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“Now it’s time to remember and celebrate how special she was and to support those who cared so much for her,” family of Eliza Fletcher said in a statement.

Rachel Sharp has the full story.

Police have released new details about how they located Eliza Fletcher’s body in an amended affidavit filed on Tuesday.

According to the affidavit, officers from Memphis Police Department, and federal and state partners searching for Ms Fletcher noticed vehicle tracks in tall grass leading to a vacant apartment at at 1666 Victor St at 5.07pm on Monday.

A search and rescue officer smelled an “odour of decay” and spotted a set of footprints in the rear driveway of the premises. He then saw an “unresponsive female” lying on the ground.

The person, who matched a description of Ms Fletcher, was pronounced dead by the medical examiner shortly afterwards, according to the court document.

Police found a pair of purple Lululemon running shorts that were consistent with a pair Ms Fletcher was wearing when she disappeared discarded in a trash bag nearby.

Surveillance footage showed Mr Abston’s black GMC Terrain nearby between 5.48am and 5.52am, the affidavit states.

Tucker Carlson slammed the authorities for the early release of Cleotha Abston, the man charged with the killing of Eliza Fletcher, as he highlighted what he claimed was a lax law and order situation in Memphis.

“Cleotha Abston was a predator,” began Carlson in his Fox News show. “In 2000, he was convicted of kidnapping a local attorney at gunpoint downtown and forcing him into the trunk of his own car,” he said.

“…But like most life long criminals, Cleotha Abston was never full punished for what he did.

“He was released years before the end of his prison sentence. Nor was he in any way sense reformed by his experience behind bars,” Carlson said.

“Abston was well known in his apartment complex as of last week for his sexual aggression and his perversity. He terrified his neighbours, but no one from any part of the justice system seems to have intervened.”

Remembering Memphis as “one of the richest, best organised cities in the country” about 100 years ago, Carlson said, it was now the “most dangerous city in the United States”.

“Last year, it recorded a total of 342 murders. Now, how many is that? Well, by comparison, San Antonio, Texas, which has more than twice the population, recorded fewer than half as many murders,” he said as he attacked Joe Biden voters for allegedly dismissing the crime on racial grounds.

“In the hours after Eliza Fletcher’s disappearance, Biden voters on social media seemed to dismiss the crime on racial grounds. ‘Why are we paying so much attention to the kidnapping of an attractive, privileged White woman? That’s racist’,” he said.

“Others seem to blame Fletcher for the atrocity committed against her. ‘Why was she jogging at that hour, anyway? In Memphis? Come on.’“An American citizen should be able to live or walk anywhere in America without being raped or murdered for it, period. That is the baseline requirement for civilisation. It’s called order,” he added.

Cleotha Abston, the suspect charged with the kidnapping and murder of Eliza Fletcher, had been on the wrong side of the law since he was 11 years of age, reported CBS affiliated WREG News.

Though he had a “good relationship with his family”, Abston had a rough childhood, say court documents, adding that he was first arrested for theft in 1995.

In the subsequent years, he was arrested for several felony offences including burglary, theft, aggravated assault, violation of curfew, truancy, rape and evading arrest, reported the outlet.

According to his file, he had no suicidal gestures, medical problems or mental illness but was listed as “100 per cent violent”.

Abston was only 16 at the time when he pleaded guilty for kidnapping in 2000 and ended up serving two decades in prison.

His victim said he was “extremely lucky he was able to escape” that night as he feared he “would have been killed” had he not slipped.

Memphis attorney Kemper Durand said in a 2003 victim impact statement that he was “lucky” to escape from Abston, now 38, during the violent kidnapping back in 2000.

Rachel Sharp has the full story.

Cleotha Abston, a convicted kidnapper charged with the kidnapping and first-degree murder of Tennessee heiress Eliza Fletcher, informed the court that he cannot afford a $510,000 bond or an attorney.

Prosecutors have sought more time to adjust the bond after Abston’s charges were upgraded from kidnapping to include first-degree murder.

According to the police, the sandals they recovered near Fletcher’s water bottle and cell phone after her abduction had DNA which matched that of Abston.

He was also seen wearing them the night before her abduction, it said.The arrest affidavit from the police also claimed that his cell phone was found in the same area where Fletcher was abducted.

Court records show that Abston, 38, was previously charged with aggravated kidnapping in June 2000 and served 20 years in prison before being released in 2020.

Cleotha Abston has been charged with her murder and abduction.

Here is a timeline of events in the case.

In the clip, Fletcher, a junior teacher at St Mary’s Episcopal school in Memphis, sings “This Little Light of Mine” and tells students about her dog.

The video, which has been viewed more than 530,000 times on Twitter, comes from Fletcher’s YouTube channel.

Read the details in this report from Josh Marcus:

Cleotha Abston, who has been charged with the abduction and murder of heiress Eliza Fletcher, spent 20 years in prison for kidnapping and robbery before being released in 2020.

Here’s everything we know about Mr Abston.

The 95 second clip shows Mr Abston returning to the apartment at Longview Garden, South Memphis in a GMC Terrain at 7.57am on the morning, the station reports.
He parks the vehicle and can then be seen carrying materials to the car from an apartment block.

My colleague Bevan Hurley has more: