Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against a man charged with kidnapping a Memphis, Tennessee, school teacher during an early-morning run and killing her, a district attorney said Thursday.
Cleotha Abston is charged with snatching Eliza Fletcher from a street near the University of Memphis on Sept. 2 and forcing her into an SUV. Her body was found days later near a vacant duplex. He has pleaded not guilty to charges including murder and especially aggravated kidnapping.
Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy has filed notice with the court that prosecutors will seek the death penalty, Judge Lee Coffee said. State law says cases that are considered heinous, atrocious and cruel are eligible for the death penalty, Mulroy said outside of court.
“We are alleging that applies in this case,” Mulroy said.
No trial date has been set. Coffee said he would like it to take place this year, but it was not clear if lawyers could meet that timetable.
The killing of Fletcher, a 34-year-old kindergarten teacher and mother of two, shocked the Memphis community led to a flood of support for her family. Runners in Memphis and several other cities held an early-morning running event in her honor a week after she was abducted.
Abston, also known as Cleotha Henderson, is also charged with raping a woman in September 2021 — about a year before Fletcher was killed. He was not arrested on the rape charges before Fletcher’s killing because of a long delay in processing the sexual assault kit, authorities have said.
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