HOMICIDE

Eliza Fletcher’s Autopsy Reveals Her Cause of Death

The kindergarten teacher and heiress was abducted by a man who another victim claims could have been caught if her rape kit was processed properly.

The autopsy report of Eliza Fletcher, the woman abducted during a pre-dawn run around the University of Memphis campus on Sept. 2, has revealed that the late kindergarten teacher died of a “gunshot wound and blunt force injury to the head.” Fletcher, the heiress to a multibillion-dollar hardware company, was allegedly killed by Cleotha Abston before her body was discovered Sept. 6 in an abandoned home nearby. Video evidence captured by a surveillance camera at the university showed a man forcing Fletcher into his car and struggling with her inside. But the news took an unexpected turn Sept. 22 when Alicia Franklin sued Memphis Police for botching the processing of her rape kit from a similar encounter she had with Abston, in which he forced her into his car at gunpoint before raping her. Franklin claims the DNA evidence could have put Abston away sooner, sparing Fletcher’s life.