In recent days, the major news media in the United States have been tracking down a kidnapping case:
On September 2, the billionaire's granddaughter, 34-year-old Eliza Fletcher, went out for a jog but never returned home.
The case took place in Memphis, Tennessee, United States.
The grandfather of the victim Fletcher was joseph Ogier III, the founder of the oldest local business, the hardware distributor Ogier Company.
The old man started the company from scratch and grew it into a huge enterprise with 5,500 employees, becoming the largest independent hardware distributor in the United States.
According to Forbes magazine, it ranks 143rd among all private companies in the Nation in 2021, with annual revenue of $3.2 billion.
Fletcher, as his granddaughter, was naturally one of the heirs of the company.
But despite her prominent family, before the accident, most local people did not know her hidden identity as the heir of the billionaire.
Fletcher does not like extravagance and waste, life looks ordinary, and her husband Richard Fletcher has two sons, and he does everything himself.
And she didn't give up her job just because she was the billionaire's granddaughter and become a full-time wife with no worries.
On weekdays, she is an ordinary kindergarten girl who takes care of the children at the local St. Mary's Episcopal School.
She is a running enthusiast who goes out for a few kilometers every morning and has even run marathons in Boston.
In order not to delay her daily work, she likes to go out for a run before dawn - going out at four o'clock, running home to make breakfast, wake up the children, and not delay the work afterwards.
The same is true of the day of the murder.
On September 2, she went out jogging in a pink sports top and purple sports shorts, as always.
However, she still did not return until 7 a.m.
Fletcher's family desperately tried to call and try to contact her, hoping that the disappearance was only due to the lack of power on the mobile phone or temporary problems, but the phone never answered.
Her family was upset and reported her disappearance to the police station.
At 7:45 a.m., Memphis police went to the scene.
At this time, a passer-by contacted Fletcher's family: "I picked up this mobile phone while riding a bicycle. ”
The police immediately stepped forward and found Fletcher's broken cell phone, discarded water bottle, and a strange pair of men's slippers near the University of Memphis.
Everyone had a bad hunch in their hearts: she was likely to have an accident.
The police brought up the surveillance footage.
Surveillance showed that at 4:20 a.m., when Fletcher ran to the University of Memphis, a black SUV vehicle passed by her.
A man came down from inside the SUV and aggressively stopped her.
The two struggled and confronted each other for a while, and the man forced her into the car with violence.
After a few more minutes, the car flew away and drove to an unknown place.
This is obviously a kidnapping scene!
The police quickly characterized the original "disappearance case" as a "kidnapping case".
After learning that Fletcher had been kidnapped, Fletcher's family was so distraught that they offered a reward of $50,000 (about $300,000) to find her whereabouts.
The police, on the other hand, also began to look for suspects.
The three physical evidence left at the scene became the most important clue - the police found the DNA of the same person on these three things:
Cleosha Abston.
This is a habitual offender with a lot of previous convictions.
Since he was 12 years old, he has appeared in juvenile court records several times.
In 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999, he was arrested four times as a juvenile offender on charges including theft, aggravated assault, aggravated assault with weapons and rape.
In 2000, 16-year-old Abston kidnapped prominent lawyer Kemper Durand in Memphis, for which he was sentenced to 24 years in prison.
(Former FBI agents pointed out that Durand and Fletcher's uncle work in the same law firm, and the two kidnappings may be related, but most netizens do not agree with this speculation.)
In 2020, after serving a 20-year sentence, the 36-year-old was released from prison early.
After he was released from prison, he still did not change his mind.
During the police investigation, his neighbors scolded him as a pervert, harassed every woman, tried to persuade them to collect money for sex, and everyone avoided him.
A neighbor said:
"He often followed me, waved him for $100, asked for a relationship with me, and did the same with other women in the building."
He even said the same thing to my 20-year-old niece, trying to get her into his apartment. As far as I know, no one in this building wants to pay attention to him. ”
In addition to his misconduct, the evidence of his abduction of Fletcher is also very conclusive:
Fletcher's water bottle and mobile phone have his DNA on it.
The sandals left at the scene were hiss, which were filmed by a local theater showing Abston wearing them during his Visit on Sept. 1.
Police tracked Abston's cell phone, which records showed that Abston was near her in the early hours of the day Fletcher was kidnapped.
The SUV involved in the case also has some relationship with Abston.
The police immediately went to investigate where Abston might have gone: his own residence, and his brother's residence.
Let's start with the discovery at his brother's house.
Abston's 36-year-old brother was also arrested after the police raid, though the charges had nothing to do with the kidnapping.
The reason was that drugs such as banned semi-automatic guns and heroin were found in his home.
His brother did, though, give useful information: Abston had come to him.
Early in the morning of September 2, a few hours after the incident, Abston suddenly drove over and washed his SUV with floor cleaner and clothes in the bathroom sink.
Other than that, his brother didn't know much more.
Meanwhile, police at Abston's own residence, finding more useful clues.
He was standing in the doorway when the police arrived at Abston's own residence and began to flee as soon as he saw the police, but was quickly arrested.
Police found the vehicle involved in the case in the parking lot near him: a black SUV with damaged taillights.
Abston, however, refused to tell the police where Fletcher was or what he had done to her.
Won't say a word.
At this point, many people speculate that Fletcher has become more fierce.
Instead of asking Fletcher's family for ransom before Abston's arrest, he went back to cleaning the vehicle alone a few hours later.
A large amount of blood was found in his vehicle, suggesting that Fletcher was at least "seriously injured."
And after he was arrested, he never spoke.
If you say where Fletcher was kidnapped, he is likely to be "shot down lightly".
There is only one possible reason why he could not open his mouth at this time: once he said it, his charge changed from "kidnapping" to "murder".
The police also realized this and began to search the park and garbage bin near the site of the case for possible dumping sites.
On September 6, a clue caught their attention.
Not far from Fletcher's brother's house, someone reported to the police: "There's a rotten stench here." ”
The site is about 10 km from where Fletcher was kidnapped.
As the police passed, they found mottled blood on the ground, and in the corner of the stairs, unnaturally piled up branches and weeds, flying flies and emitting a foul odor.
With a bad premonition, they cleared the area.
Finally, they found a corpse.
On September 6, the police announced the discovery of the body.
On September 7, the identity of the deceased was determined, it was Fletcher...
On the same day, Abston was brought to a hearing and charged with first-degree murder.
At present, the police have not yet released Abston's motives.
Speculation has come to the table that while Fletcher is the heir to the billionaires, the case has garnered a lot of attention, but Abston's attack on her has nothing to do with it.
Most likely, he happened to run into a woman traveling alone in the early hours of the morning, and that was it.
Before the identity of the corpse was determined, countless people prayed for Fletcher, hoping that a miracle would happen.
But now, perhaps, people can only hope for justice.
Fletcher's passing has become a foregone conclusion, and many netizens have expressed their sadness:
"Heartbreaking... This poor girl must have suffered. I wanted a miracle to happen, but a miracle never happened.
Rest in peace, beautiful lady. ”
"I feel sad that her husband and two children are still alive."
"What the hell is it for?" It's terrible that the world has lost a good wife, a good mother, a good daughter, and a good sister. I pray for her whole family.
She's just jogging and doing her own thing, but there's a monster like him hiding in every corner of the world!!
He shouldn't have been released. ”
"Some people don't deserve to be alive. He was one of them, and he was hopeless.
I don't believe this is the first time he's done this since he got out of prison, let's see if anyone else has gone missing in Memphis in the past two years. ”
"There have been 200 kidnappings in Memphis in recent months, and I believe he is linked to many of them."
(In 2022, Memphis has reported at least 100 kidnappings,) according to public safety data.) ）
"Who the hell released him?" Just because he served 20 years in prison doesn't mean he's no longer a threat to society. ”
"If he had been sentenced to death the first time, she would still be alive."
This incident caused an uproar in the local area, and people were panicked.
One neighbour who provided the clue said: "This could have happened to anyone who went out for a run that morning, anybody. ”
"When I think about it, I feel very uncomfortable."
In the beginning, the disappearance of the "heir of the billionaire" has led many people to speculate whether this is a grudge between the rich and the powerful, or whether someone wants to ask for a ransom.
But in the end, the crime is likely to be just a random kidnapping and murder case.
It's just that the victims happen to be the heirs of billionaires.
In this case, her real identity is just an ordinary woman who goes out and jogs.
It was really a tragedy...
Sigh.