A US man, who admitted to kidnapping and murdering Eliza Fletcher, a billionaire heiress, has been sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. Cleotha Abston pleaded guilty in a Memphis courtroom on Monday, leading to an immediate life sentence, according to a report in WREG.
Abston kept his head lowered as he addressed the judge but remained expressionless after entering his guilty plea to the kidnapping and murder charges. He responded with a simple “yeah” to most of the judge’s questions, said the report.
Eliza Fletcher, 34, a teacher and mother, disappeared while she was out for an early morning run in September 2022. Days after her disappearance, her body was found in a wooded area outside Memphis. She suffered blunt force injuries and was fatally shot in the back of her head.
Abston was arrested a day after Fletcher went missing. He was caught on surveillance footage thoroughly cleaning an SUV linked to her abduction. In court, Abston showed little visible emotion, keeping his head bowed and speaking in a quiet tone, as reported by WREG.
A statement read on behalf of Fletcher’s family conveyed the impact of the tragedy: “We have no idea what happened to you to turn you into someone so filled with a desire to hurt people. Whatever it was, it does not excuse or explain what you have done. You have changed our lives forever, and nothing will ever be the same. Your actions were evil. There is no other word for it. You murdered Liza, even though she did nothing to deserve it. She did not hurt you. She would’ve been the first to help if you needed it.”
Fletcher, an heiress to Orgill Inc., a hardware supply company her grandfather, Joseph Orgill III, helped build, was well-known in Memphis, according to the New York Post. What began as a small family business in 1847 evolved into one of the nation’s largest privately held firms, generating over $3 billion in revenue annually.
Fletcher, a mother of two, was a junior kindergarten teacher at St. Mary’s Episcopal School in Memphis. Before joining St. Mary’s, she taught kindergarten at Promise Academy in Nashville, where she also coached kids interested in soccer, according to Commercial Appeal.
Abston’s connection to the crime was established through DNA evidence from a pair of shoes left at the scene. His criminal history also includes a conviction earlier this year for the 2021 abduction and assault of a woman he met on a dating app.