Police identify body of Memphis teacher abducted during run
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Police in Tennessee said Tuesday they had found the body of a Memphis woman abducted during a pre-dawn run, confirming fears that Eliza Fletcher was killed after she was forced into an SUV on Friday.
The news followed an exhaustive search throughout the long weekend with dogs, ATVs and a helicopter in a case that has drawn national media attention and is already becoming a source of partisan controversy over criminal sentencing and parole.
U.S. Marshals arrested Cleotha Abston, 38, on Saturday after police detected his DNA on a pair of sandals found near to where Fletcher was last seen, according to an arrest affidavit. Police did not find Fletcher’s body until just after 5 p.m. Monday and did not publicly confirm that the body was Fletcher’s until Tuesday. Fletcher, 34, was a schoolteacher and the granddaughter of a Memphis businessman.
Abston was released from prison in 2020 after serving 20 years for a previous kidnapping. On Tuesday, he made his first court appearance on charges of kidnapping, tampering with evidence, theft, identity theft, and fraudulent use of a credit card.
Several of Fletcher’s relatives were in the courtroom as Abston was issued a $510,000 bond. Abston said he could not afford bond and he could not afford a lawyer. General Sessions Judge Louis Montesi appointed a public defender to represent Abston.
Court records showed Abston also has been charged with first-degree murder. He is scheduled to appear in court again Wednesday.
Memphis Police Director Cerelyn “CJ” Davis said it was too early in the investigation to determine how and where Fletcher was killed. Davis said the body was found behind a vacant duplex.
SC abortion bill: A South Carolina Senate committee voted Tuesday to remove exceptions for rape and incest from a proposed abortion ban setting up a showdown among Republicans wary of passing such a restrictive bill.
The same bill without the exceptions appeared to fail in the more conservative state House last week before some Republicans maneuvered through a series of votes to allow abortions for rape and incest victims up to the 12th week of pregnancy.
Several GOP senators have said they cannot support the bill without the exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape and incest. There are 30 Republicans and 16 Democrats in the state Senate.
Mississippi water: While its water crisis continued, students in Jackson, Mississippi, were able to return to class for the first time in a week Tuesday with assurances that the toilets and sinks in their buildings would work.
The capital city remained under a boil-water advisory, but the drop in water pressure that had brought the system to near collapse appeared to be resolved, officials said.
Torrential rains and flooding of the Pearl River in late August exacerbated problems at one of Jackson’s two treatment plants, leading to a drop in pressure throughout the city.
In a Tuesday news conference, Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said the water storage that
had built up over the weekend decreased some over the past 24 hours.
“The safety net that has been built up has decreased and has diminished,” Lumumba said. “That is why we’re prayerful that everything remains consistent.”
Israeli airstrikes in Syria:
Israel launched a missile attack Tuesday targeting Syria’s Aleppo airport for the second time in a week, this time putting it out of commission, Syrian state media said.
The Syrian government did not report any casualties. The transport ministry said all flights will be diverted to the capital, Damascus.
State media, citing a military source, reported that Syrian anti-missile defense systems fired back at what they said were Israeli missiles.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based opposition war monitor, the airstrikes also destroyed warehouses belonging to
Iran-backed militias.
Chinese lockdown: Authorities in southwestern China’s Chengdu have maintained strict COVID-19 lockdown measures on the city of 21 million despite a major earthquake that killed at least 65 people in outlying areas.
Footage circulating online Tuesday showed workers, wearing top-to-bottom protective gear, preventing residents of apartment buildings from exiting through locked lobby doors following Monday’s 6.8-magnitude quake centered in the surrounding province of Sichuan.
Buildings in Chengdu and other parts of western China were shaken by the quake. No damage was reported in the city. The quake struck a mountainous area in Luding county, which sits on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau roughly 125 miles from Chengdu.
Despite only recording a handful of cases, Chengdu’s lockdown is the most severe
since China’s largest city of Shanghai was placed in isolation over the summer, prompting rare protests in person and online.
In all, 65 million Chinese in 33 cities including seven provincial capitals are under varying levels of lockdown.
Archaeological site: In flood-stricken Pakistan where an unprecedented monsoon season has killed hundreds of people, the rains now threaten a famed archaeological site dating back 4,500 years, the site’s chief official said Tuesday.
The ruins of Mohenjo Daro — located in southern Sindh province near the Indus River and a UNESCO World Heritage Site — are considered among the best preserved urban settlements in South Asia. They were discovered in 1922 and to this day, mystery surrounds the disappearance of its civilization, which coincided with those of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia.
The swelling waters of the Indus have wreaked havoc
as heavy rains and flooding unleashed devastation across much of Pakistan. At least 1,343 people have been killed and millions have lost their homes in the surging waters.
The flooding has not directly hit Mohenjo Daro, but the record-breaking rains have inflicted damage on the ruins of the ancient city, said Ahsan Abbasi, the site’s curator.
Ohio roller coaster: An amusement park in Ohio announced Tuesday it would be permanently closing the world’s second-tallest roller coaster.
The decision by Cedar Point comes a year after a small metal object flew off the 420-foot-tall Top Thrill Dragster coaster and struck a woman in the head at the park in Sandusky. A state investigation found no evidence that the park acted illegally or had reason to believe the ride was unsafe.
The ride has remained closed since the Aug. 15, 2021 accident.