The 34-year-old kindergarten teacher, wearing a pink top and purple shorts, disappeared around 4:20 a.m. last Friday near the University of Memphis campus in southwest Tennessee. Hundreds in Memphis gathered early Friday morning to complete the trail the mother of two will no longer run. On Tuesday, authorities confirmed that a body found a day earlier was Fletcher, who also went by “Lisa.” Police have since charged Cleotha Abston, 38, in connection with Fletcher’s abduction and murder. “We created this route as [a] way to honor Lisa and deal with our own feelings,” organizers posted on the Facebook event titled “Let’s End Lisa’s Run.” “This run is 8.2 miles following a path he would run regularly. … Our goal is to stand up for women in the Mid South and emphasize that women should be able to run safely at any time of day.” Runners paid tribute Sept. 9 to Eliza Fletcher, a preschool teacher and mother who was killed a week earlier while jogging in Memphis. (Video: Jackson Barton/The Washington Post, Photo: The Daily Citizen/The Washington Post) At 4:20 am – referring to the last time Fletcher was seen alive – friends and strangers wearing bright colors and lights ran, jogged and walked in her honor. Runners in Boston, Philadelphia and elsewhere organized their own events in tribute to Fletcher and other women who were lost, harassed or felt unsafe while exercising. “Lisa’s lights were super bright at 4:20am,” a woman who attended the event in Memphis wrote on her social media page. “… This was for Lisa but also for any woman who wants to go for a run at any time of the day. We will continue to shine for you Lisa.” Another woman in Florida who was accompanying a group on an early Friday morning run posted on Facebook, “Dear #elizafletcher, we’re from Florida. We never met you. We never ran with you. But you were a mother, a professional, and a runner, just like us, and that’s why we woke up at 4am today to run in your honor #restinpeace.” Since her disappearance, several women wearing pink tops and purple shorts have also taken to social media to post workout selfies in Fletcher’s honor, with the hashtags #runforeliza and #finishelizasrun. Organizers of the event declined to comment in an email to The Washington Post. “We decline all interviews as this is not about us, it’s about healing, honoring Liza by ending her journey and standing up for women’s rights,” Danielle Heineman, one of the event’s organizers, told The Post. Police identify the body of kidnapped runner Eliza Fletcher Suspect charged in kidnapping of missing Memphis teacher Eliza Fletcher On Sept. 2, surveillance footage captured a man forcing Fletcher into a black SUV, according to an affidavit released by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. Police suspect Fletcher, an avid runner, suffered “serious injury” during the abduction. “There appeared to be a struggle,” the affidavit said, citing surveillance footage. An intense search was launched after her husband told police she did not return home from a run at 4am. Later that morning, around 6:45 a.m., a bicyclist found a pair of pink sandals and her cell phone on a road off campus. The investigation concluded on September 6, when police confirmed that the body they had found behind a vacant house a day earlier, not far from where he was last seen, was that of Fletcher. DNA from the pink sandals linked Abston to the abduction, and cell phone records show he was in the vicinity when Fletcher forced his way into the SUV, police said. Fletcher was the granddaughter of the late Joseph Orgill III, who ran Orgill, a major distributor of home improvement hardware and supplies. In a statement released to local media, Fletcher’s family described her as a “joy” to those who knew her. “Now is a time to remember and celebrate how special she was and to support those who cared so much about her,” the family said. Lyric Li and Brittany Shammas contributed to this report.
