From 1995 to 2000, Cleotha Abston, 38, was charged with various crimes each year and sentenced to 24 years in prison.
According to court documents, the Tennessee man charged in the kidnapping and murder of a woman who went missing Friday while jogging in Memphis has a lengthy juvenile criminal record dating back to 1995, when he was 11 years old.
From 1995 to 2000, Cleotha Abston was charged with a different crime every year until he was sentenced to 24 years in prison for kidnapping a Memphis lawyer.
Abston, 38, is now charged with the death of Eliza Fletcher, just two years after being released in 2020.
Multiple offences are listed in the documents, including convictions for rape in 1998, when he was 14, and kidnapping in 2000, when he was 16.
Shelby County Juvenile Court spokesperson Felicia Hogan said in a statement Wednesday that the court determined Abston “committed rape when he was 14 years old.” She didn’t go into any further detail.
“Because of the severity of the crime, the statute says this offence information is releasable even though at the time Abston was a juvenile,” Hogan said. “No information is being released on when or where this rape happened. The rest of his juvenile record is sealed, and there are no other records to be released. ”
Hogan said Abston was taken into the custody of the county’s Youth Services Bureau after being convicted of rape.
He was charged with aggravated robbery and kidnapping in May 2000. According to court documents, Abston, then 16, kidnapped and forced a man named Kemper Durand into the trunk of a car.
Abston drove Durand, a criminal defence lawyer, to an ATM to withdraw money, but Durand escaped after yelling for help.
I had been taken from the trunk of my car, where he and his co-defendant had placed me for several hours, and made to drive to the Mapco station, Durand recounted in a victim impact statement.
“The purpose was that I was to use my ATM card to get cash for Cleotha Abston. It was very fortunate that an armed, uniformed Memphis Housing Authority guard came into the Mapco station.
“It’s quite possible I would have been killed if I hadn’t escaped,” he said.
Durand wrote that he considered himself “extremely fortunate” to have escaped and believed Abston had “absolutely no remorse” for the crime. Durand passed away in 2013.
Abston pleaded guilty to kidnapping and received a sentence of 24 years in prison. In November 2020, he was released from the Tennessee Department of Correction.
According to Dorothy Carter, a department spokesperson, Abston was sentenced to “100% with 85% eligibility,” which means he could get credit for time served after serving 85% of his time and “program credits.”
Carter stated that he had served 512 days before his sentence. Abston also received “program credits” for working in prison as a cleaner, cook, kitchen helper, and laundry labourer.
“Those credits, combined with the 512 already served days, allowed Abston to be released at 85% of his sentence, though he is considered to have completed his entire sentence,” Carter explained.
Carter stated that the department did not have the authority to monitor Abston after his release.
Although Abston has not been convicted of Fletcher’s death, Tennessee Lt. Gov. Randy McNally said Tuesday that if Abston had spent the entire 24 years in prison, Fletcher would still be alive.
“It is simply disgraceful that this individual did not serve his entire sentence for his previous crimes,” McNally wrote on Twitter.
“Not only must evildoers pay the full cost of their crimes, but that punishment must also serve as a warning that such actions will not be tolerated in our society.”
According to police, Eliza Fletcher, an avid runner, kindergarten teacher, and mother of two was on her regular 4 a.m. jog near the University of Memphis when Abston forced her into his SUV.
According to a criminal complaint, security video showed “a black GMC Terrain passing and then waiting for the victim to run by.” According to the report, a male exited the vehicle, ran toward Fletcher, and forced her into the passenger seat.
Police said Abston was linked to the kidnapping after discovering his DNA on a pair of sandals found at the scene.
According to an affidavit, he was arrested Saturday, a day after the kidnapping, after police discovered the SUV in a parking lot near his home.
On Monday, Fletcher’s body was discovered shortly after 5 p.m. in a vacant Victor Street duplex apartment. The cause of death and manner of death have not been disclosed.
Abston was charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping, among other things. At his arraignment on Wednesday, a judge revoked his bond.
Abston’s attorney information was not immediately available, and his family could not be reached at the phone numbers listed.
