Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - DEATH PENALTY SOUGHT FOR PERV IN MEMPHIS-MOM-JOGGER MURDER

Episode Date: September 2, 2023

Tennessee prosecutors are seeking the death penalty Cleotha Abston, also known as Cleotha Henderson. He is charged with kidnapping and killing Memphis teacher Eliza Fletcher.   Fletcher vanished while out on her morning run. Neighborhood video captured images of Fletcher being forced into an SUV. The kindergarten teacher's body was found days later near a vacant house less than a mile from the kidnapping site. Officers combing the area noticed footprints, tire tracks and “an odor of decay.” A pair of purple Lululemon running shorts matching what Fletcher was last seen wearing, was found in a nearby trash can.  Abston, 39, is also charged with the rape of a woman in September 2021, but he was not arrested until after Fletcher’s killing because the state crime lab hadn’t gotten around to processing the sexual assault kit. Abston has pled not guilty.  Joining Nancy Grace today: Matthew Mangino – Attorney, Former District Attorney (Lawrence County), Author: “The Executioner’s Toll: The Crimes, Arrests, Trials, Appeals, Last Meals, Final Words and Executions of 46 Persons in the United States;" Twitter: @MatthewTMangino Caryn L. Stark – Psychologist, Renowned TV and Radio Trauma Expert and Consultant; Instagram: carynpsych/FB: Caryn Stark Private Practice Lisa M. Dadio - Former Police Lieutenant with the New Haven Police Department; Annie Le Lead Detective; Senior Lecturer, Director of the Center for Advanced Policing and Graduate Program Coordinator Investigations program, University of New Haven  Rachel D. Fischer – Registered Nurse; Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE); Expert Witness; Private Investigator; Author: “Taking Back the Pen;” Forensic Nursing Consulting and Education LLC Dr. Kristen Mittelman - Chief Development Officer, Othram Inc.; Twitter: @OthramTech  Dave Mack - CrimeOnline Investigative Reporter  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A beautiful young mom, a school teacher, goes out early, early in the morning, around 4 a.m. to jog so she can get back to take care of her tiny children and get to work on time, not waking up a soul, including her husband, as she leaves in the dark and morning hours for her run. Eliza Fletcher never makes it home. She is kidnapped, I believe sex assaulted, and murdered. In the last hours, we learned the state has announced

it will seek the death penalty. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at Fox Nation and Sirius XM 111. First of all, take a listen to our friends WREG. If it's within the absolute control of this court, this case will be tried before the end of 2023. But things could take a while longer as the prosecution is asking the TBI to release more evidence, which could lead to more time before the case goes to trial.

But what is certain and just made public is the prosecution's plan to seek the death penalty if Absinthe Henderson were found guilty. This return is also indicating that the fifth factor of class murder is especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel. The phrase heinous, atrociouscious and cruel is a term of art and what it refers to is a level of violence that goes above and beyond that necessary in order to cause the death that's right prosecutors announced they are seeking the death penalty for the man accused accused of abducting a Memphis mom, Eliza Fletcher, during her early morning routine run and killing her.

The Shelby County District Attorney named Steve Mulroy filed that official notice. He will seek the DP on Cleotha Abston. Now, get this. Cleotha Abston already had one rape charge against him that had never been prosecuted because the rape kit sat on a shelf at the crime lab and had not been analyzed until after Eliza Fletcher was murdered, which leads me to the speculation if he had been prosecuted for the earlier rape, he would likely have been behind bars because there's a DNA match, and Eliza Fletcher would be alive today. Okay, that said, wait for it, there was another attack years ago by this guy, Cleotha Abston, and yet he's out walking free. Where did it all start? Listen. It's been just over 12 hours since Elijah Fletcher disappeared.

Multiple agencies have joined forces. I can tell you, there's a lot of concern in the community as time passes by. Where is Eliza Fletcher? That's the question many are asking across the Mid-South after investigators say the avid jogger was abducted. It's very important that if anybody knows the whereabouts of Ms. Fletcher to contact the police immediately. Fletcher was jogging down Central Avenue around 4 30 this morning when investigators say she was approached by someone who forced her into a dark colored SUV and drove off. You don't want to hear that that's going on. We want to find her. We don't know. We don't know

what's going on. Hart Robinson is a friend of Fletcher and got the news this morning and immediately came to the area of Central Avenue and Zach Curling Street where she was last seen. Everybody's desperately looking for her. The search was on for the missing mom of two, Eliza Fletcher. You were just hearing our friends at WREG Channel 3. There were only two clues left behind. Listen. Fletcher's cell phone and a water bottle were found in front of a home owned by the University of Memphis.

In a safety alert sent to students, they say she was reported missing after not returning home from her run. The SUV that she was last seen in was spotted driving westbound down Central Avenue. Multiple agencies, including the FBI, are assisting with the case with one goal in mind, find Eliza Fletcher. Our concern is to locate Ms. Fletcher, so if anybody knows where she's at, call the police immediately. Really? Just think. Her life could have been spared.

I firmly believe it. And then the frantic search. Listen to our friends at NBC around 7 50 a.m. roughly three hours after the abduction the suspects brother and another witness telling investigators they saw him wash his clothes in a sink and clean the inside of the car with floor cleaner according to an affidavit the brother also saying he was acting very strange that bizarre scene allegedly unfolding less than a mile from where police discovered the unidentified body late Monday. The affidavit also

says Abston left sandals behind, authorities using DNA from those shoes to zero in on him. So while the frantic search throughout the Memphis area is ongoing for the missing mom. You see Cleotha Abston frantically cleaning the back of his GMC, washing his clothes in his brother's sink. Wow. Isn't that quite the coincidence? And then the gruesome discovery. Our friends WREG. A gut-wrenching discovery in South Memphis as detectives confirm a body was located a few yards away from where Eliza Fletcher's alleged abductor came hours after her kidnapping.

Monday, Memphis police swarmed this area after finding a body in an overgrown lot near a vacant home on Victor Street. The scene just a stone's throw away from where Memphis police say 38-year-old Cleota Abson came hours after abducting Fletcher. They believe he cleaned blood from the interior of the SUV used in Fletcher and now the man they had in custody already charged with her kidnapping, faces, murder charges. discovered a body here not far they said within walking distance to an apartment complex where 38 year old Cleotha Abson was seen cleaning his SUV shortly after the abduction. Our friends at Fox 13 joining WREG when Eliza went missing the search ensued you You see the defendant, the suspect, caught on video just cleaning, cleaning, scrubbing, scrubbing, trying to get rid of blood. He would need some sort of hydrochloric acid to do that trick. It didn't work. Blood throughout his SUV. And then a couple

of hundred yards away, also discarded. And now, today, we find out her abduction, her likely rape, her murder could have all been avoided. How? Take a listen to our friends at WATN. The man accused of kidnapping and killing Eliza Fletcher is facing three new criminal charges tonight. The charges are from another case in 2021. In this case, he's facing charges for aggravated rape, kidnapping, and unlawful possession of a gun. Memphis police confirm a sexual assault report was taken on September 21 of 2021.

The sexual assault kit was submitted to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations two days later on September 23rd, but that kit was not tested until he was connected to Eliza Fletcher's disappearance. Did you hear that? Another aggravated kidnap and rape. All the way back, almost a year ago, 2021, a rape kit was taken. It was sent to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations, the TBI, and not a thing was done. It sat on a shelf.

And in that manila evidence bag, sealed shut with the investigator's initials over it to maintain the chain of custody was the evidence that would have put Cleo the Apsitant behind bars at the time Eliza was kidnapped and murdered. Joining me right now, an all-star panel to make sense of what we know right now. But first, I want to go to Dave Mack, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. joining me right now an all-star panel to make sense of what we know right now but first i want to go to dave matt crime online.com investigative reporter dave what went wrong nancy um you know

we talked about how quickly they were able to identify the dna of cleotha abstin on the slides that they found at the kidnapping scene for Eliza Fletcher. They turned that around in less than 18 hours. From the moment they found the slides to the moment they identified the DNA coming from Cleotha Abston. In the case from September 21st, 2021, a woman reported the rape. They did a rape kit, and 48 hours later, on September 23rd, the rape kit was submitted to the TBI DNA case files. The problem is unless they order a rush on the DNA, it goes into the regular file. Just stop. No offense, Dave Mack, but I really don't want to hear that because that is all BS. I know you're reporting what the TBI wants me to hear.

But when it comes to a life-threatening violent crime, why is there a wait? I pay half my paycheck every year and have been since I was a lowly assistant in the district attorney's office. Since before that when I worked at the library at Mercy University. Why do I pay taxes? So Cleotha Absinthe can walk free and murder Eliza Fletcher? Leaving her two children with no mother. You know how much that screws a kid up forever? And you're telling me it sounds like with a straight face

that it was in line to get analyzed? You know what? I don't want to hear it. She's dead. And she endured a horrible death. That SUV was covered in blood. I put money on it. She was forcibly raped, likely sodomized as well.

Why? Because of a line, a queue for evidence. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. In the last days, the district attorney has announced the state will seek the death penalty against Cleotha Abston. This guy is a one-man crime wave. And I don't mean shoplifting or stealing a car, which of course in themselves are crimes that need to be prosecuted. I'm talking about violent crimes where people are hurt, they are raped, they are assaulted, and in this case, murdered. This young mom minding her own business, trying to get out and jog and keep up with her schedule of taking care of her children and getting to work. You know, a lot of people

have said, why is she out so early in the morning? You know what? You're wrong. This woman is trying to do it all. Exercise, take care of children, work, take care of her home, the whole shebang. So don't even start about why is she out so early in the morning. I get up at five o'clock every day without fail so I can get everything done before I take the twins to school, get to the studio to get to work, go to a crime scene, go to a courthouse. I want to do it all. And so did she. And now she's dead and her children are sentenced to life without their mother. Why? According to prosecutors, because of Cleotha Abston. So Lisa Daddio, the director of the Center for Advanced Policing and Graduate Program Coordinator, University of New Haven. Lisa, could you please interpret what Dave Mack

was just trying to say? Honestly, Nancy, the police department messed up on that one. And, you know, I really don't. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Messed up. Let's just analyze what you just said. Messed up. This is more than just messing up. They didn't fall through the cracks. They screwed up horribly. And Eliza is dead because they couldn't analyze a rape kit. To Rachel D. Fisher joining me.

Special guest. Registered nurse. Sex assault nurse examiner. She's an expert witness. She's author of Taking Back the Pen. And you can find her at LegalRNConsult.org. Rachel, do you ever get tired of hearing about one fail after the next? You deal with rape victims every day, and I keep screaming it from the rooftops. A rape victim is never the

same like a child molestation victims. Yes, they can go on about life. They seem like they're having a normal life, but they're never the same after a rape. Maybe you can say it better than me, Rachel. Yeah, the impact that a victim has after being assaulted, it's lifelong. It never goes away. A murder is one thing. That's the end result. But there are people living with the effects of this for the rest of their lives. And it comes down to the fact that jurisdictions, communities don't put an emphasis on crimes of law enforcement agencies or crime labs. And then the statutes, I mean, Tennessee, you don't even have to, the law enforcement agency does not even have to turn over the kit until 60 days to the crime lab. So the statutes are showing, okay, there's not a priority. What can happen in 60 days? A lot can happen. Other rapes can happen.

Yeah, like Eliza Fletcher can get murdered. And you know, another thing, Rachel D. Fisher, who is a rape sex assault nurse examiner. It's a very, very specialized area. I wonder what that says to the rape victim, like Cleoth Abstin's other rape victim. I mean, we already know of one when he was nearing adulthood, this one in September 2021. I wonder how that rape victim felt when she would call and say, what's the status of my brutal rape case? And she said, oh, and she hears, oh, yeah, well, it's in the queue. It's like you're at Target and there's a long line or you're at Kroger and the line wraps around the cash register. Uh-uh.

No, she's not buying a dozen apples. She's trying to find out about her rape case that forever altered her life. And she gets told, yeah, you're in the line. They'll analyze it. Meanwhile, this guy is walking free. Am I talking gibberish, Karen Stark? Because I feel like I'm not getting through. I don't think I can scream any louder

in a studio. Karen Stark joining me. I'm now a psychologist out of New York at KarenStark.com. That's Karen with a C. Karen, help me please. Nancy, you're not talking gibberish. This is how it happens. I feel like crying and fighting and hitting someone all at the same time. People don't take it seriously enough. Here's something that will damage someone's life forever. And I don't understand because police are supposed to be trained.

They're supposed to know that they need to do something right away. And it is outrageous, just outrageous, that they did not make sure that that came back as soon as possible. And who knows what else he was up to, Nancy. Oh, oh, this is the tip of the iceberg. Karen, Karen, Karen Stark. This guy, Cleotha Abston, started committing violent felonies at age 11. That we know of.

And, you know, Matthew Mangino, I'm not asking you to speak. I'm just referring to you. Former prosecutor, now civil and defense attorney and author, he would argue, oh, he was just 11, the sweet little boy. You know, I might buy that at 11, 12, 13, 14. But then at 16, 17, 18, I'm not buying it anymore. So Karen Stark, when people say he started his one-man crime wave at age 11, how many rapes has this guy committed culminating in the murder of Eliza Fletcher? And Magino, don't even bother jumping in and saying,

he's innocent until proven guilty. I know that. We all know that. And I believe there is a snowball's chance in hell that he may not be guilty, okay? So that said, what, Karen Stark? This is outrageous. And people do.

You know that psychopaths start at an early age so it doesn't surprise me that this began at 11 the outrageous part of this is that he is not already under lock and key walking free to grab eliza okay so what is the excuse take a listen to our friend Marcus Hunter. Scientists pulled the recently tested kit matching Absinthe Henderson for analysis nine months after it was received on June 24th and completed an initial report of the results on August 29th. The sample was then entered in Dakotas which returned a match on September 5th, which was within hours of Memphis police finding Fletcher's body on Victor Street. And 49 weeks after, MPD submitted the rape kit to TBI.

The match of the September 21 assault came back to Cleotha Abson Henderson. The results were then reported to Memphis police. According to court documents, he was indicted on charges of aggravated rape, especially aggravated kidnapping, and gun charges in connection to the crime. You know, it's just all blah, blah, blah words. crime stories with nancy grace when i look at this woman's face it just it makes my stomach hurt. I'm looking at a smiling face of Eliza Fletcher, a young mom, a teacher, a wife, a daughter, beloved by all. Why did he have to take her?

Why did he have to take anybody? Not just her, but anybody. Why was he out walking free? This guy is a known sex attacker. He has viciously attacked before. Now, am I supposed to believe Matthew Mangino? I'm coming to you just as a legal expert. Don't put on your defense hat yet.

Okay? Because we all know your former prosecutor, former parole board member, author of the executioner's toll. So please don't start telling me he was only 11 years old when he committed his first felony. I'll just save that for the shrink. What? You know, all this is BS, right? Because they're saying that what it was just a coincidence that when Eliza Fletcher goes missing, they go, oh, you know what? You're at the front of the line now. Let's do that DNA kit. No, that's not a coincidence. There's no such thing in criminal law. So they're trying to tell me that Eliza goes missing and then they go, wow, I think it's time that we do the dna on that file way back there

on the shelf what really happened mangino well i think what really happened is they they were able to to find um dna on the sandals that were found at the crime scene and they immediately did an analysis. I'm not talking about that. Matthew, Claretha Aston, DNA is on a September 2021 rape victim. Okay. Right. So why when Eliza gets kidnapped and there's a search going on,

do they go, wow, I think I'll run that DNA test. That's total BS. Why did they suddenly decide to run it then? You know, to cover their butts. I mean, they failed. This was a systemic failure to test DNA that was found at a crime scene. And as simple as just running a CODIS. Combined DNA index system. Exactly. Yeah.

It was cover your ass. That's what it was. Yeah. And I'm just wondering, Matthew Mangino, why did they select that particular rape kit to suddenly test. I'm guessing that that rape occurred in the same MO, modus operandi, method of operation as Eliza's kidnap that the victim may have described

the same kind of vehicle. Something about that rape kit, about that rape. Maybe it was in the same area. I don't know, but something made them reach back on that shelf and pull out that file and perform I want to circle back to Rachel D. Fisher, registered sex assault nurse examiner. Rachel, could you please describe what is the procedure that you go through when you examine a rape victim and what is a rape kit? When a rape victim comes to the hospital, we do a head-to-toe assessment and a detailed genital exam where we collect evidence from all

the intimate parts of the body and anywhere based on the history. We submit this kit to law enforcement and law enforcement... Slow down, please. As I like to say, Rachel, we're not having tea at Highgro with King Charles. Okay? When to say, Rachel, we're not having tea at Highgro with King Charles.

Okay? When you say we collect DNA from all parts of the body, that is certainly putting perfume on the pig. The rape victim who has already been brutally raped, probably beaten, terrified, then has to go for a rape kit. Then it's basically a pelvic exam and it takes a long time. What do you have to do? It's a very intrusive exam. We spread their legs, we touch, we look, we examine, we go into all the genitalia. We swab, we insert speculums. It's re-traumatizing for the victim, essentially, is what it is, because we're going back into these places.

Okay, wait a minute. See, you are an expert, and when you just roll off comments like that, not everybody knows what you mean. When you say a speculum, isn't that kind of like a reverse eyelash curler where you squinch the curler together? Instead, a speculum is something you stick inside the lady's vagina and anus and then you open up those female cavities and then you go in there basically with a search light, like a flashlight, and you look around with a really long Q-tip and you look in there and you try and find with a swab. Everybody in the studio is grimacing and looking away right now for a reason.

And you swab around inside the anus and the vagina, and hopefully you will get naked to the human eye sperm DNA, right? That's the intent to get any sort of DNA off of the internal orifices of the patient. And that includes the anus, correct? We do also swab the anus, yes. And then you have the rape kit combing as if I would comb my hair. What is that? We take a comb and we go through the head hair, the pubic hair, getting any debris that can link it

back to potentially the scene of where it happened to corroborate that as well. Sometimes we do plucking of the hair in order to get DNA as well. So it's a very painful intrusive exam in some points of it. But when the victims are that brave enough to come in for that that's right there the first step in their healing and the the first victim of this case with the positive hit was brave enough to do that so i can only imagine her seeing this that she was brave enough to go in and then nobody tested it until it was too late i can only imagine what she's feeling right now she was brave enough to do that initial rape kit back then, over a year ago. And here we are.

And the only way her case was finally processed was because Eliza was murdered. It took a murder to get her rape kit done. That's the harsh truth of what we're dealing with. Rachel D. Fisher, could you please describe the spectrum of demeanors your rape victim patients have displayed? They come in sometimes completely with no affect, meaning their face does not smile, they don't frown, they're just quiet, they don't make eye contact.

Sometimes they laugh, they're distracted themselves, sometimes they're crying. Trauma presents in very different ways and each victim is different. And I've seen law enforcement even it, if they're brave enough to come get an intrusive exam in a busy ER and have an examiner stick things into their bodies, something happened. Nobody willingly does that. Regardless of what their demeanor is, they're there for help and we help them all the same and we prioritize it on our end and then we do the next step in our process is handed over to law enforcement for them to do their due diligence which is supposed to be to take it to the crime lab but Tennessee has a statute that they have 60 days for it to sit on their shelf before they're mandated to give it to the crime lab Karen Stark you know I'm thinking of these

rape victims when it's so horrible they can't even begin to grapple with it. Karen Stark. That's right, Nancy. It is. It's they disassociate and you really can't pay attention to how someone reacts to trauma and to death because everyone, each one of us is very, very different. And there are people that cry. Think about, you know, when people sometimes get nervous and they start laughing. And they're not laughing because it's funny.

It's just their response. They have no choice. That's how they deal with that kind of a situation. And that's what you're describing. I've been to funerals where somebody was so angry at the death of their spouse. They were they were furious. And you would never know that this was happening because they're grieving and loving and in pain. And it all gets mixed up when they have to deal with this kind of a situation. Terrible. And now, having spoken to the rest of our panel, I'm going to lay it all in your lap. Dr. Kristen Middleman, she is the Chief Development Officer at the highly respected Authoram Inc. You can find them at DNAsolves.com. One of their specialties, I have learned,

is taking old or degraded DNA and somehow pulling a miracle and getting a match. I'm talking about DNA that's been in mud, been underwater, been through a fire, 50, 60 years old. I'm going to lay it all in your lap. Dr. Kristen Middleman, she is the Chief Development Officer at the highly respected Authram, Inc.

You can find them at DNAsolves.com One of their specialties I have learned is taking old or degraded DNA and somehow pulling a miracle and getting a match. I'm talking about DNA

that's been in mud, been underwater, been through a fire, 50, 60 years old. Dr. Kristen Middleman. First of all, I want to know how they made the match and what likely statistical identification we have of Cleotha Abston. And any insight you can give us as to why they so horribly failed the first rape victim, well, the last rape victim that we know of, and Eliza. How did that happen?

I mean, you deal with this kind of thing every day. And we are. We're going to deal with this kind of thing every single day. And I, like you and everyone here at Austin, believe that it's an outrage that we do not have the technology implemented that would be able to stop this from happening. This testing system was created 30 years ago, and nothing new has come to forensics since in order to help these investigators. You know, you say the investigators might have failed. I don't think the investigators are failing. We work with these guys every single day. In fact, we work with CDI, and they work day and night trying to make things work. They're not given the technology that's necessary to be able to clear these cases at scale.

The government is who's failing. The government has failed to fund and adopt new technologies that would allow the backlogs to truly clear. We have backlogs everywhere because this technology, the way that it's written right now, is not scalable. You can't hire enough people to run every single test immediately and have a result in eight hours. It's just not possible. But there is new technology here. Ours is one of the new technologies that could help clear a lot of the backlog that gets stuck

when there's no DNA answer. But there are other new technologies here. Could you imagine doing this podcast on computers from 30 years ago? No, you wouldn't. You would get the new computer, you would get the best mic, you would do the next best thing. You would do it just for your business. Why isn't forensics changing? Okay, hold on, Dr. Middleman. It is far, far beyond me, your knowledge regarding DNA and scientific testing, but I'm not asking for a result in eight hours. What about eight days? What about eight weeks? What about eight months? This was a year. The last rape victim that we know of of Cleoth Astin's was September 2021. You're preaching to the choir, Dr. Middleman. I spent a third of my time as a prosecutor at the Georgia State Crime Lab.

And can I tell you, those people weren't like dogs. Scientists in ballistics, in fiber analysis, hair analysis, DNA, blood, you name it. They work like dogs. They already work overtime. What more do we want them to do? So where is the fail? And I guarantee you, the TBI, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, crime lab, is the same. So how is it he's walking the street to murder eliza because the system has failed to implement all the necessary tools you know let me tell you nancy it's just like if i

gave you a bicycle and i told you go ahead and deliver mail all over the united states well how can you possibly deliver mail all over the united States with a bicycle? It would never happen. It's not possible. But if there were cars and planes and roads and everything else there and the infrastructure put all together, then you could deliver that mail all over the United States. Unfortunately, we are at the bicycle state of forensic science when it comes to solving these backlogs with sex assaults and murders. DNA testing is at its infancy still, and there are so many ways. I mean, our technology, we don't need a CODIS database to identify someone. You don't have to have raped someone else in order for us to identify you. That's the biggest key. You can rape one person and get identified the very,

very first time. Yet our technology isn't widely used everywhere because people scream all sorts of stuff. Oh, well, it's new. We don't know if it works. Oh my God, privacy. Oh, this, oh that. Well, the government's slow in funding it. I want the perpetrator in jail the first time they commit a crime. I don't want to have to wait until the second victim and the third victim or the 11th or 12th victim. And trust me, we've identified those as well. They're encoded so many, many times and no one's ever identified them. They come to us finally and now they're identified and all these crimes are solved. That's devastating.

Take a listen to Marcus Hunter, WREG. The TBI accepts rush DNA cases when requested by a local investigative agency, as we did in the recent Eliza Fletcher case. It went on to say our scientists identified Cleotha Abston as a suspect less than 18 hours after receiving key evidence. The agency said the sample they received in September of last year was not submitted as a rush case. Therefore, it was placed with the standard casework, which can have an average turnaround of 33 to 49 weeks. Listen to our friends at Fox 13. An affidavit reveals new details about Fletcher's final moments. Investigators say data from the FBI cast team, which is used to track cell phones, led them to East Person Avenue and Victor Street.

While searching that area Monday, just after 5, they say officers noticed high grass at a vacant home, as well as vehicle tracks in the high grass. Officers also smelled an odor of decay. We're told the officers fanned out and walked to the back of the property. Immediately to the right of the steps, they say they found a woman's body. To give you an idea why it was so hard for officials to find her is because even though they're in the middle of a neighborhood, you can see there's very tall grass shielding the view from the street i'm five five take a look at this grass it's towering over me then there's this abandoned home and we're told fletcher's remains were found behind this house walk with me so you can see beside these steps

here and you can even see an imprint in the dirt right here. Cleotha Abston faces murder and abduction charges. I'm waiting to find out if rape charges are going to be added to that. Eliza's body found days after she was abducted on her morning run in a wooded area in southern Memphis, not too far from where police say Abston was caught on surveillance footage frantically cleaning out his car. I got news for you. You're going to need something like Black Swan, some sort of acidic cleaner to get rid of DNA,

Cleotha Abston. And I'm pretty sure 409 is not going to do the trick. But good luck with that. He has also been charged with an additional count of aggravated kidnapping and rape in that separate incident I was telling you about that took place about a year before Eliza was kidnapped and murdered. Yeah, he should have been behind bars on that. Woulda, coulda, shoulda. So this is what I predict is going to happen at trial. I predict that his prior sex attacks and aggravated assaults and kidnaps, oh yes, there's several, will come into evidence as similar transactions. Now, as you know, under our jurisprudence, our frame of constitutionality, a jury to show course of conduct, frame of mind,

method of operation that tend to prove the case in chief, like a fingerprint crime. And I would argue to the judge that these are two fingerprint crimes that will prove that Cleo the Abston murdered Eliza Fletcher. Now, what good does that do her children? That's the big question. The only good it can do the children is that one day they will say, somebody cared. Somebody cared to take this case to trial and prosecute my mom's killer to the utmost. I had someone standing up for my mom when I was a child and I couldn't do it myself. So what are the facts of this case? Why is the state seeking the death penalty? Well, in every jurisdiction that has the death penalty, there are called aggravating circumstances. For instance,

if you lay in wait, which suggests you have a cold, calculated mind at the time, you're not angry or drunk or out of your mind on drugs, you intend to do what you're doing. For pecuniary or money, interest, murder for hire. More than one dead body, mass murder. Some jurisdictions allow, if it's in the commission of another felony, such as dealing drugs or rape. Let's see what's another one. Some jurisdictions include a very young child or an elderly or a law officer. So those are called aggravating circumstances. And if they exist, that permits the state to

seek the death penalty in jurisdictions where there is a death penalty. And that's what's happened right here. The state is seeking the death penalty. There's also a catch-all when the crime is particularly heinous, and I believe this crime is. We wait as justice unfolds. Nancy Grace, Crime Stories, signing off. Goodbye, friend.