The suspect in the killing of Eliza Fletcher was seen cleaning out his car less than four hours after the billionaire heiress was abducted, new surveillance video showed.
Cleotha Abston, 38, drove his SUV to his brother Mario’s home at the Longview Gardens apartment complex in Memphis, Tennessee, around 8 a.m. on Friday, according to the video footage. Abston is seen sitting in his vehicle outside the complex before getting out to open his trunk. It’s not clear what he was trying to get from the back of the car.
POLICE RELEASE DETAILS OF HOW BODY OF ELIZA FLETCHER WAS FOUND
The time stamp on the video was just four hours after Fletcher was kidnapped roughly 7.5 miles away, and her body was found a few hundred feet away from where Abston’s car was parked in the footage.
Fletcher, the granddaughter of hardware tycoon Joseph Orgill III and a mother of two, went missing on Friday after she went on an early morning jog. She was found dead by authorities on Monday after officials traced the tire marks and odor of decay to a driveway in Tennessee near where her body was discovered, according to the affidavit.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Separate video footage showed Fletcher being forced into an SUV that morning near the University of Memphis. She was found dead roughly 7.5 miles from where surveillance footage showed her abduction, according to authorities.
Abston, who has a criminal history of kidnapping, was arrested over the weekend and faces charges in connection with Fletcher’s murder, including kidnapping and tampering with evidence. It’s still unclear what events led up to her kidnapping or what the cause of death was. The matter is still under investigation.