Woman Abducted in Memphis while Jogging

Authorities are still searching for a woman a day after she was allegedly kidnapped while jogging in Memphis early Friday morning. No arrests have been made in the case, the Memphis Police Department tweeted Saturday.

Eliza Fletcher, 34, was jogging in the city at around 4:30 a.m. when she was forced into a dark GMC Terrain SUV, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) tweeted. It was not clear which direction the car traveled.

Eliza Fletcher, a Tennessee-based teacher whose grandfather, Joseph Orgill III, co-ran the Memphis-based hardware distributor Orgill Inc., was abducted in the early hours of Friday morning while jogging near the University of Memphis campus, The Sun reports. The Daily Beast reached out to the University of Memphis for comment.

While Fletcher’s total net worth is unclear, she is the heiress to the Orgill Inc. fortune; as of 2020, the business is worth over $3.2 billion and ranks at 143 on the Forbes list of America’s largest private companies. The Daily Beast reached out to Orgill Inc. for comment.

Fletcher, who teachers pre-kindergarten, was reportedly exercising around 4:30 in the morning on Friday when assailants in a dark SUV pulled up and violently forced her into the car. She was reported missing at around 7 a.m., and upon examining the scene, police officers discovered Fletcher’s shattered cell phone and abandoned water bottle.

Police have arrested a suspect in the kidnapping case of missing Memphis teacher Eliza Fletcher.

Cleotha Abston, 38, has been charged with especially aggravated kidnapping and tampering with evidence, Memphis Police announced early Sunday.

Police said Abston was the person who was detained Saturday when the SUV connected to the case was found.

Fletcher has not been located. Police said the search for her is still active.