The suspected kidnapper of Eliza Fletcher had already kidnapped another person prior to Fletcher’s disappearance, according to a retired FBI investigator.
Cleotha Abston, Fletcher’s suspected kidnapper, had previously kidnapped Memphis attorney Kemper Durand, who worked in the same law firm as Fletcher’s uncle Michael Keeney, ex-FBI officer Jennifer Coffindaffer told NewsNation. The kidnapping, which took place in June 2000 when Abston was 16, occurred when Durand was forced into his car’s trunk before being sent to a gas station in order to withdraw from an ATM on Abston’s behalf, according to court documents.
“I think this is a very significant clue, and I’m sure certainly that the FBI, that the US Marshals, and that the TBI is looking closely at this relationship,” Coffindaffer said.
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Durand, who died in 2013, had called out to an armed Memphis Housing Authority guard walking toward the gas station, with Abston and his accomplice, Marquette Cobbins, running away after he called for help. Abston was charged with aggravated robbery and especially aggravated kidnapping for what happened, and he was sentenced to 24 years in prison, according to The Commercial Appeal, a local newspaper.
In an obituary written by a law firm Durand was a part of, he believed it was “quite likely that I would have been killed had I not escaped.”
Abston was sentenced to 24 years in prison but was released early in 2020, according to the Tennessee Department of Corrections. Coffindaffer stated that she believes society was “let down” by Abston’s early release in the wake of Fletcher’s disappearance.
“Anytime someone is let out early and then goes on to commit another violent crime, yes, I think society’s let down,” she said. “I think we are all let down by his early release.”
A body discovered near the abduction site was confirmed by the Memphis Police Department to be Fletcher, the department said Tuesday. Fletcher, the granddaughter of hardware magnate Joseph “Joe” Orgill III, was allegedly kidnapped by Abston during her early morning jog near the University of Memphis on Friday.
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Additional charges of first-degree murder and first-degree murder in the perpetration of kidnapping were added against Abston, who was already facing charges of especially aggravated kidnapping and tampering with evidence. He appeared in court on Tuesday morning.
The Washington Examiner has contacted the Memphis Police Department for comment.
