Found Deceased TN - Eliza "Liza" Fletcher, 34, Abducted while jogging 4:30 am, forced into SUV, Central Ave near Univ of M, personal items found, Memphis 2 Sept 2022

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her attire appeared to be purple shorts and a pink racerback sports bra but the image is so grainy it's hard to tell. Her children appear to be pretty young from her FB page. I hope their mommy is found safe and comes home soon.

This is scary tho. Kind of reminds me of Yingying Zhang case. Eliza was just going about her early morning run when bam from nowhere everything changed.
 
I had same exact guesses. First I thought Jeep Grand Cherokee because of rear lights wrapping around but the front headlights look more Durango. Hard to say but I think either of those are fair guesses.
Wow, same…100%.

Whatever it is I hope that LE already knows this and are working behind the scenes trying to figure out whose it is and/or who the driver is.
 
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Her last reported location was on Carr Avenue, near S Willett Street.

<snipped for focus>
Police say she was seen at Central Avenue and Zach Curlin near the University of Memphis around 4:20 a.m., when an unknown person approached her.
These two locations are about 5 miles apart. Presumably the midtown intersection is where she started her run. Makes sense she would have had a water bottle along for a 10+ mile run.
 
In that short clip of the interview with the police officer, I couldn't make out the reporter's question 100% but it was something about a couple weeks ago, a U of M cross country runner said she was harassed in the area by a dark SUV. Could just be a coincidence, but it does make you wonder. I'm curious what time of day the cross country team practices, or if possibly this XC runner was even out running early AM on her own (outside of an official practice).
 
From the clip:
Dark SUV was harassing cross country team from the university lately. Is it related?
Reporter asked about it.

TBA: 2:53 mark.
I heard that too. I wonder if they run the same time of day?

With it being so early In the morning, it makes me think it could be targeted, but if others were harassed around that same time then maybe it’s opportunistic.
 
This is making me think again of Mollie Tibbetts. She was also approached on a run (hers was in the evening) and after a brief struggle, abducted as well (and subsequently murdered). I hope Liza's case is different and she can be found alive.

I'm curious if she runs with any sort of money on her? I would not think she would have a full wallet in her running shorts but possibly slips a credit card in her pocket in case of emergencies? The two main motives I can think of if this is a random crime are sexual or monetary. IMO
 
Short press briefing

LE - Okay, so I don't really have a whole lot of details to provide you, other than what we've already released. We received a call around 7.45 this morning from the University of Memphis. We came over to assist at this location around central and Zach Curlin. When we arrived on the scene we were handling, possibly, a missing person. After further investigation we found video that did show a black SUV pull into the area, across the street here, where the victim was taken. We're unable to Identify the suspect but we do know that the vehicle is a dark coloured SUV.

Reporter - Where you able to obtain that video from? Was it like a neighbour or...?

LE - I don't know exactly where the video came from but we have reviewed it and pushed out the photo of the SUV.

Reporter - So obviously as this happened so close to U of M - Are there any concerns with the students here, or anything like that?.

LE - So, at this time we don't believe there is, but we're following up on this investigation. It's very important that if anybody knows the whereabouts of Miss Fletcher to contact the police immediately.

Reporter - There wasn't an exact description of what she was wearing at the time - Can anybody provide those details?

LE - So, yes we recently sent out another City Watch and she had a pink athletic top, and blue shorts and tennis shoes. And we have contacted... FBI's on the scene that's assisting us. We've contacted TBI that's also assisting us and we're working with the University of Memphis.

Reporter - Just to reflect on, you know - What triggered this massive presence from law enforcement that we're seeing out here right now?

LE - Well, originally it started out as a missing person and after we actually found information and saw a video where somebody was abducted, then that's going to raise the alarm.

Reporter - In light of this incident, does MPD plan on stepping up patrol in this area, given that so many people are on edge?

LE - Yes, we'll have officers all in the area, of course.

Reporter - A couple weeks ago when classes started up with U of M. The U of M cross country team, men and women, had someone harassing the women's team - Does this have any connection to that? They also mentioned a dark SUV?

LE - Yeah, I'm not aware of any connection at this time. So at this time that's all we've got but we will continuously push out information as we get it, but again, our concern is to locate Miss Fletcher, so if anybody knows where she's at call the police immediately.

Reporter - The description says she has brown hair - Some people are telling me she has blonde hair.

LE - (confirms it's blonde)
 
Wow, never have I ever (before) opened a MP FB page and found a "mutual" friend. :oops:
Not quite the same, but several are one mutual friend away from me. Not surprising as I went to U of M and used to live near there. It would be an understatement to say a lot of sketchy stuff goes on in that part of town in the middle of the night, especially around the Poplar and Highland area after the bars close.
 
The problem is not women running at 4 AM it is the fact that there are perpetrators out there that think it is okay to abduct them. And that’s where the blame should be. Not on what she was wearing or when she chose to be outdoors.
SBM/BBM

THIS 100%. It is maddening that WOMEN cannot be out running at any time of day without a worry of this occurring. Anyone should feel safe and capable and empowered to exercise/travel/EXIST outside at any time of day in any area, wearing whatever type of attire in which they feel most comfortable.

And, yes. I know it happens to men. But, overwhelmingly, women are the victims in this category of crime. (And I’d even venture to say- women are “blamed” more by the public when these awful situations do occur, because “women should not be out alone.”)
All of course is my own opinion. Very frustrating.
 
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U of M just released a statement clarifying the timeline and some of the details surrounding this crime. According to their statement, Liza regularly ran this route so this opens the possibility this could have been planned rather than a crime of opportunity. Praying that Liza comes home safely to her little boys soon.
 

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U of M just released a statement clarifying the timeline and some of the details surrounding this crime. According to their statement, Liza regularly ran this route so this opens the possibility this could have been planned rather than a crime of opportunity. Praying that Liza comes home safely to her little boys soon.
This doesn’t sound good, IMO.
It states a man and a brief struggle. I wonder if they obtained video of that? This is terrifying.
 
In the interview with the police officer, she did say they had video but didn't know where it was from. Because this looks residential, my guess is a Ring camera or similar home security camera.

The university release mentions in the "middle" of the road that the male approached her. I know many runners prefer running on asphalt (the road) rather than concrete on the sidewalk. So maybe she was running in the road and tried to cross to the other side when this vehicle pulled up or slowed down and that's why this attack happened in the middle of the street?

I'd be curious to see the home surveillance footage of that road and nearby roads for the days leading up to today, around 430 AM. Is this same vehicle seen driving in this area? Also curious to know what time the vehicle showed up in the area today, from what direction it came, etc.
 
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