Eliza Fletcher Wiki – Eliza Fletcher Biography
A woman has alleged that she was raped in 2021 by the man now facing charges for the kidnapping and murder of Eliza Fletcher. Alicia Franklin, 22, claims she was raped at gunpoint by Cleotha Abston, who appeared in Shelby County court Monday for killing the Memphis business heiress and teacher on Sept. 2.
Ms. Franklin said that when she took her case to the Memphis police, they dismissed it as that of an “average black girl.” Her sexual assault kit was sent to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) two days after the crime, but the Memphis police department did not ask for it to be rushed to analyze it like they did in Fletcher’s case, Newsweek reported. .
Eliza Fletcher Age
Eliza Fletcher is 22 years old.
Incident Detail
TBI said officers did not request a “rush” on her case and that her kit was caught in the state’s sample backlog with unknown assailants, according to the report. Franklin said she met Abston through the Plenty of Fish dating app last year and went to her apartment. But as soon as she entered, the defendant put a gun to her neck, covered her face with a T-shirt and raped her, she told The Daily Memphian.
“She was just your average black girl in the city of Memphis, you know,” she said. “I just think it wasn’t a priority.” She alleged that detectives did not collect fingerprints from her phone, show her a recent picture to identify the attacker, or analyze her sex kit on a priority basis. She said all of these actions could have put Abston behind bars before he allegedly committed Fletcher’s murder and lamented that detectives failed not only her, but also Abston’s other victims and Fletcher.
She now faces charges in both cases after TBI analyzed Ms. Franklin’s kit, nine months after the crime, and the resulting profile match for Abston. “I’ve been up all night thinking about this beautiful soul. I can’t sleep, I can’t eat! My heart goes out for her and her family, especially those babies because I know what she experienced first hand! may your soul rest in eternal peace, Eliz,” she said on Facebook, sharing a family photo of Fletcher after her body was recovered.
Fletcher was abducted while jogging near the University of Memphis campus and forced into an SUV at 4 a.m. His body was recovered three days after his disappearance, outside an abandoned house. Abston was convicted of raping a man when he was 14 years old, according to court documents. He is also a convicted kidnapper who was released from prison in 2020 after serving 19 years.
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