The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Suspect In Memphis Woman’s Murder Began His Criminal Career at Age 11

Posted on | September 7, 2022 | 2 Comments

Well, his first arrest was at age 11, although he might have been perpetrating felonies ever since he learned to walk:

The Tennessee man charged in the abduction and murder of a woman who vanished Friday as she was jogging in Memphis has a lengthy juvenile criminal record that dates to 1995, when he was 11 years old, court documents reveal.
Cleotha Abston has been charged with various crimes every year from 1995 to 2000, when he was sentenced to 24 years in prison for kidnapping a Memphis lawyer, according to documents obtained by NBC News.
Just two years after he was released in 2020, Abston, 38, is now charged with the death of Eliza Fletcher.
Listed in the documents are multiple offenses, including convictions for a rape charge from 1998, when he was 14, and a kidnapping charge from 2000, when he was 16.
Felicia Hogan, a spokesperson for Shelby County Juvenile Court, said in a statement Wednesday that the court found that Abston “committed rape when he was 14 years old.” She did not provide further details.
“Because of the severity of the crime, the statute says this offense information is releasable even though at the time Abston was a juvenile,” Hogan said. “There is no information being released on when, to whom or where this rape happened. The rest of his juvenile record is sealed and there are no other records to be released.” . . .
Tennessee Lt. Gov. Randy McNally said Tuesday that had Abston remained in jail for the full 24 years [for the 2000 kidnapping], Fletcher would still be alive.
“It is simply disgraceful that this individual did not serve his full sentence for his previous crimes,” McNally tweeted.

In fairness, as the story explains, it isn’t as if Abston was the beneficiary of some kind of Soros-funded liberal policy. He had served more than 500 days in jail prior to being sentenced, and all Tennessee prison inmates are eligible to “earn” up to a 15% reduction in their sentences. So subtracting the previous “time served” prior to sentencing and then adding in his “earned time” as an inmate, there wasn’t anything unusual about the length of Abston’s sentence.

When I first mentioned this case Sunday, Eliza Fletcher still hadn’t been found, but Monday afternoon a body was found in an abandoned duplex, and Tuesday officials confirmed that it was Fletcher, the heiress to a billion-dollar fortune who chose to work as a kindergarten teacher.

By all accounts, Eliza Fletcher was a wonderful human being, whereas the guy who killed her . . . Well, I guess I forgot to mention that Cleotha Abston’s brother Mario is a convicted felon who was busted with drugs and a pistol, and his father, Cleo Henderson, “is currently in prison for second-degree murder and is scheduled for release in 2044.” So everybody in the entire family is a criminal, it would seem.

There’s no “moral to the story” here. It’s just one of the very best people getting killed by one of the very worst. Not much to add.




 

Category: Crime, Tennessee

Comments

2 Responses to “Suspect In Memphis Woman’s Murder Began His Criminal Career at Age 11”

  1. If he had served a longer prison term..... - The DaleyGator
    September 7th, 2022 @ 9:30 pm

    […] Then Eliza Fletcher would still be alive The Other McCain makes the crucial point, and the same one I make often. We have to put the really awful criminals away, because………. when we do not, innocent people die needlessly […]

  2. Things to Read (Red Pill Redemption 2) | okrahead
    September 7th, 2022 @ 9:32 pm

    […] Evil is ascendant. It will not last…. https://theothermccain.com/2022/09/07/suspect-in-memphis-womans-murder-began-his-criminal-career-at-… […]