Memphis man pleads guilty to kidnapping, killing school teacher

Associated Press

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee man has pleaded guilty to kidnapping a Memphis school teacher while she was on an early morning run and then killing her. Cleotha Abston entered guilty pleas to first-degree murder and especially aggravated kidnapping Monday in the abduction and death of Eliza Fletcher. Prosecutors had said they would seek the death penalty if Abston were convicted at trial of first-degree murder in February. Instead, a judge sentenced Abston to life in prison after he entered the guilty pleas. Fletcher was grabbed from a street while she was jogging before dawn near the University of Memphis on Sept. 2, 2022, and forced into an SUV. Her body was later found near a vacant duplex.