September 2022 | Page 4 of 5 | My Crime Library

Body Found In Eliza Fletcher Search

Police in Memphis Tennessee have announced that during the search for Eliza Fletcher a body has been found. The Memphis Tennessee police were quickly to add that the body has not yet been properly identified. In the last couple of days Memphis police have arrested convicted felon Cleotha Abston who has been charged with aggravated kidnapping and tampering with evidence. Cleotha Abston who spent over two decades in prison for a prior kidnapping has been described as a violent felon. The search for Eliza Fletcher was taking place around the home of the brother of Cleotha Abston who Cleotha had been staying with for the past month. Eliza Fletcher disappeared after she went for a jog near the University of Memphis

Eliza Fletcher More News

Memphis police found an unidentified body Monday about 20 minutes from where teacher Eliza “Liza” Fletcher was violently abducted three days ago, according to a tweet from the police department.

“The identity of this person and the cause of death is unconfirmed at this time. The investigation is ongoing,” the tweet said.

Police have been searching the Memphis area for Fletcher, 34, since Friday. The mother of two was jogging around 4 a.m. when a black GMC Terrain SUV passed by her, according to surveillance footage obtained of the incident. A man was then seen getting out of the vehicle and running “aggressively” toward Fletcher and forcing her into the passenger side of the SUV. Once both individuals were inside the SUV, the vehicle remained in a parking lot for about four minutes before driving away, according to the footage cited in an affidavit obtained by CNN

The affidavit stated police found “physical evidence that she suffered serious injury.”

Cleotha Abston, 38, was arrested Saturday after police found the GMC Terrain in a parking lot near his residence, according to the affidavit. The vehicle had the same distinguishable damage and partial license plate identification seen in the surveillance footage from Fletcher’s abduction.

Abston attempted to flee after US Marshals located him nearby, the affidavit said. He was charged with especially aggravated kidnapping and tampering with evidence.

The suspect is being held in the Shelby County Jail on $500,000 bail and is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday, according to jail records. It is unclear whether he has an attorney.

DNA recovered from a pair of sandals found near where authorities believe Fletcher was abducted helped investigators identify and arrest Abston, according to the affidavit.

Surveillance footage captured from a local theater the day before Fletcher’s disappearance showed Abston wearing what authorities believe are the same pair of Champion slide sandals found at the crime scene, according to the affidavit.

Additional surveillance footage matched with statements from Abston’s employer confirmed the vehicle in question belongs to a woman associated with Abston’s home address.

Cell phone records also place Abston at the site during the time of Fletcher’s abduction on Friday morning, the affidavit said.

Fletcher’s damaged phone was found near the scene where she was abducted, CrimeStoppers Executive Director Buddy Chapman said, according to a news release obtained by CNN affiliate WHBQ.

According to the affidavit, a witness said she saw Abston at his brother’s house after the abduction. Both the witness and his brother said Abston was behaving oddly as he cleaned the interior of his SUV and washed his clothes in the sink.

Photos released by police show Fletcher running in the neighborhood near the University of Memphis. She was last seen wearing a pink jogging top and purple running shorts, police said in an alert.

Fletcher is White, 5 feet 6 inches tall, with brown hair and green eyes, police said. She weighs 137 pounds.

Her family is offering a $50,000 reward through CrimeStoppers for information leading to an arrest in the case, WHBQ reported.

“We look forward to Eliza’s safe return and hope that this award will help police capture those who committed this crime,” her family said in a statement shared by Chapman.

In a post on Twitter, St. Mary’s Episcopal School said Fletcher is a junior kindergarten teacher.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said in a tweet it is assisting Memphis police in the investigation.

Abston previously served prison time for an aggravated kidnapping more than 20 years ago, court records show.

He pleaded guilty in November 2001 to the charge of especially aggravated kidnapping. He was released in November 2020, according to court records.

The Shelby County District Attorney’s Office told WREG Abston was convicted in the kidnapping of a local attorney in 2000.

Three additional charges were added for Abston since his arrest Saturday, according to Shelby County Jail Records. Those charges include identity theft, theft of property $1000 or less and fraudulent use/illegal possession of a credit or debit card $1000 or less, records show.

The newly filed charges Abston are not related to Fletcher’s abduction, according to an affidavit obtained by CNN affiliate WHBQ. The new charges are connected to a Thursday theft report filed by a woman who reported that someone was using her CashApp card and Wisley Card at gas stations without her knowledge.

CNN has reached out to the Shelby County District Attorney and Memphis Police regarding the additional charges.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/05/us/memphis-teacher-missing-suspect-prior-kidnapping-charge/index.html

Update: Saskatchewan Stabbing Suspect Damien Sanderson Found Dead

One of the suspects, Damien Sanderson, in the deadly Saskatchewan stabbing spree has been found dead and the manhunt continues for his brother Myles Sanderson. According to police reports the body of Damien Sanderson was found in a high grass area near the home of one of the victims, police are saying that the wounds do not look like they are self inflicted. Police believe that Myles Sanderson may have suffered injuries as well but so far that is pure speculation. The deadly stabbing spree which left ten people dead and nineteen people injured is the deadliest mass murder in Saskatchewan history.

Damien Sanderson More News

One of the two accused RCMP have been seeking in connection with a string of fatal stabbings in Saskatchewan on Sunday has been found dead, police confirmed Monday.

Damien Sanderson, 31, was found dead with wounds that did not appear to be self-inflicted, said Rhonda Blackmore, commanding officer of the Saskatchewan RCMP.

Myles Sanderson, 30, is still at large and is wanted. The RCMP also confirmed Monday at the media briefing that the two are brothers.

Ten people died in the attacks Sunday in various locations in the province, including James Smith Cree Nation. The injury toll has risen to 18.

Myles faces three counts of first-degree murder; Damien had been charged with one count of first-degree murder. Both men also were charged with attempted murder and break and enter.

Police from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba were searching for the Sandersons after the attacks prompted a dangerous-persons alert.

Police said Myles may have sustained injuries, though that has yet to be confirmed.

“We do want the public to know this because there is a possibility he may seek medical attention,” Blackmore said.

“Even if he is injured, it does not mean he is not still dangerous,” Blackmore added, noting Myles has a lengthy criminal record involving both persons and property crimes.

CBC has confirmed Lana Head, 49, is one of the deceased from James Smith Cree Nation. She leaves behind daughters Sable, 31, and Sage, 30.

Head’s former partner, Michael Brett Burns, said Head worked as a security guard at Northern Lights Casino and was also a commissionaire officer.

Head’s death was first reported by APTN.

Saskatoon police earlier confirmed they’ve been searching for Myles Sanderson since May, when he stopped meeting with his assigned caseworker and was classified as “unlawfully at large.”

He had been serving a nearly five-year federal sentence for assault, robbery, mischief and uttering threats. He got a statutory release, and then disappeared.

Police anticipated releasing more information about the people who died later Monday.

“At this stage in our investigation, we believe some victims have been targeted by the suspect and others have been attacked randomly,” Blackmore said during a news conference Sunday.

In an update posted to Twitter at 7:36 a.m. CST on Monday, Regina police Chief Evan Bray had said the two suspects were still at large despite “ongoing, relentless efforts through the night” from Regina police and RCMP officers to apprehend them.

Blackmore said hundreds of Saskatchewan RCMP staff, from operators to major crime units, have been working on the investigation.

Police said there was no indication the two men travelled out of the province.

The Cree Nation and Weldon are within 60 kilometres of Prince Albert, and about 20 kilometres from each other.

Police resources from across Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta have been assisting with the multiple investigations, according to RCMP.

Myles Sanderson is described as:

Six-foot-one.
240 pounds.
With brown hair and brown eyes.

RCMP said before Monday’s briefing that the two men were believed to be in a black Nissan Rogue with a Saskatchewan licence plate 119 MPI.

According to police, the vehicle was last reported seen in Regina around 11:20 a.m. on Sunday, though it hasn’t been confirmed.

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) said it was working with domestic and international law enforcement to “ensure border security, intelligence and enforcement.”

The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN), which represents 74 First Nation communities in Saskatchewan including James Smith Cree Nation, joined a chorus of people offering their condolences to the James Smith Cree Nation after the “unspeakable violence that claimed the lives of innocent people.”

“This is the destruction we face when harmful illegal drugs invade our communities, and we demand all authorities to take direction from the Chiefs and Councils and their membership to create safer and healthier communities for our people,” said FSIN Chief Bobby Cameron in a statement late Sunday.

The FSIN also said it has been in contact with the federal government, which has committed to providing support to the communities

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/suspects-mass-stabbings-weldon-james-smith-saskatchewan-1.6572876

Damien And Myles Sanderson Canada Stabbing Spree Leaves 10 Dead

A manhunt is going on in the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba for Damien and Myles Sanderson who are believed to be responsible for a stabbing spree that has left ten people dead and fifteen others injured. According to early police reports there are over a dozen crime spree and police believe some of the stabbings were deliberate targets where the others were random.

Damien Sanderson is 31 years old, five foot seven and weighs roughly 155 pounds. Myles Sanderson is 30 years old, six foot one and approximately 200 pounds. It is believed that Damian and Myles Sanderson are driving a black Nissan Rogue.

The stabbing spree is one of the worst in Canadian history

Damian and Myles Sanderson More News

RCMP say 10 people have died and 15 have been sent to hospitals after stabbings in multiple locations in Saskatchewan.

They say they are looking for two suspects — Damien Sanderson, 31, and Myles Sanderson, 30 — who are considered armed and dangerous.

RCMP Assistant Commissioner Rhonda Blackmore said Sunday the dead and injured were found in 13 locations on the James Smith Cree Nation and in the village of Weldon, northeast of Saskatoon.

She said the injured have been taken to various hospitals, and there may be other victims who went to hospitals on their own.

Some people were targeted and others were attacked at random, Blackmore said.

“It is horrific what has happened in our province today,” she told a news conference in Regina.

She urged the suspects to turn themselves in

Weldon resident Diane Shier said she was in her garden Sunday morning when she noticed emergency crews a couple of blocks away.

Shier said her neighbour, a man who lived with his grandson, was killed. She did not want to identify the victim out of respect for his family.

“I am very upset because I lost a good neighbour.”

She said businesses in the village of about 200 people are usually closed Sundays, but stores in larger surrounding communities had closed as a safety precaution.

Weldon resident Robert Rush also described the victim as a gentle, widowed man in his 70s. “He wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

He said the victim’s adult grandson was in the basement at the time and phoned police.

“He stayed down there until they were gone.”

Rush said people in Weldon believe the suspects left the village. Later Sunday, he drove to Prince Albert to buy a cake for his wife’s birthday and left his granddaughter at home.

“I gave her two guns and a bat,” Rush said.

The hunt for the suspects was also on in Regina, where fans descended for a sold out annual Labour Day game between the Canadian Football League’s Saskatchewan Roughriders and Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

RCMP said there was a possible sighting in the city of a vehicle with the suspects.

In a Twitter statement, the Roughriders said there was increased law enforcement presence at the Mosaic Stadium and surrounding area.

The Regina Police Service, in a news release, said that with the help of Mounties, it was investigating on several fronts to locate and arrest the suspects and had “deployed additional resources for public safety throughout the city, including the football game at Mosaic Stadium.”

Justin Trudeau responded to the news on Twitter.

“The attacks in Saskatchewan today are horrific and heartbreaking. I’m thinking of those who have lost a loved one and of those who were injured,” he said.

“I want to offer my deepest condolences on behalf of the government and people of Saskatchewan to all of the family and friends of the victims of today’s horrific attacks,” tweeted Saskatchewan premier Scott Moe.

An alert first issued by Melfort RCMP about 7 a.m. was extended hours later to cover Manitoba and Alberta, as the two suspects remained at large.

Damien Sanderson was described as five feet seven inches tall and 155 pounds, and Myles Sanderson as six-foot-one and 200 pounds. Both have black hair and brown eyes and may be driving a black Nissan Rogue with licence plate 119 MPI

James Smith Cree Nation leaders declared a state of emergency “in response to the numerous murders and assaults on members of James Smith Cree Nation.”

Two emergency operations centres were also set up in the communities, the statement said.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority said multiple patients were being treated at several sites.

“A call for additional staff was issued to respond to the influx of casualties,’’ authority spokeswoman Anne Linemann said in an email

Mark Oddan, a spokesman with STARS Air Ambulance, said two helicopters were dispatched from Saskatoon and another from Regina.

Oddan said two carried patients from the scene to Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon, while the third carried a patient to Royal University from a hospital in Melfort, a short distance southeast of Weldon.

Oddan said due to privacy laws, he could not disclose information about their ages, genders or conditions.

He said other patients were transported by ground ambulance to hospitals in Prince Albert, Nipawin and Melfort, but didn’t know how many.

Oddan said the second chopper dispatched from Saskatoon carried a transport physician to the scene to assist with operations on the ground, but he did not know the location.

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2022/09/04/10-dead-15-injured-in-saskatchewan-stabbin.html

Landon Parrot Teen Killer Murders Infant In Hot Car

Landon Parrot is a nineteen year old alleged teen killer from Ohio who has been charged with the murder of his one year old son. According to police in New Philadelphia Ohio Landon Parrott purposely put his one year old son in a car and left the child there for over six hours in the 130 degree vehicle which caused the child to die. Landon Parrott was arrested and now faces charges of murder, two counts of endangering children and involuntary manslaughter .

Landon Parrott More News

An Ohio teen dad has been charged with murder after police say he intentionally left his 1-year-old son in a car where temperatures exceeded 130 degrees Fahrenheit.

Landon Parrot, 19, has been charged with murder, two counts of endangering children and involuntary manslaughter and is currently held at Tuscarawas County Jail, New Philadelphia Police Chief Michael Goodwin said in a statement on Facebook on Friday.

At 2 p.m. on Thursday, New Philadelphia police were notified by Cleveland Clinic Union Hospital that a 1-year-old child was brought into the emergency room by his father and was unresponsive.

During the initial investigation, detectives found “inconsistent information being given by the father,” Goodwin said. As the investigation continued and evidence was collected, the father was confronted with the new information and confessed to detectives what had happened to his son.

“The child passed away after being left in the car unattended for approximately 5 hours, with an outside temperature of 87 degrees,” the chief wrote. “During the interview it appears that this was not a matter of forgetting the child but was a deliberate act so as the child would not be a disturbance while in the house.”

Surveillance video recorded across the street from the parents’ apartment showed Parrot with the child around 8:30 a.m., and he does not return until about 1:50 p.m. when he comes back to the car to pick up his wife from work, FOX 8 Cleveland reported.

“We estimate that would’ve made the interior of the car about 130 degrees and this child was in there strapped into a car seat with no fluids, no air conditioning, nothing,” New Philadelphia Police Detective Capt. Ty Norris told the outlet. “Heartbreaking. It’s heartbreaking to see this unfold before your eyes.”

Norris said that during a police interview, Parrot admitted to knowing the dangers of leaving children in hots cars from news reports but chose to do so anyway to avoid his son creating a disturbance in the apartment.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/ohio-dad-charged-murder-leaving-degree-hot-car-deliberate-act

Cleotha Abston Charged In Eliza Fletcher Kidnapping

Cleotha Abston has been charged with the kidnapping of Memphis Tennessee woman Eliza Fletcher. According to police reports Eliza Fletcher was jogging near the University of Memphis when she disappeared. Clotha Abston who has been described as a violent felon who served time for kidnapping and robbery would be arrested and has been charged with aggravated kidnapping and tampering with evidence. The search for Eliza Fletcher continues with the family offering a $50,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest and conviction.

Cleotha Abston More News

A man has been charged in connection with the disappearance of a Memphis teacher investigators believe was abducted while she was out for a jog Friday morning, police said.

Cleotha Abston, 38, was charged with especially aggravated kidnapping and tampering with evidence, according to a tweet from the Memphis Police Department posted early Sunday.

“Eliza Fletcher has not been located at this time. MPD Investigators and officers, along with our local and federal partners, continue searching for Mrs. Fletcher,” the post said.

Fletcher, 34, was jogging around 4 a.m. Friday when a black GMC Terrain SUV passed by her, according to surveillance footage obtained of the incident. A man was then seen getting out of the vehicle and “ran aggressively” toward Fletcher and forced her into the passenger side of the SUV. Once both individuals were inside the SUV, the vehicle remained in a parking lot for approximately four minutes before driving away, according to the footage cited in an affidavit obtained by CNN.

Abston was arrested Saturday after police found a vehicle they had been looking for in the case.

US Marshals located the GMC Terrain in a parking lot near Abston’s residence, according to the affidavit. The vehicle had the same distinguishable vehicle damage and partial license plate identification seen in the surveillance footage from Fletcher’s abduction.

Abston was located nearby by U.S. Marshals and attempted to flee but was taken into custody, the affidavit said.

It is unclear whether Abston has an attorney.

DNA recovered from a pair of sandals found near where authorities believe Fletcher was abducted helped investigators in Memphis identify and arrest Abston in connection with Fletcher’s disappearance, according to the affidavit.

Investigators discovered surveillance footage captured from a local theater the day before Fletcher’s disappearance, which showed Abston wearing what authorities believe are the same pair of Champion slide sandals found at the crime scene, according to the affidavit.

Additional surveillance footage matched with statements from Abston’s employer confirmed the vehicle believed to be involved in Fletcher’s kidnapping belongs to a woman associated with Abston’s home address.

Cell phone records also place Abston at the site during the time of Fletcher’s abduction on Friday morning, the affidavit said.

Fletcher’s damaged phone was found near the scene where she is believed to have been abducted, CrimeStoppers Executive Director Buddy Chapman said, according to a news release obtained by CNN affiliate WHBQ.

According to the affidavit, Abston declined to share Fletcher’s location.

Photos released by police show Fletcher running in the neighborhood near the University of Memphis. She was last seen wearing a pink jogging top and purple running shorts, police said in an alert.

Fletcher is White, 5 feet 6 inches tall, with brown hair and green eyes, police said. She weighs 137 pounds.

The family of the mother of two is offering a $50,000 reward through CrimeStoppers for information leading to an arrest in the case, WHBQ reported.

“We look forward to Eliza’s safe return and hope that this award will help police capture those who committed this crime,” her family said in a statement shared by Chapman.

In a post on Twitter, St. Mary’s Episcopal School said Fletcher is a junior kindergarten teacher.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said in a tweet it is assisting Memphis police in the investigation.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/04/us/memphis-eliza-fletcher-missing-teacher-suspect-charged/index.html