Hundreds rallied for Memphis teacher Eliza Fletcher

Eliza Fletcher never finished her 8.2 mile run.

The 34-year-old kindergarten teacher, wearing a pink top and purple shorts, disappeared near the University of Memphis campus in southwest Tennessee around 4:20 a.m. last Friday.

Hundreds gathered in Memphis early Friday morning to watch the mother-of-two finish her no-longer run.

Tuesday, authorities said He confirmed the body was found a day earlier Fletcher, “Lisa” also went. Since then the police will be imposed Cleota Abston, 38, in connection with Fletcher’s kidnapping and murder.

“We built this flow [a] Way to honor Lisa and deal with our own feelings,” organizers said Published A Facebook event titled “Let’s Finish Lisa’s Run” reads, “This run is 8.2 miles along the route she usually runs. … Our goal is to stand up for women in the Mid-South and emphasize that women can run safely at any time.

Runners paid tribute Sept. 9 to Eliza Fletcher, a kindergarten 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 a.m. — marking the last time Fletcher was seen alive — friends and strangers dressed in bright colors and lights ran, jogged and walked. Runners in Boston, Philadelphia and elsewhere organized their own events to pay tribute to Fletcher and other women who went missing, were harassed or felt unsafe while exercising.

“Lisa’s lights were shining so bright at 4:20 a.m.,” said one woman who attended the event in Memphis. wrote on his social media page. “…This is for Lisa, but for every woman who wants to run at any point in their day. We will shine for you Lisa.

Another woman who accompanied a group on a Friday morning run in Florida wrote on Facebook, “Honey #Elizafletcher, we are from Florida. We have never met you. We are not running with you. But you were a mother, a professional, and a runner just like us, and that’s why we got up at 4 a.m. today to run in your memory. #Peace.”

Since her disappearance, several women in pink tops and purple shorts have posted workout selfies on social media honoring Fletcher with the hashtags #runforeliza and #finishelizasrun.

Event organizers declined to comment in a message to The Washington Post.

“We are declining all interviews because this is not about us, this is about healing, honoring Lisa by finishing her run and standing up for women’s rights,” Danielle Heinemann, one of the event’s organizers, told The Post.

Police identify body of kidnapped runner Eliza Fletcher

Suspect charged with kidnapping 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 injuries” during the abduction. “There appeared to be a struggle,” the affidavit said, citing surveillance footage.

An intense search began after her husband told the police that she ran away at 4 am and did not return home. That morning, around 6:45 a.m., a cyclist found a pair of pink sandals and her cell phone on a road outside the university campus. On September 6, the search ended, and police confirmed that the body they found a day earlier behind a vacant house, not far from where he was last seen, was that of Fletcher.

DNA from the pink sandals linked Upston to the kidnapping, and cell phone records showed Fletcher was nearby when she was forced into the SUV, police said.

Fletcher is the granddaughter of the late Joseph Orgill III, who ran Orgill, a major distributor of hardware and home improvement products. A Report Sharing with local media, Fletcher’s family described her as a “joy” to those who knew her.

“Now is the time to remember and celebrate how special she was and to support those who cared so much for her,” the family said.

Lyric Li and Brittany Shammas contributed to this report.

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