Eliza ‘Liza’ Fletcher abducted: A Memphis kindergarten teacher is forced into a vehicle by a man during an early morning Friday run as her family now offer $50K reward for information leading to her safe return.
Fears continue to grow for the whereabouts of an abducted Memphis teacher who was forced into a vehicle against her will while going out for a morning jog along the University of Memphis campus, Friday morning.
The apparent kidnapping has led to the family of kindergarten teacher, Eliza ‘Liza’ Fletcher, now offering a $50,000 reward for any information leading to her safe return, the Commercial Appeal reported.
Fletcher, 34, who is the granddaughter of a wealthy Memphis family with a billion dollar business announced the reward hours after fears the Tennessee teacher was kidnapped.
The woman’s family who head up $3 billion hardwares business Orgill Inc., offered the reward after Fletcher, 34, who was last seen at 4.20am did not return home from her normal run and was reported missing at 7:45 a.m. Friday according to Memphis Police.
Grainy surveillance footage showed the pre-kindergarten educator, clad in a bright pink jogging top and purple running shorts, being trundled off into a black SUV, which the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations later described as a “dark-colored GMC Terrain.”
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TENNESSEE MISSING PERSON
Eliza “Liza” Fletcher
She was forced into a vehicle this morning in midtown Memphis while running at approximately 4:30 a.m.
Source: Tennessee Bureau of Investigation / Memphis Police#MPIAmissingTN pic.twitter.com/I6EPnDB4KH— Missing People in America (@MissingPeoplei3) September 3, 2022
Who & why?
Her smashed cellphone and water bottle were discovered near the scene of the crime.
Read an alert: A ‘male approached her at approximately 4:30 a.m. in the middle of Central Avenue and appeared to leave with her in an unknown vehicle following a brief struggle.’
‘We look forward to Eliza’s safe return and hope that this award will help police capture those who committed this crime,’ Fletcher’s family said in a statement, Fox13 Memphis reported.
Less than 24 hours after the abduction, police were at Fletcher’s home, where they towed a white SUV from the scene. A computer and a pair of lawn shears were tagged as evidence and removed from the home, ABC24 reported.
Frantic search underway
‘We don’t know what’s going on, but everybody is desperately looking for her and the police here are on it,’ Fletcher’s friend Hart Robinson told WREG. ‘You can see there is a lot of activity, so if you know anything or saw anything early this morning, we just ask that you come forward. We want to find her.’
Fletcher lives in midtown Memphis with her husband Richard Fletcher III and their two boys. She is the granddaughter of hardware magnate Joseph Orgill III. The private family business, Orgill Inc., employs 5,500 people and does $3 billion in sales annually, according to their website.
Fletcher, who is 5′ 6″ tall, weighs 137 pounds, and has brown hair, was wearing purple shorts and a pink sports bra. It remained unclear how the educator and mom of two came to be singled out and whether her abduction was random.
There have been at least 100 incidents classified as kidnapping in Memphis this year, according to public safety data posted on the city’s website.
