Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - IT'S ELIZA: Memphis Mom Body ID'ed, Video Shows Suspect Frantically Cleaning Blood from GMC Yards from Dead Body

Episode Date: September 7, 2022

A decomposing body found in the tall grass behind a vacant building has been identified as Memphis teacher Eliza Fletcher. The mom of two vanished last Friday during an early morning jog. 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.  Cleotha Abston, 38, was caught on video forcing Fletcher into a vehicle. He was also seen at around 7:30 a.m. at his brother's home, cleaning the vehicle and washing his clothes.  Abston has been charged with first-degree murder, especially aggravated kidnapping, and tampering with evidence.   Joining Nancy Grace today: Matthew Mangino - Attorney, Former District Attorney (Lawrence County), Former Parole Board Member, Author: "The Executioner's Toll: The Crimes, Arrests, Trials, Appeals, Last Meals, Final Words and Executions of 46 Persons in the United States", MattMangino.com, Twitter: @MatthewTMangino  Dr. Angela Arnold - Psychiatrist, Atlanta GA, AngelaArnoldMD.com, Expert in the Treatment of Pregnant/Postpartum Women, Former Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Obstetrics and Gynecology: Emory University, Former Medical Director of The Psychiatric Ob-Gyn Clinic at Grady Memorial Hospital Jennifer Coffindaffer - Former FBI Agent, Law Enforcement Network Analyst, Expert Witness, Self-Defense/Firearms Instructor, Firearms Beyond International, firearmsbeyondinternational.com, Twitter: @CoffindafferFBI Dr. Kendall Crowns – Chief Medical Examiner Tarrant County (Ft Worth), Lecturer: University of Texas Austin and Texas Christian University Medical School Dave Mack - Crime Online Investigative Reporter See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. In the last hours, a convicted kidnapper, rapist, ag-assaulter in court, but this time linked to the body of a 34-year-old Memphis mother of two, Eliza Fletcher. Her disappearance rocked not only Memphis, but our country. So seemingly out of the blue, this innocent, young, church school teacher,

mother of two beautiful children, out, up, and early like many of us moms. She's up at 4 o'clock. It's the only time of her day she can fit in a run in between working and being a full-time mother? Eliza never made it home from that run. Where did it all start? Take a listen to our friends at WREG. It's been just over 12 hours since Elijah Fletcher disappeared. Multiple agencies have joined forces.

And 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. That desperate search went on and as friends and family, including police, retraced. Can't you just imagine you doing it yourself? Retracing the steps you think she jogged. And as that took place, only two clues emerged.

A water bottle and a cracked cell phone. Take a listen to our friend Jordan James. Fletcher's cell phone and a water bottle were found in front of a home owned by the University of Memphis. And 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 mind, find Eliza Fletcher. Our concern is to locate Ms. Fletcher.

So if anybody knows where she's at, call the police immediately. The Midtown woman was kidnapped while jogging early Friday morning near the University of Memphis. According to Memphis police, Fletcher had been jogging in the area of Central and Zach Curlin at about 4.30 in the morning when an unknown person approached her and forced her into a dark colored SUV. After a brief struggle, Fletcher was then forced into the vehicle. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at Fox Nation and SiriusXM 111. You just heard the bare bones of the beginnings of the frantic search for this 34-year-old Memphis mother of two. Every case, every murder case I want you to hear Eliza. Hear Eliza. K-W-A-N.

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine. This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine. Hide it under a bushel, no! I'm gonna let it shine. Hide it under a bushel, no! I'm gonna let it shine. Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine. Shine all over St. Mary's School. I'm gonna let it shine, shine all over St. Mary's School. I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine. This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine. This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine this little light of mine I'm gonna let it shine let it shine let it shine let it shine miss you girls now you need to let the light shine at your house and I will see you later. How many thousands of times do you believe her little children, toppers, are going to play that over and over and over as they grow up without their mother? Where did it all start? We know where it has culminated in the discovery of Eliza's body. But between then and now, between Eliza singing her song at St. Mary's Church School to little children,

to jogging early 4 a.m. that morning, we hear of an award, as they call it, a reward, and we hear of video emerging. Take a listen to Eliza's uncle and our friends at Fox 13. The family has met with police and we have shared with them all the information we know. More than anything, we want to see Liza returned home safely. The family has offered a reward for any information that leads to her safe return. We believe someone knows what happened and can help. If you have any information on this crime or Liza's location, call the police at 901-545-COPS or call Crime Stoppers at 901-528-CASH. Joining me in our panel to make sense of what we know right now, but first I want to go

to Dave Mack, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. Dave Mack, I want to go through the area where she was jogging. But hold on, Dave Mack. Also with me, Dr. Angela Arnold, a renowned psychiatrist joining us out of the Atlanta jurisdiction at AngelaArnoldMD.com. You're very familiar with Memphis. Tell me, Angela, about the area from which she was kidnapped. You know, Nancy, it's a very nice area of town right around the university of memphis and central avenue and for people who like to live in town i grew up in town in memphis

it's a it's a wonderful area to live the houses are beautiful it's just a nice you know memphis is a small it's it's a small town but that is a nice in-town area to live for people who love being, sort of feeling like they're in the city. So an upscale area. Guys, take a listen to our Cut 15, our friends at NBC. According to an affidavit, around 4 a.m. Friday, Fletcher went for her usual early morning run. Police say about half an hour later, they believe Cleotha Abston forced her into this SUV near the University of Memphis. Court documents saying the suspect ran aggressively toward Fletcher amid a violent struggle. She was allegedly inside the parked SUV roughly four minutes before it drove away. Do you have any sense of what might have been going on in those four minutes? In the criminal context, that's actually a very long time.

That's enough time for him to restrain her. That's enough time for him to seriously harm her. To Dave May, joining me, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. The word seriously harm, those are words tracking, tracking what police leaked. And that is that they thought Eliza had suffered serious injury, serious harm inside that GMC because it was covered with blood. Dave Mack, isn't it true? This was all caught on video surveillance. We're not taking anybody's word for it. Where did that video surveillance come from? Is it something to do with the university, which is right there? Wasn't she jogging the outside, I believe,

of the university edges? Actually, where it actually happened, the home right there was owned by the university. And directly across across the street there was surveillance footage that was able to capture the very dark but it captured as it took place you mentioned uh what they called an aggravated uh very violent attack that you could see apparently in this surveillance footage, the suspect attacking quickly, running up on Eliza, running up on her, attacking her to the point where blood was found on the ground and then inside the vehicle. To Matthew Mangino, joining me, former prosecutor in Lawrence County, former parole board member, author of The Executioner's Toll, now private lawyer. He's at Matthew T. Mangino.

Matthew, that is qualifying him for this special kidnap, not just a kidnap, which is a felony in itself. You can get 20 to life for kidnap. But this is an extremely dangerous, seriously harmful kidnap. What does that mean to you as a lawyer? Well, this would appear to be, you know, an aggravated kidnap. I mean, he's coming out of the vehicle. He's attacking this woman. As we just heard, there's blood found outside of the vehicle. There's blood found inside the vehicle. You know, this is a very dangerous person who would randomly attack a stranger like this and pull her into a vehicle. The other thing that I found is that they found his flip-flops, his sandals, you know, laying, you know, along

the road, which gives me the impression that this is a crime of opportunity. If he was out and he knew he was going to be attacking somebody, he might be better prepared, you know, wearing, you know, sneakers or some sort of shoes that he knew he would be able to rapidly approach somebody. But to see these flip-flops gives me the idea that this is a guy driving by, boom, he makes a decision. And uh it's a crime of opportunity the woman's there he has a history and this is what he does disagree uh you think criminals are so smart they're gonna go oh maybe i shouldn't wear kid not flip-flops to rape and kidnap somebody uh hell no these are the as you're saying flip-flops they're the type of shoes you see a

lot of athletes wear where they wear socks and then uh slide in like adidas or nike not really flip-flops but i guess it's closest thing you can compare them to but he was cruising stalking her for nearly half an hour but But before I go to Jennifer Coffendaff, former FBI, Dr. Kendall Crowns is joining me, chief medical examiner out of Tarrant County, that's Fort Worth, Lecturer University, Texas, and Texas Christian University Medical School.

Dr. Kendall Crowns, thank you for being with us. Much has been made of the blood that was found there at the scene where he left his, I guess, flip flops. But also within his GMC, a lot of people jumped to the conclusion that she had been stabbed. I disagree. I think she was hit immediately in the face to stun her. And anything around your nose or your mouth causes a lot, a profuse amount of bleeding. Why? Those areas are really vascular. So the oral mucosa itself has a lot of blood vessels in it.

And then the nose as well, again, has a lot of blood vessels in it. So you get hit in any of those regions, you start bleeding quite profusely. The other thing is you can have someone that has a scalp laceration or a cut on their scalp, the scalp skin itself is also very highly vascular and you get a lot of bleeding from that more than you would necessarily from other types of wounds. So anything about the face, nose, mouth, head, scalp skin has got a lot of blood vessels. So you see a lot of blood. You started off by saying it was highly vascular and regular people taught. Does that mean there's a high concentration of blood vessels? Yeah, a lot of blood vessels.

Gotcha. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. crime stories with nancy grace jennifer coffin dapper with me former fbi uh now law enforcement network analyst instructor firearms beyond international and she is a self-defense firearms expert. Jennifer, thank you for being with us. What about this? Don't you agree that the first thing he would do is stun her by hitting her in the face? I mean, with a fist right in the nose in the face. I would say maybe the second thing, I think his biggest thing was restrain her and pulling her in the vehicle. But I have seen no evidence or facts that there was a knife involved or a weapon. People who commit these types of crimes like to get personal.

They like to attack. They like to see the person in agony and screaming. And I think that was this type of attack. So I have to agree with you, Nancy, that a stun in the face once he got her in that van could have resulted in this blood evidence. Now, Matthew Mangino has a really good point, although I disagree with it ultimately. He's talking about the suspect's slides. That's what they're called.

It's a solid band of plastic typically over the top of the foot, the toes sticking out, and you slip into them. They're called slides. And everybody makes them, Adidas, Puma, Nike, everybody. They were still there. And you know what I love about those slides? DNA. Now, it would be epithelial DNA, which is off of your skin. And very quickly, Dr. Kendall-Krause, if you could explain how awesome epithelial DNA is and how easy it is now that we understand it, how easy it is to find it.

So your epithelial layer is the thin layer of your outer covering of your skin. And pretty much any time you touch a surface, you're leaving DNA on that surface. It's been very good for the DNA analysis, and we can find it at autopsy even from doing swabs. So you just think about any contact, any surface you come in contact with, you've left a trace evidence,

which is, I believe, Locard's principle, if I remember right. Right, right. Jennifer Coffendaffer with me, former FBI agent. Jennifer, I want to talk to you about what Matthew Mangino said, that this was a spur-of-the-moment thing. Dr. Angie, Dr. Angela Arnold,

a psychiatrist out of Atlanta, isn't it true that your network back in Memphis says that this freak I hate to even say his name but I will. Cleo the Abston

Abston had a habit of hanging around the university making sex overtures to co-eds and he did the same thing in his own neighborhood explain that whole thing i mean if my husband if i caught if he even whistled at somebody number one after i got up off the ground from fainting because i've never do anything like that before i would totally jerk a knot in his neck but i mean what is that you know when somebody whistles it at you

or cat calls at you or says hey i'll give you a hundred dollars to f me which is what he was saying to women in his neighborhood uh but what is that first of all nancy it's a very immature form of behavior for a grown i'd rather i'd call it that that's something that'll get you shot by somebody's husband but go ahead but it all and it's and it shows such a lack of boundaries I mean who like you said who does that I thought I had Dr. Angie Arnold on I've just got a guy who's done time for rape ag assault theft kidnapping copycat kidnapping, did 22 years on a 24-year jail sentence, and she says there's a lack of boundaries. You know, I'd like to cut her mic, but I just want to hear, just for the fun of it,

what she's about to say. Go ahead, Dr. Angie. Well, that's the first part that I wanted to say. Uh-huh, now you're okay. I assume there's going to be an addendum. But, you know, honest to God, Nancy, let's just call him what he is, okay? He's a psychopath.

That's what he is. He's been doing bad things since he was 12 years old. 11, but don't even start with, he's crazy? Take a listen to our Cut 16, our friends at NBC. Around 7 to 50 a.m., roughly three hours

after the abduction, the suspect's 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. Okay, Dr. Angie, don't even start with the crazy talk because here's the guy three hours after Eliza is kidnapped and in my mind already killed. She's dead. He has the wherewithal

to think, wow, I need to clean up my GMC. I need to do that right now before the cops come look at it. So don't even start down that road that he's crazy, he's psychopath, blah, blah, blah. Well, you can be a psychopath and not be called crazy. I'm not

calling him crazy. Okay? I think that he is a very evil person. And those kinds of people exist in our world. Everything that they do is about evil. And he also doesn't have a conscience about what he does. Sure, he knows that he needs to clean out his car. He didn't know that he shouldn't have left his shoes where he did.

But none of those things make him crazy. But he is, the reason I call him a psychopath is because he doesn't have any kind of conscience about what he does. Can we get back to what your network in Memphis tells you about him propositioning co-eds. You know, Lucy is 14, my little girl and her twin brother. They're about to turn 15, believe it or not, which means in three years, they're going to go to college, God willing. To have this hanging around the campus, propositioning teen girls for sex. It's very open. It's very accessible. Co-eds are walking

the streets all the time. Okay. I mean, Nancy, it's sort of chilling to me. Think about this. It's very chilling to me to think that the people that I know knew that he was doing this. Why would they know that? Exactly. I don't know why they know this. But they knew that he had a history of hanging around that campus and catcalling the co-eds. Let me go to Matthew Mangino, former prosecutor and author. Matthew Mangino, that's just kind of evidence that will not come in to evidence,

although I wish it would because I think it's very probative. There's no way a jury will ever hear that Cleota Abston had a habit of propositioning teen girls for sex. If I was prosecuting the case, I would try to present this prior, prior bad acts under 404 of the rules of evidence. Um, you know, so, so, you know, I think no sign that this guy has any sort of insanity or anything like that. He certainly tried to cover his tracks. He tried to get rid of evidence. He knows the difference between right and wrong. So, you know, maybe he has some other mental health issues, but they certainly are not going to excuse any conduct.

Maybe mitigate, but not excuse. As you know by now, the body of 34-year-old mom Eliza Fletcher, the mom of two little boys, has been discovered thrown into tall grass yards away from her body were her Lululemon jogging shorts that she is seen pictured in with me an all-star panel to make sense of what we know right now regarding the discovery of eliza's body take a listen our cut 14 our friends at 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 Cleotha Abson came hours after abducting Fletcher. They believe he cleaned blood from the interior of the SUV used in the abduction and washed his clothes in his brother's sink. Wow, a lot of cleaning going on, washing his clothes in his brother's sink. Straight out to Dave Mack, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. So, it's true, Dave Mack, that it is actually caught on video of the suspect cleaning out his GMC. Isn't that true? Absolutely. It was caught on camera at 7.45 in the morning, about five minutes before her husband called police to notify her she never came home from a run.

What time did the husband report her missing? Just curious. 7.50 a.m. So she had been gone for three hours and 15 minutes? Roughly. To Jennifer Coffendaffer, a former FBI, what do you make of the nearly 30 minutes that he stalked Eliza before forcing her into his GMC? Well, I think this is so telling. This was not completely random, if you will. He was either A, waiting there because he knew possibly her

running patterns, or he was there because he was stalking to try to find somebody. But if you look at the time, it's not a time that's going to instill a lot of people on that campus. I mean, the prey is going to be very diminished at 4 o'clock in the morning. So I find it very interesting. I don't think that this was just he was out driving around and decided to do this haphazardly. I think the slides, quite frankly, are irrelevant in that scenario because this is what he wore. This is how he, you know, dressed every day. So he's going out and he's on campus waiting seemingly for her. We see him cleaning out his car very carefully at

his brother's, but to Dr. Kendall Crown's chief medical examiner, Tarrant County, a regular bleach or detergent won't do it. You need something like a sulfuric acid base, such as black swan. That's the only thing that might get rid of DNA. So he can clean all day long and wash his clothes in his brother's sink. But it ain't happening

and dr kendall crowns that's not going to work yeah that's correct nancy uh usual cleaning products aren't going to wash away the stain of the blood and the dna from the victims so you have to go to a lot of effort to really get rid of it short of burning it or something along those lines but yeah just typical cleaning supplies aren't going to do the trick also I just like to interject real quickly that you know this is not the first time we've discussed the case where someone was stalking someone so I see it all the time if you run the same route drive the same way there's always someone watching you and waiting to kill you so you know think about mixing it up occasionally and maybe you won't die. I was thinking about Dennis Rader, you know, the BT case strangler. He stalked

his victims and knew their routines. And it reminded me a little bit of that type of an MO that he was there. I agree completely. And Nancy, my intel tells me, and I think this is important to know, the reports of him hanging around the University of Memphis campus came out immediately after she was kidnapped. But no one had said anything prior to her being kidnapped. Okay? So he had been around. People had seen him. But the reports didn't come out until after she was kidnapped that people had seen a black man in a black SUV hanging around the University of Memphis. And then the discovery of Eliza. Take a listen. Our cut 17, our friends at Fox 13. police confirming those new details saying that the body they found yesterday is that of missing

mother eliza fletcher and now the man they had in custody already charged with her kidnapping faces murder charges and this is coming just about 16 hours after they discovered a body here not far they said within walking distance to an apartment complex where 38-year-old Cleotha Abston was seen cleaning his SUV shortly after the abduction. To Matthew Mangino joining us. Matthew Mangino, that's certainly not going to engender a lot of warm, fuzzy feelings on behalf of a jury. When they see Cleo the absent. Cleaning his car, trying to wash blood out of his clothes. I can't wait to find out about the evidence down that sink drain. And her body is just a few hundred feet away.

He's that close to her body that he's thrown out, according to police, in tall grass and left there to decompose. In fact, what led police there was the, quote, stench that neighbors had described of her decomposing and a swarm of flies. And there he is, 100 yards away, frantically cleaning his car and washing his shirt. Just conjure up that image in your mind, Matthew Mangino. What do you do with that at trial? Well, yeah, I mean, obviously he's not the sharpest tool in the shed. I'm not talking about that. He's the devil.

He's straight from hell. Well, yeah, I mean, you know, we talked earlier about the fact that, you know, he's a psychopath. He has no remorse. He doesn't have any conscience. But he's not all he's also not very smart. It doesn't seem, you know, you're going to try to, you know, care if he's smart. Why are you telling me he's not smart? I'm asking you, what do you do with the devil who is busy washing his T-shirt and her body's about 100 yards away? What do you do with that at trial? How do you put that mental image out of the jury's mind? Well, first you try to work out a plea because the trial is not going to be very good.

You know they got the death penalty in Tennessee, right? He can have the needle. If you could save his life, that would be the best a defense attorney could probably do. Yeah, if you could save his life, have fun with that. Jennifer Coffin Daffer with me, former FBI agent and crime victim. You know, we're talking, Jennifer, about him washing likely Eliza's blood out of his shirt. Her two little babies at home probably still asleep. It's 7.30, 7.50 in the morning.

He's trying to get rid of evidence. What do you think? Have it been a crime victim yourself or her last moments. Jennifer, describe what you went through. Oh, Nancy, you just gave me a chill bumps in recalling this. But essentially, you know, people think this is some sort of organized situation when you're attacked. It's not.

It's chaos. You're fighting for your life. He's fighting to take your life. And, you know, flip-flops are flying. You know, you're in pain. You do the best you can to keep your head about you so that you can survive. You do the best to get out of the grasp. And sometimes it's extremely difficult when someone is much larger than you. You know, I was really, it hit home with me when I saw him at his hearing. His hands were so big and he was tall. They look like two Virginia hams. His hands are huge. And I was thinking about those last moments, Nancy, and she was terrified, but I have to believe she fought for her life and was just overcome with the power of him. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.

Dave Mack, correct me if I'm wrong on these facts, but the Jeep, Cleotha Adson's Jeep, his GMC, sat there for about four minutes before he took off. I bet he was beating her to subdue her. Think about it, Nancy. He aggressively attacked her on the street to get her inside the vehicle. And she fought. This is a woman woman regardless of his size she was in good shape she qualified for the boston marathon she's five six 130 plus pounds

she's not a weak woman and she fought hard he still got her in that vehicle and as you mentioned four minutes after the attack he gets her and he's got her inside that vehicle. We don't know what goes on, but we know that for four minutes, he did anything and everything he possibly could and then took off. Guys, what do we know about Cleotha Abson? Take a listen to Hour Cut 12, our friends at Fox 13. As a 17-year-old in in the year 2000 he was charged with especially aggravated kidnapping and aggravated robbery a press account from the memphis flyer written in october 2001 tells the story of his victim an attorney at a well-known memphis law firm kidnapped

at gunpoint as he was leaving bill street and thrown into the trunk of his own car abstin the flyer said drove the victim's car around to pick up friends before showing up at a Mapco station. That's where Abston demanded the victim withdraw money from an ATM before running away after getting spooked by a Memphis Housing Authority officer walking into the store at the same time running away. That victim, the first kidnapping victim of Cleotha Abson, that we know of, went on to recount how he believed he would have been killed

if not for a co-defendant that kept talking to Abson saying, don't kill this man, you've got to let him go, you've got to let him go. And the victim was in the trunk hearing all this. He also described Cleotha Abson as braggadocious behind bars, bragging about the event. This guy will probably brag about murdering Eliza Fletcher. And I can, as distasteful as that is, I can only pray that he does. So it can be used at trial against him speaking of his long and notorious rap sheet take a listen to our cut 13 our friends at fox 13 he

was eventually arrested and charged with especially aggravated kidnapping and after waiting in jail 16 months before trial eventually decided to plead guilty to both charges. He was sentenced to 24 years with credit for time served. State Department of Correction records show Abston was released from prison in November 2020. Less than two years later, police accused Abston of doing the same thing and refusing to tell them where Eliza Fletcher is located. Was there a chance of saving her life? We don't know. But he sat there in jail after it's revealed that's him on the video kidnapping her, refusing to tell police where she was. Could she have been saved? Let's talk about his past. Rape, aggravated assault, theft, kidnapping, and now this. Why was this guy out walking around?

Why wasn't he behind bars? Number one, Jennifer Coffin Dafford joining me, former fed with the FBI. He was treated as a juvenile when the rape occurred. He was a juvenile. Now, he started committing felonies at age 11. The rape that he committed, I believe, was when he rape occurred. He was a juvenile. Now he started committing felonies at age 11. The rape that he committed, I believe, was when he was 16. He could have been treated as an adult then, but he wasn't. Somebody let him off and rape is one of the seven deadlies. And what I mean by that, Jennifer Coffin Dapper, is the seven felonies which will send you straight to adult court if you are a juvenile over, let's just say, 13, 14. And they are, obviously, murder, rape, sodomy, child molestation, aggravated assault, armed robbery, and arson.

Bam! Not hard to figure out. That means you have a propensity for violence on other human beings. Adam E. Wood could have, should have. That doesn't do anything for me. But if he had been treated as an adult on the rate which he should have, with that level of severity, he would have been in jail. It's very simple. But instead, he's out, as Dr. Angie has described, heckling co-eds and propositioning them for sex at the university. And then who shows up four o'clock a.m. jogging? Elizetcher what about it jennifer well nancy i i think many of us stand uh believing that these early releases these light sentences treating juveniles who are doing adult criminal acts need to receive the harshest of punishments and, in my view, should not receive

early release options. It's pretty clear Cleosa Absinthe was not rehabilitated in any way, and it's just a failure to society to early release these types of criminals, in my opinion. The video footage is going to be damning. I think there's a strong possibility since he stalked Eliza for 30 minutes and because he committed a murder, according to police, in the commission of a felony. I believe that felony will be rape. I don't know what assumption you can draw from her Lululemon jogging shorts being in a trash bag away from her body. But to me, that says rape. And given his propensity to proposition teen girls for sex, I mean, I think two and two still equals four. Those are both qualifying

aggravating circumstances for the Tennessee death penalty, which, again, as I mentioned, is a choice between the needle, where you just drift off to sleep unlike your victim that dies in pain and fear, or the electric chair. To Dr. Kendall Crowns, in this scenario, what do you believe is the likely COD cause of death? Most likely cause of death on this one would be strangulation. That would be my assumption. You could have beat her about the head and knocked her unconscious, or continue to beat her, but it's more than likely a strangulation. You know, to Jennifer Coffin Dapper, a lot of people are trying to make connections between the first kidnapped victim was at the same law firm as Eliza's uncle, who was the family spokesperson.

Was somebody in the family involved? Was this for money because her grandparents were super rich because they started a really big hardware store? Everybody's looking for a connection. And maybe there is, but what's even scarier to me, Jennifer, is there's a very strong possibility there's not a connection. And you know why people don't like that, Jennifer? They don't like it because that means this could happen to them. If there's a connection, oh, you can go, oh, well, it's the cousin who was related to this and there was a vendetta, blah, blah.

It had nothing to do with me. That's simply not true. This can happen to anybody and nobody wants to think that, Jennifer. Well, no one wakes up in the morning, Nancy, and says, I think I'm going to be a victim this morning. No one does it.

They find themselves in a situation where they're alone, they're vulnerable, and somebody with no conscience, somebody who's evil, preys upon them. So I agree with you, Nancy, that it's a situation that everybody needs to prepare for and to be aware of so that they can avoid or at least lessen their possibilities of being attacked. Guys, I wanted to hear our cut seven that we obtained from KWAM as we sign off. This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine. This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine This little light of mine I'm gonna let it shine Let it shine Let it shine Let it shine

Miss you girls Now you need to let the light shine At your house And I will see you later Goodbye friend you later. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.