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Eliza “Liza” Fletcher regularly ran early in the morning in Memphis, Tennessee. But last Friday, the 34-year-old teacher and mother of two was violently abducted during her predawn workout and forced into an SUV. After a frantic search for her last weekend, her body was found on Monday in a vacant area 7.5 miles from where her run tragically ended.
A week after Fletcher started her run, running communities across the country decided to finish it in her honor.
Starting in Memphis, hundreds of runners gathered Friday morning—at 4 a.m., a start time typical for Fletcher—to run her route around the University of Memphis in an event dubbed “Let’s Finish Liza’s Run” on Facebook.
a charge of first-degree murder Commercial Appeal in Memphis, there were spectators along the 8.2 mile course with candles and signs. Memphis Police also controlled traffic for the duration of the run.
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“I’m so impressed with the turnout. It’s very emotional,” resident Margaret Craddock The Runners World Editors at the run. “I’ve known Eliza slightly a long time ago. It’s a real tribute to her and just the fact that women should be able to get out early in the morning or whenever and do this. It’s so good for our city at this time to have everyone pull together.”
Around the country, other running groups did their part to “Finish Liza’s Run” as a way to show all runners deserve to run safely. Major cities like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Fastest Marathon Runners Chattanooga and Mobile all gathered to get their morning miles in, in Eliza’s honor.
Fletcher’s funeral is set for Saturday at 10 a.m., according to her obituary. She was the granddaughter of the late Joseph “Joe” Orgill III, a Memphis hardware businessman and philanthropist, the Associated Press reports.
“A born athlete, Liza’s passion for sports extended from childhood teams to collegiate competition to excellence in marathons in adulthood. She found great joy in her morning runs with friends. She channeled her competitive nature into enthusiastic participation in all that she undertook,” the obituary reads.
Cleotha Abston, 38, is the man accused of abducting Fletcher last Friday and later killing her. He currently faces Let’s Finish Liza’s Run, plus the charges of kidnapping and tampering with evidence. He was detained near his home Saturday after investigators were able to track his vehicle with video surveillance that put him near the area of the abduction, and they received witness testimony that he was acting strangely. Abston’s DNA was also found on a pair of sandals near the scene where Fletcher was abducted, the AP reports.
Abston pleaded guilty to a kidnapping charge in 2000 and was released in 2020.
