The time it takes to test sexual assault kits in Tennessee has been cut nearly in half from last year, according to new data from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI).
A new report shows results from state crime labs are now returned in 22.7 weeks on average. That’s down from an average of 45.4 weeks from August 2022.
Credit: Tennessee Bureau of Investigation
The fresh data comes from new quarterly reports now required by legislation originally proposed by state Sen. London Lamar (D-Memphis). The law sought to reduce testing times in the wake of the abduction and kidnapping of Eliza Fletcher. Her alleged assailant was matched to a DNA test from a sexual assault a year prior to the Fletcher case, but the DNA had not been tested in time to make an arrest.
“We filed this legislation because victims of sexual assault deserve transparency and accountability from the state and an 11-month wait time for DNA test results is an unacceptable threat to public safety,” Lamar said. “A six-month turn around time is still not where we need to be, but the TBI is making clear progress.
The report said 476 sexual assault kits are no waiting to be tested. That’s down from a 12-month high of 1,005.
The TBI is hiring 39 new employees to be able to process more kits. Nearly half of those have completed training and half have begun training.
The TBI is also outsourcing some testing to a Florida company with $1.9 million in federal grants funding.
2021 was twice as deadly as 2020 for Covid-19 in Shelby County. In 2020, 903 died of Covid here. In 2021, 1,807 passed from the virus.
A consent decree forced Horn Lake leaders to approve the construction of a new mosque.
Family members wanted $20 million from the city of Memphis; Memphis Light, Gas and Water (MLGW); and the Memphis Police Department (MPD) for the 2020 beating death of a man by an MLGW employee.
New DNA testing was requested in the West Memphis Three case for recently rediscovered evidence once claimed to be lost or burned.
February
An ice storm knocked out power to nearly 140,000 MLGW customers.
The new concourse — in the works since 2014 — opened at Memphis International Airport.
Paving on Peabody Avenue began after the project was approved in 2018.
Protect Our Aquifer teamed up with NASA for aquifer research.
A prosecutor moved to block DNA testing in the West Memphis Three case.
March
A bill before the Tennessee General Assembly would have banned the sale of hemp-derived products, like Delta-8 gummies, in the state. It ultimately provided regulation for the industry.
The project to fix the interchange at Crump Ave. and I-55 resurfaced. Bids on the project, which could cost up to $184.9 million, were returned. Work did not begin in 2022 but when it does, it could close the Memphis-Arkansas Bridge (the Old Bridge) for two weeks.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee temporarily cut sales taxes on groceries.
April
The Mississippi River ranked as one of the most endangered rivers in America in a report from the American Rivers group.
Critics lambasted decisions by Memphis in May and Africa in April to honor Ghana and Malawi, both of which outlaw basic LGBTQ+ rights.
The federal government announced a plan to possibly ban menthol cigarettes.
Lawmakers approved Gov. Lee’s plan to update the state’s 30-year-old education funding plan.
Tom Lee Park (Photo: Memphis River Parks Partnership)
May
Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi prepared for the likely overturn of the Roe v. Wade decision, ending legal abortions in the state.
The Greater Memphis Chamber pressed for a third bridge to be built here over the Mississippi River.
Cooper-Young landlords sued to evict the owners of Heaux House for “specializing in pornographic images.”
The Memphis City Council wanted another review of Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) plan to remove coal ash from the shuttered Allen Fossil Plant.
June
New research showed Memphis-area women earned 83 percent of their male counterparts income in the workplace from 2000-2019.
Gov. Lee ordered schools to double down on existing security measures in the wake of the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
MPD arrested four drivers in an operation it called Infiniti War Car Take-Over.
A key piece of the Tom Lee Park renovation project won a $3.7 million federal grant, which was expected to trigger nearly $9 million in additional funds.
Tennessee Republican attorney general fought to keep gender identity discrimination in government food programs.
Jim Dean stepped down as president and CEO of the Memphis Zoo and was replaced by Matt Thompson, then the zoo’s executive director and vice president.
Locals reacted to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
July
Memphian Brett Healey took the stage at Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July Eating Contest.
One Beale developers returned to Memphis City Hall for the fourth time asking for financial support of its luxury hotel plans.
The Memphis-Shelby County Schools (MSCS) board placed Superintendent Joris Ray on paid leave as they investigated whether he violated district policies with relationships with co-workers and abused his power.
The project to forever eliminate parking on the Overton Park Greensward got $3 million in federal funding.
Tennessee’s attorney general celebrated a win after a federal judge blocked a move that would have allowed trans kids to play sports on a team of their gender.
Tennessee’s top Pornhub search was “interracial” in 2021, according to the site.
August
A panel of Tennessee judges did not give a new trial to Barry Jamal Martin, a Black man convicted in a Pulaski jury room decked out in Confederate portraits, flags, and memorabilia.
Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert caught flak from the Tennessee Comptroller after traveling to Jamaica while her offices were closed to catch up on the controversial backlog of license plate requests from citizens.
MSCS superintendent Joris Ray resigned with a severance package worth about $480,000. Finance chief Toni Williams was named interim superintendent.
Officials said the Memphis tourism sector had made a “full recovery” from the pandemic.
A new bail system unveiled here was touted by advocates to be “one of the fairest in the nation.”
Eliza Fletcher (Photo: Memphis Police Department)
September
Memphis kindergarten teacher Eliza Fletcher was abducted and murdered while on an early-morning run. Cleotha Abston, out of jail early on previous abduction charges, was arrested for the crimes.
MLGW’s board continues to mull the years-long decision to, possibly, find a new power provider.
Ezekiel Kelly, 19, was arrested on charges stemming from an alleged, hours-long shooting rampage across Memphis that ended with four dead and three injured.
A Drag March was planned for the “horrible mishandling” of a drag event at MoSH. Event organizers canceled the show there after a group of Proud Boys arrived armed to protest the event.
October
Workers at four Memphis restaurants, including Earnestine & Hazel’s, sued the owners to recover alleged unpaid minimum wage and overtime.
Shelby County was largely unfazed by an outbreak of monkeypox with only about 70 infected here as of October.
Animal welfare advocates called a University of Memphis research lab “the worst in America” after a site visit revealed it violated numerous federal protocols concerning the care of test animals.
While other states have outlawed the practice, Tennessee allows medical professionals and medical students to — without any kind of permission — stick their fingers and instruments inside a woman’s vagina and rectum while she is under anesthesia.
Joshua Smith, a co-defendant in the election finance case against former state Sen. Brian Kelsey, pleaded guilty in court.
The Environmental Protection Agency told South Memphis residents little could be done to protect them from toxic emissions from the nearby Sterilization Services facility.
West Tennessee farmers struggled to get crops to market because of the record-low level of the Mississippi River.
November
Groups asked state officials for a special investigator to review the “very real failures that led to [Eliza] Fletcher’s tragic murder.”
A group wanted state officials to change the name of Nathan Bedford Forrest State Park.
The Tennessee Supreme Court ruled that mandatory life sentences for juveniles were unconstitutional.
A plan to forever end parking on the Overton Park Greensward was finalized by city leaders, the Memphis Zoo, and the Overton Park Conservancy.
December
The Commercial Appeal dodged layoffs in the latest round of news staff reductions by Gannett.
Federal clean-energy investments will further ingrain Tennessee in the Battery Belt and help develop a Southeast Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (H2Hubs).
The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee criticized Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare (MLH) for canceling gender affirmation surgery for a 19-year-old patient.
State and local officials investigated an alleged milk spill into Lick Creek.
MLGW rejected Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) 20-year rolling contract but will continue to be a TVA customer “for the foreseeable future.”
Former state Senator Brian Kelsey’s law license was suspended after he pled guilty to two felonies related to campaign finance laws last month.
Visit the News Blog at memphisflyer.com for fuller versions of these stories and more local news.
Posts poured in from up and down the Mississippi River, showing incredible images of the Big Muddy’s record-low levels. The image above shows boats moored in the mud at Mud Island Marina.
Eliza
Posted to Facebook by Tom Bailey
Posts of love, sadness, and support poured in from all over the country in honor of Eliza Fletcher.
“Saucy Situation”
Posted to Facebook by WMCTV
The MEMernet was briefly (but deeply) obsessed with a truck accident that spilled enough Bertolli Alfredo sauce to temporarily close I-55.
Back from Vacation
Posted to Reddit by u/anotheronegoesby
Wanda went to Jamaica and we all got this amazing meme.
Two organizations have asked state officials for a special investigator to review the “very real failures that led to [Eliza] Fletcher’s tragic murder” and warned against using the case to pass harsher sentencing laws.
Memphis-based People for the Enforcement of Rape Laws (PERL) and the Washington-based Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) sent a letter Thursday to Tennessee Governor Bill Lee and Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti with a host of unanswered questions about why Cleotha Abston was free to allegedly murder Fletcher earlier this year.
Fletcher, a Memphis Kindergarten teacher, was abducted while on a morning run in September. Police said she was later killed with a single gunshot to the head. Abston was arrested for the kidnapping and murder.
Police later discovered later that Abston’s DNA matched evidence from a rape kit collected in 2021. He was later charged with that rape.
Abston served a 20-year prison sentence for the 2000 kidnapping of a Memphis attorney. Abston was 16 at the time of the kidnapping. During that time, he held a prison job, which allowed him to accumulate 1,000 days of good time credit toward his release. However, during that time, Abston racked up 53 disciplinary infractions, many for exposing himself and possessing a deadly weapon. He exposed himself to his case manager just months before he was released two years early from his prison sentence.
PERL and FAMM want state officials to appoint an outside investigator — not one who works for Tennessee law enforcement — to review a cascade of questions they have about the case. All of the questions are underpinned by the notion that if Abston did not get early release, he would not have been able to allegedly kidnap and murder Fletcher.
“Did the Deparment of Corrections make a mistake in awarding Mr. Abston those time credits?” the groups asked in their letter to state officials. ”Or, was the department prohibited under current law from taking back any credits he had earned?
“Was the department concerned about releasing Mr. Abston, given his disciplinary record, and if so, did they share those concerns with state prosecutors?”
PERL and FAMM
“Was the department concerned about releasing Mr. Abston, given his disciplinary record, and if so, did they share those concerns with state prosecutors? Why did prosecutors not criminally charge Mr. Abston for any incidents in which he was found to be guilty of possessing a deadly weapon?”
While the groups push for answers in the case, they said they support incentives for incarcerated people to encourage them to participate in rehabilitative programming and to reduce their risk of re-offending after release. However, they do not want to advance the call for harsher sentences that will likely be touted in Nashville when the Tennessee General Assembly convenes in January.
“Proposing new and more punitive sentencing laws might allow some to claim they are seeking justice in Ms. Fletcher’s name, but their counterproductive solutions will not prevent future tragedies,” reads the letter. “Only an independent investigation into the very real failures that led to Ms. Fletcher’s tragic murder — and a commitment to address those failures and hold people accountable — can do that.”
Megan Ybos, executive director of PERL, said at 16 she reported a stranger rape to police. They did not investigate her claims or send her rape kit for testing. Her assailant raped six more women and girls — including a 12-year-old girl — over the next nine years.
”Now, the Eliza Fletcher case has shown that the police failure to investigate rape cases can have deadly consequences.”
Megan Ybos, PERL
“Now, the Eliza Fletcher case has shown that the police failure to investigate rape cases can have deadly consequences,” Ybos said in a statement. “That is why we need an independent review of the investigative failures that led to Ms. Fletcher’s tragic death.
“Her legacy should be honored by improving police and [Tennessee Bureau of Investigation] investigations and making prisons more conducive to rehabilitative purposes. We should not allow this heartfelt tragedy to be exploited by new punitive sentencing measures that will not make anyone safer.”
Queen Elizabeth (Photo: Miikka Makila | Dreamstime.com)
Memphis experienced some difficult days in early September. It began with the news of the shocking early morning murder of Eliza Fletcher, who was jogging near the University of Memphis. And then, just as we were trying to wrap our heads around that heinous crime, the city was terrorized for hours by a raging gunman who drove around hijacking cars and shooting random people, killing three and wounding four. What the hell was going on?
Predictably, such spectacular crimes made the national news for several nights, helped in no small part by the fact that there were videos and photos available to more easily whet the interest of a national audience. Even British papers were reporting from Memphis.
And everybody had an opinion. Fox misinformation maestro Tucker Carlson weirdly laid the blame on “Liberals like Governor Bill Lee,” which gives you an idea of how accurate Tuck-em’s typical takes are. This is a pundit, after all, who just a couple days earlier claimed that “by any actual reality-based measure, Vladimir Putin is not losing the war in Ukraine.”
But still, Memphis was in the news, and not in a good way. On social media, the “I’m so glad I got out of that hell-hole” crowd was having a field day, which always makes me wonder: If life is so great in Keokuk, how come you’re still wasting your day bitching about Memphis on Facebook? But I digress.
Then the 96-year-old Queen of England did Memphis a solid by dropping dead in Scotland. (Surprisingly, despite the presence of Scotland Yard — which should be nearby, if it isn’t — there are still no suspects.) At any rate, thanks to the long and winding royal drama, Memphis was immediately off the national news radar, for which we were all grateful. As I write this, after 27 days or so of shuttling Queen Elizabeth’s coffin around the country, the Brits are about to have a funeral, it appears. By all accounts — including the Beatles’ — Her Majesty was a pretty nice girl. Godspeed. Now it’s up to King Chuck and Queen Camilla to begin performing the arduous duties of being gratuitously rich, entitled, and powerful for absolutely no reason.
Meanwhile, back in Memphis, as the heat of the national news spotlight cooled, we learned more about the crimes that galvanized us in early September. The Daily Memphian reported Monday that more than a year ago, a young black woman named Alicia Franklin reported a rape by the same man who is alleged to have murdered Fletcher. Her rape kit sat in limbo at a lab in Jackson, Tennessee, for months, and even after repeated calls from Franklin, police apparently felt no urgency to pursue the evidence. It was only when the Fletcher case arose that analyzing the earlier rape kit was expedited. Blame is being cast in several directions, including toward the undeniable fact that the state’s three forensics labs are woefully understaffed and under-budgeted. But the bottom line is, if police had pursued the evidence of the earlier rape with the same urgency they did with the Fletcher case, Fletcher might still be alive.
The Commercial Appeal reported on Sunday that the average time for a rape kit to be processed in Tennessee is 34 weeks. This is absurd and unacceptable. The state legislature needs to address this situation, and quickly. Rape kits should be processed within weeks, not months. And there should be no difference in urgency between a case of “just an average Black girl,” as Franklin described herself in the Daily Memphian, and a wealthy white woman.
All this, I suppose, is something of a prelude to this week’s cover story, “370 Great Things About Memphis.” The city has had some tough going lately and it’s easy during times like these to lose sight of the fact that good things — big and small — are happening every day in Memphis; that good people and caring organizations are doing great things to move us forward, to bring us joy and a sense of pride. We stopped counting at “370 great things” only because of space limitations. We could have listed hundreds more. At any rate, sometimes, it’s good to take a few minutes to count your blessings. It couldn’t hurt.
The Memphis Flyer is now seeking candidates for its editor position. Send your resume to hr@contemporary-media.com.
Women gather in front of the cathedral of the Immaculate Conception Church for "Let's Finish Liza's Run." (Credit: Sarah Luscombe)
Woman runners turned out en masse in the early morning hours of September 9th to honor the late Eliza Fletcher.
“Let’s Finish Liza’s Run” was a run to honor Fletcher, who was abducted during her early morning run on September 2nd. Her body was found September 5th.
The run was held beginning around 4:20 a.m., which was about the time Fletcher was abducted. It began at Central Avenue and Belvedere Boulevard in front of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, and went down Central to University of Memphis and back.
The race was organized by Danielle Heineman and Beth Garrison. “This isn’t about us, about interviews, about publicity,” Heineman says. “It’s about honoring Liza to finish the run that she couldn’t finish.”
A candlelight vigil was being held by another group at the U of M destination, Heineman says. Lots of people were on the sidewalk holding candles. On one gate, a string of lights spelled out “Liza.” And a young girl played “This Little Light of Mine” on a ukulele.
Women gather beneath a full harvest moon for for “Let’s Finish Liza’s Run” (Credit: Sarah Luscombe)
Heineman heard an estimated 2,500 people ran and about 1,000 people were spectators.
“The city emergency response teams showed up in force today. All of Central Avenue was closed in one direction for the entire morning. We had helicopters over the course. It was fabulous. It really was. Just to see the city come together. Not just the residents, but also the city personnel. The police. The fire department. There were military out there. Husbands and brothers. And churches allowing us to use their parking lots. And use the steps of their church to gather. Christian Brothers University provided shuttles for people. Midtown Taekwondo provided shuttles for people who arrived at Second Presbyterian. Also Forest View Church of Christ provided a shuttle.”
Did Heineman know Fletcher? “I never met her. I have friends who know her well. We ran a lot of the same races. But we never met that I’m aware of.”
Eliza Fletcher. A name I’d not known before last Friday. A mother, wife, sister, daughter, teacher, friend — a woman, who, by many accounts, was a bright light in the lives of those she touched. As a bit of proof, among the memorial posts on my timeline was a video shared to YouTube in March 2020 of her singing “This Little Light of Mine” as part of a series of videos she must have created for the virtual schooling stage of the pandemic.
I did not know Eliza. But I have read many tributes to her over the weekend, from some who did know her — through her teaching, friends, neighbors — and many others who did not but were almost equally as crushed by the horrific news. As all of Memphis, and much of the nation, now knows, 34-year-old Eliza was abducted on an early morning run on Friday, September 2nd, at Central Avenue and Zach Curlin Street. Unreleased surveillance video showed her struggle with the assailant; her smashed phone and water bottle were found in front of a house near the scene. University of Memphis students, staff, and faculty received a safety alert that morning describing the incident and the few details known at the time. I later received a text message from a friend asking if I was okay — because I live near the university, one mile from where Eliza was violently forced into an SUV, and I take walks almost daily in the area.
The weight of what happened to Eliza, as she carried out, from what I’ve read, her normal morning routine — a bit of self-care before the world awoke, before the scheduled demands of work and motherhood took hold of the day — shook a lot of us, especially women. Many of us have had uncomfortable encounters with strangers: the man asking for a phone number at the gas pump, the guy in line at the grocery store wondering if we’re married (“We can just be friends though”), boys catcalling from car windows, or worse. Women, at times, are treated as prey by those without respect or human decency — or the smallest crumb of common sense to know better. And in even scarier instances by those whose intentions are pure evil, as in Eliza’s case.
These types of things don’t only happen in Memphis, of course, though people are quick to claim it’s commonplace here. From national headlines, in Washington over the weekend, a woman was abducted at knifepoint after attempting to help a wayward stranger. She jumped from the car as the aggressor slowed down on a dirt road, where she ran to a nearby home for safety. Stories of missing women and young girls saturate the news everywhere, though not all get the same level of publicity. There may be many reasons for this, but it could be more simply that not all have video footage or physical evidence or a specific timeline of events to follow up on. I’ve seen some online commenters victim-blaming. “She shouldn’t be out running at 4 in the morning,” they read, in some way or another. Maybe 4 a.m. is an odd hour for you, but does that give a predator the right to grab a living, breathing being off the street and shove them into their vehicle? Pluck them from a morning run and take their life?
Following the story over the past few days, seeing the inundation of speculative commentary from internet sleuths, and learning of the suspect’s criminal past, hope dwindled by the moment — both for the well-being of Eliza and for a thread of empathy from the general public. When did people become so insensitive? Do you not realize this could happen to you or a loved one? How are violent offenders like Cleotha Abston allowed out of prison? Monsters do roam this Earth.
There was, though, an outpouring of love, from those who knew her well and others who didn’t at all — fellow runners who are organizing runs locally and nationally in her honor, mothers whose hugs were a little tighter this morning as they sent their children off to school.
I did not know Eliza. But she did not deserve to die this way. Her sons deserved their mother. Her family and friends deserved more days with her. May her light continue to shine.
— Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (@TBInvestigation) September 2, 2022
Due to the investigation of Eliza Fletcher, who is missing, please avoid the area of Central Avenue and Zach H. Curlin Street. Traffic is down to one lane in both directions. Please avoid the area if possible. pic.twitter.com/R7HfR8FC3s
Update: the mobile command post has been removed and traffic cleared in the area. This investigation is ongoing and the command post will be relocated off site.
UPDATE: the vehicle of interest has been located and a male who was occupying the vehicle has been detained. Eliza Fletcher has not been located. This is an ongoing investigation. Anyone with information should call CrimeStoppers at 901-528-CASH.
UPDATE: The individual who was detained has been officially charged in connection with the abduction of Eliza Fletcher. At this point in the investigation, Cleotha Abston, 38, has been charged with Especially Aggravated Kidnapping and Tampering with Evidence.
This remains to be an active and ongoing investigation.
We continue to ask for assistance from the community. If anyone has any information concerning this investigation, they should call CrimeStoppers at 901-528-CASH.
At 5:07 pm, officers in the 1600 block of Victor located a deceased party. The identity of this person and the cause of death is unconfirmed at this time. The investigation is ongoing.
