Cleota Abston pleads guilty to murdering Memphis teacher Eliza Fletcher

Cleota Abston, the man who authorities say kidnapped and later killed a Memphis teacher Eliza Fletcher out for a run on the morning of September 2, 2022pleaded guilty, her family said.

The request followed just over two years of criminal proceedings and will allow Abston to avoid the death penalty.

He was charged with first-degree aggravated murder, illegal possession of a firearm and tampering with evidence when he was first arrested in connection with Fletcher’s kidnapping.

Instead of the death penalty, which Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said he is seeking in the case, Abston faces life in prison without parole, prosecutors said in a statement.

“No legal decision and no sentence can lessen the pain of Lisa’s murder,” Fletcher’s family said in a statement sent to the media. “We accept that her killer pleaded guilty to all charges, will wake up in prison for the rest of his life and will not be able to harm anyone again. We are very grateful for the determination and professionalism of law enforcement and the prosecutor’s office. We especially want to recognize Deputy District Attorney Paul Hagerman for his tireless work on behalf of Lisa.”

Fletcher’s kidnapping sparked a multi-agency multi-agency manhunt across Memphis. Footage from the University of Memphis campus, where she went for a morning jog, shows someone in a dark SUV approach Fletcher and force her into the car after a brief struggle.

Abston was arrested a day after Fletcher’s abduction. Initially, he was charged with kidnapping in particularly serious circumstances and forgery of material evidence. Fletcher’s body was not found until September 5three days after her abduction. First-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping charges were added to Abston’s case a day after Fletcher’s remains were found.

Fletcher, who was 34 at the time of her death, was a mother of two, taught at St Mary’s Episcopal School and was an avid runner.

She graduated from Hutchison School in 2006, according to the all-girls school’s website, and earned a bachelor’s degree in exercise science from Baylor University. She earned a master of arts degree in teaching with an emphasis in elementary education from Belmont University, according to a post from St. Mary’s.

Abston was convicted of rape in 2021 more than six months before Monday’s entry. What the rape went unsolved until DNA was taken from a rape kit tagged Abston in CODISnational DNA database.

Lucas Finton is a criminal justice reporter for The Commercial Appeal. He can be contacted at [email protected]or (901)208-3922, and follows X, formerly known as Twitter, @LucasFinton.