Kidnapping suspect Cleotha Abston faces new charges ahead of first hearing

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - Ahead of the first hearing for Cleotha Abston, the man charged with kidnapping Memphis woman Eliza Fletcher, new charges have emerged stemming from a police report just one day before the kidnapping.

The report read that a woman filed a theft report with MPD, saying “an unknown individual was using her Cashapp and Wisely Card at gas stations without her knowledge or consent.”

The woman works at the Malco at 1080 Germantown Rd., where footage of Abston was obtained in connection with the Champion slides sandals that were found at the scene of Fletcher’s kidnapping.

Abston was later identified on surveillance video by his boss who confirmed that Abston was working for her cleaning service at the Malco.

The theft victim suffered a loss of $910.80, according to the affidavit.

More information on the vehicle that was used in Fletcher’s kidnapping has also been discovered.

Another affidavit reveals the car is under the name of a woman who lives at Abston’s last known address at 5781 Waterstone Oak Way in Memphis.

We went to the address on Monday, hoping to speak with her.

Several MPD cruisers were out front. She answered the door frustrated by the circumstances of her losing her car and the arrest of the man who was living with her.

“I am upset. I’m very upset,” she told us.

Abston was arrested at the apartment on Saturday.

The woman living at his last known address would not make it clear how she knew Abston or if she had any insight into how Abston was acting leading up to Fletcher’s kidnapping on Friday morning.

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