VIDEO: Eliza Fletcher Murder Suspect Allegedly Seen Cleaning SUV After Kidnapping

Newly released surveillance footage appears to show Cleotha Abston, 38, cleaning a dark-colored SUV with floor cleaner hours after mother and teacher Eliza Fletcher, 34, was kidnapped early Friday morning. She was officially confirmed dead Tuesday after her body was discovered the previous day.

Abston has since been charged with the kidnapping and murder of Fletcher after she was abducted Friday at around 4:20 a.m. while she was jogging at the University of Memphis campus, approximately 7.5 miles from where her body was found.

Watch:

In the surveillance footage obtained by the WREG, a black GMC Terrain is seen arriving at approximately 7:57 a.m. at Longview apartments, where Abston’s brother, Mario Abston, 36, lives. The GMC Terrain is the vehicle that police believe was used in the abduction.

Abston is reportedly seen sitting inside the vehicle, where he then opens the trunk and runs into the apartment moments later, WREG reported.

He then reappears a few minutes later and is seen at the passenger’s door for more than an hour.

According to an arrest affidavit obtained by the Daily Mail, at around 7:50 a.m., a witness saw Abston at his brother’s home, cleaning the inside of the SUV with floor cleaner. The witness added that he was “behaving oddly.”

Following Abston’s arrest, Mario was also arrested and charged with drug and firearm offenses but is believed not to be connected to the abduction, according to police.

Abston has an extensive criminal record dating back to 1995, when he was 12-years-old. Abston appeared in court on criminal charges in 1996, 1997, 1998, and 1999 for “theft, aggravated assault, aggravated assault with a weapon, and rape,” according to court documents via the Memphis Commercial Appeal.

In 2000, when he was 16 years old, Abston and another individual kidnapped Memphis-based attorney Kemper Durrand, forcing him into the trunk of a vehicle.

Durand was later taken to a Mapco gas station, where he was ordered by Abston to withdraw money from an ATM. At the same time, an armed Memphis Housing Authority guard walked into the station, prompting Durand to yell for help.

The two kidnappers ran away but were both later taken into custody and subsequently convicted of Durand’s kidnapping.

Abston received a sentence of 24 years in prison in 2000 but was released early from prison on parole after serving 20 years of his 24-year sentence. The other convicted kidnapper, Marquette Cobbins, received a lighter sentence of seven and a half years in prison, being eligible for parole 18 months later after Durrand noted in court that Abston was the main instigator of the kidnapping.

On the night of Fletcher’s abduction, police allege that Abston was stalking the area for roughly half an hour. When Abston did allegedly abduct Fletcher, police say there was a struggle between the two before Fletcher was forced into Abston’s vehicle.

Investigators zeroed in on Abston as the suspect when they found a Champion sandal with his DNA on it. Even after his arrest, Abston would not disclose where Fletcher’s body was located.

In an unrelated case, Abston is accused of allegedly stealing another women’s wallet and using her credit cards the day before Fletcher’s murder, Fox 13 Memphis reported. He was charged with identity theft, theft of property $1,000 or less, and illegal possession of credit cards.

Far-left Shelby County District Attorney Steven Mulroy called Abston’s abduction of Fletcher an “isolated attack by a stranger.”

As Breitbart News reported, although Mulroy has sought to appear as a tough-on-crime prosecutor, suggesting he strongly opposed Abston’s early release from prison, he is opposed to Tennessee’s “Truth in Sentencing” law that took effect this year to ensure that violent criminals like Abston serve their full sentences rather than being released early on parole.

Eliza Fletcher was a mother of two children and was married to her husband, Richie, before her death. She is the granddaughter of Joseph Orgill III, the founder of Orgill Inc., a billion-dollar hardware company. Fletcher was also a teacher at St. Mary’s Episcopal School, an all-girls academy.

“We are heartbroken at the loss of our beloved teacher, colleague, and friend Liza Fletcher. Our hearts are with the Fletcher, Orgill, and Wellford families,” the school said in a statement on Facebook, mourning her death.

Abston is now being held without bail in Shelby County Jail.

You can follow Ethan Letkeman on Twitter at @EthanLetkeman.