain. Okay. The SUV. That's on the right back.
It's terrifying. Well, and then when they went back and looked at the video 38 minutes prior to her kidnapping, this person had been seen circling the area slowly. Okay. That does not feel comfortable at all.
So they were able to trace the car back to Kliyofa Abston who lived in the area. So Kliyofa or Kliyofa, as he was known, had previously been accused of rape after meeting a young woman on a dating app and raping her at gunpoint. Oh my God. A crime for which he had not been charged.
Of course not. Why would he? Well, that's because they didn't have the opportunity to she did a rape kit. They didn't have the opportunity to run the DNA.
Why? It was backlogged. Like in most states, it gets backlogged. They don't have enough individuals to test the rape kits.
And so it got backlogged and there was never an arrest made. Right, because rape kits should be something we just don't. I really think it needs to be prioritized. Because what we're saying to these victims is you know, you don't matter.
Yeah, it's like, okay, go through the trauma of having a rape kit done. Right after a rape, which is a horrific experience. Oh my God. And but then we're going to put it into storage unit and say, we'll get to a rape.
It's like being raped three times. Yes, it's a crime. A crime. A crime.
A crime. Constant constantly for these women. So we know that he had not been charged at this point. So going back to Eliza, blood and DNA matching that of Eliza was actually found in his car.
And he was arrested on kidnapping charges because at that point that's all they could get him on. Right. Abston during the interview with police would not say a word. And they had no idea where Eliza might be.
So a search ensued. Eliza's body was found behind an abandoned duplex. The same duplex that Abston had been accused of raping that young lady the year before. Same place.
A year. A year before. A literal year. Yeah.
Yep. That he was out on the street looking for women. Right. Right.
So Abston was then charged with murder in the first degree among kidnapping and death charges. So now I've got some updates for you. Okay. Because a lot is happening in this case very quickly.
So Eliza's cause of death was determined to be a gunshot wound to the back of her head along with blood force trauma. The autopsy also revealed that Eliza had sustained significant injuries to her face and her legs. So she's actually fought. She fought that pretty hard.
There was no mention if Eliza had been sexually assaulted. So now I don't know if that's something that they're holding back. I don't know if you should have hadn't or is it one of those things where at this point, not that it doesn't matter, but is it important for the conviction of the case where that's really to the public, you know? Correct.
Is that something that they can just kind of not have to put the family through? Maybe. I mean, I want him to be charged with literally everything that he charged with. Yeah.
But if he's going away for a life sentence, and they could do is that something that they're kind of just holding? Could be. But I think that that would speak to motive. Yeah.
And it may come out in trial too. I think it could. I mean, if he has a history of raping, I mean, you don't just one day say, you know what, I'm not going to rape you. I'm just going to murder you.
And it could be an attempt like you tried to come back to this place so hard that he just killed her. Right. It could have very well done. So some background information that recently came out about this alleged killer, Cleotha Abson.
Apparently, he had recently been released from jail in 2020 after serving get this a 20 year sentence for abducting Memphis attorney, Kemper Durand at gunpoint in 2001. Yes. So it's like, this is not his first. So wait a minute, he was arrested for kidnapping someone at gunpoint, served 20 years, was released, immediately sounds like went out and raped a woman within a year and a half gunpoint.
And then didn't get caught for that one because somebody didn't run a rape kit and then killed this. And if you think about that, he would have been found immediately how they run the DNA on the rape. Right. Because there's stuff in this stuff.
Yeah. Yeah. Not that I want to blame anyone. But I just, and again, hindsight is what it is.
But it almost feels like, and I know it's more nuanced than this. But if we took rate more seriously in this country, if we did our jobs correctly, and I know there's a back up, I know that the people who are doing the work and are running these kids are working tremendously hard. So I'm not faulting the people doing the work, I'm faulting the systems that haven't put enough resources and money and people into doing this work. Because it's not that hard to say that women matter and are important.
And that crimes that happen to us are just as important and we should be spending our money to put rapists in jail. And I think, for all these women, the biggest thing is the fear of they haven't gotten. What if he comes back again? What if he attacks me again?
What if he attacks someone else again? And look, it ended up happening. It's, you know, and, and, you know, it could have been prevented. I'm sure there are a ton of amazing and phenomenal people who care and are we're preaching to the choir at this point that have worked this case and understand that the system just failed.
You know, maybe not them as individuals fail, but the system itself fails and it continues to fail. Well, and the young lady who was raped has a very similar sentiment and we'll get to that towards the end here. Yeah, definitely. So, Apsden and an accomplice stole Duran.
He was the lawyer. First, I stole his wallet and then they forced him into the trunk of his own car at gunpoint. They drove him to a gas station at and where they made him a draw all of his money. So, it looks like robbery was the initial lawyer.
They have the lawyer tied up in an apartment, again, that seems very similar in situation here, but Apsden and his accomplice ran away when an ununiformed housing authority officer heard the lawyer screaming for help and came in to see what was going on. Duran really believed that had he not screamed and you'll have to help that Apsden would have killed him. The lawyer, Kemper Duran died in 2013 and had previously advocated for Apsden to be paroled. But recanted after he learned of Apsden's long juvenile record that again, when he was 11 years old with assault charges, 11.
What happened to this guy? That's what I want to know. He just stared you in that. Usually.
I mean, I'm sure there are cases, but he's not going to excuse anything. No. And by the time, so if it starts at 11 and you're got assault charges, at the time that he kidnapped and robbed this lawyer, held him at an end point, he was 17 years old. He was still a minor.
But try doesn't it all right? Yeah. The Apsden and his accomplice were arrested, pleaded guilty to the crime of kidnapping and theft. Apsden was sentenced to 24 years in prison and released after serving 85% of this time.
So after almost 20 years. I mean, honestly more than a lot. That is true. That's true.
Okay. So back to the present. Remember the young girl, Alicia Franklin, the one who had been raped by Apsden, mentioned? So the DNA kit from the rape was finally tested by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and they received the results in September the 5th.
This was three days after the lies had been killed. Their DNA matched Apsden. Apsden pleaded not guilty to the kidnapping and rape charge in court on September 15th. So did they run this rape kit after the lies that was taken?
So from what I understand, it was run initially on June 30th. But the results weren't given to the TBI until the 5th of September. Which does days after she was done? Yeah.
That feels weird. Doesn't it? That feels fishy. I don't like that.
That I don't. And why the delay in getting it to the results? Yeah. Yeah.
And it just seems like a weird coincidence that it was three days after. Unless she had come forward very quickly. Because he was arrested pretty quickly after. So maybe maybe it's not.
Maybe it's you know, he was arrested. She saw that went in and said, hey, this is the guy. Yeah. Or maybe they said, oh, wait a minute.
This matches the guy in a rape that we had last year that sounds like a similar MO. But why wouldn't he arrested them before? I don't know. I don't like it.
I'm sure there's a lot more nuance than it sounds. Well, and then the fact that he would plead guilty in 2001 to the kidnapping, that kidnapping and knowing that he had like 20 years, but he wouldn't even plead guilty when DNA said, hey, you raped this young lady. You either got a lot smarter or a lot dumber. I'm gonna vote for dumber.
Because, or he's thinking maybe he can get a good defense turn and get off. That's not really tough. I mean, he'll go away, hopefully forever. I hope so.
And I, my heart breaks for realize his family, but my heart also breaks for Alicia. Alicia Alicia. And what a two very similar name. So Alicia is actually suing the Memphis police for not investigating your crime at the time it occurred and not getting absent off the street.
I don't fault her for that. I don't either. And Alicia feels that, you know, have they done their jobs? This dangerous predator would have never killed Eliza.
Just a question. What race was Alicia? African American. Okay.
I'm still leaving out there. Just gonna leave that there. Yeah. Alicia was interviewed on Good Morning America recently and stated that she went on a dating app and met absent.
She was four months pregnant at the time and thought that she was meeting him at his apartment just so they could go to dinner. You know, like, okay, you'll drive that. Yeah. Yeah.
So he brought her into the apartment, which she thought was his and it was actually abandoned. He put a gun to the back of her neck and made her walk back to her car. It was there where he raped her. And then when she immediately is brilliant and so brave and went to the hospital and had a rape kit, which again, oh my God, you're like a hero to me because you've already been traumatized and you know that what you're about to do is going to be even more traumatizing and yet you you want finances.
Like, that's so brave to me. And then for a friggin system police department to totally kill you. And not just that. She was pregnant at the time.
So, you know, the the concern too would be like, is your baby okay? Like all these things, you know, and so she better get all that money. Yes, I hope she does. I hope she does.
She ended up having her baby. It was okay. Five months later, baby was born. It was a girl.
The Tennessee governor has hired now because of this 50 new lab tax in order to process DNA faster and get these criminals off the street. On average in Tennessee, it takes 34 weeks to process DNA for the kids. That's eight and a half months. What?
Eight and a half months. Yeah, I'm sorry. That's an average. That's an average.
And not that I'm not taking anything away from the tragedy that happened to Eliza. But we see this and it enrages me. We see it over and over and over again in this country. When crimes happen to women, specifically black women, they are not taken seriously.
A white woman is abducted off the street and thank God they did their jobs and did it well and quick and got this person. But I have to wonder if the situation was reversed and this had been Alicia. What has happened as quickly as it did? I don't know.
I have a feeling of my answer, but I don't know. I don't know. I mean, it does breed the you know, absent is African American himself. Eliza was a white female.
You know, you see the blonde white cheerleaders getting the attention. And again, I'm not saying that's not a good thing. They should. All people.
All people. But we are due. We do such a disservice. So women and especially black women and brown women and indigenous women and anyone of color in this country and it has to stop.
Yeah. And I don't have the answer for how it's done. I'm just another white woman talking about it on the internet, which doesn't do much good, but it enrages me and just donate and vote and do what you can. I really want him to also, you know, because he has been, he had to put in a plea, you know, for this crime.
So he is being tried for this crime as well. So it's not like he's getting away with that. He's just good. However, he should have been off the street a year prior, just saying.
But I hope that, you know, if she feels comfortable doing it and she wants to do it, that Alicia is there every damn day and that he can see her face and know that it was her because she's, I mean, Alicia's a hero of the story. She is. I mean, absolutely is. Point blank simple.
And Eliza is an unnecessary victim in this in all this case and it's tragic and it's awful and it's heartbreaking and it never should have happened. Yeah. Well, and you know, meanwhile, Eliza's family has pretty much remained to themselves just to be able to be and many a pay tribute to her, but they are looking forward to absent his trial, which a date has not been set yet for that. But you guys, don't you worry, I will be here to update you.
I just thought it was fascinating that there was more that had come out and that I just wanted to share about Alicia and both Alicia and Eliza because these women were victims. Yes. Victims of this man who just thought that he could do whatever he wanted to these women and get away with it. Right.
And of a system that has that failed. It's failed him since he was 11 years old. It's failed him. It's failed these women.
It's failed their community and Eliza's family and it just is enraging and we have to do better. Yeah. We have to do better. So do better.
The end. Of my breath. That again doesn't help anything, but it's just me yelling. All right.
We're gonna let Haley calm down. Just reach out. We'll just reach out. We'll just reach out to them all when we're here.
All right, y'all. If you want to give us your opinion, if you're over here twitching to, send us an email at mountainmysteries.appollection at gmail.com. If you want to find us on social media, you can start with Facebook at Mountain Mysteries, tales from Appalachia and then go over to Instagram at mountainmysteries.appolacha. And last but not least, if you want a little bit more of us and get a little more twitchy, just go on patreon.com slash mountain mystery.
Yeah, we get real twitchy over there. Oh, yeah. There's a lot of twitchy. There's a lot of twitchy.
There's a lot of yelling. It's a lot of yelling. It's a lot of holly and hally after dark. It's a little more punchy.
Yeah. Okay. I'll say punchy that works. All right.
Well, thank you guys for this surprise episode. I hope you enjoyed this update and we will see you a little later in the week. Bye.