Eliza Fletcher’s Husband: Suspicion, Guilty Plea, and Legacy

Eliza Fletcher’s husband is Richard “Richie” James Fletcher III, a Memphis dealership manager who was left to raise the couple’s two young sons after his wife was abducted and murdered while jogging on September 2, 2022. In the days between her disappearance and the arrest of Cleotha Abston, Richard was the public face of the family’s plea for her return, and then the target of baseless online suspicion. He has spoken publicly only rarely since.

Who Richard Fletcher Is

Richard and Eliza “Liza” Wellford met at Second Presbyterian Church in Memphis, where both were active members. They married at the church on March 8, 2014, with the reception held at the Dixon Gallery and Gardens.¹ They had two sons, Richard James Fletcher IV and Harry Wellford Fletcher.²

At the time of Eliza’s death, Richard worked as a dealership manager at Memphis Boat Center. Earlier in his career, around the time of their wedding, he had been a project coordinator at Tioga Environmental Consultants.³ George Robertson, the senior pastor at Second Presbyterian, described the Fletchers as “very active and great leaders” in the congregation who shared a “zest for life and love of running and athletics.”⁴ The family enjoyed boating, water sports, hiking, and running together.²

Eliza had played collegiate soccer at the University of Memphis, had qualified for the Boston Marathon, and taught junior kindergarten at St. Mary’s Episcopal School. She was also the granddaughter of Joseph “Joe” Orgill III, who led the Memphis-based hardware distribution company Orgill Inc.⁵ That family connection would later become fuel for online speculation directed at Richard.

The Morning Eliza Disappeared

Eliza set out for an early run near the University of Memphis on the morning of September 2, 2022. Richard called police at 7:45 a.m. to report her missing.⁶ The Fletcher family posted a $50,000 reward for information about her whereabouts.⁷ Richard also recorded a video appeal asking for his wife’s safe return.⁸

Cleotha Abston was arrested on September 3 after U.S. Marshals located the GMC Terrain used in the abduction. Eliza’s remains were discovered in South Memphis three days after she was taken; she had been shot in the head.⁹

The Online Suspicion Directed at Him

In the window between the video appeal and Abston’s arrest, social media users turned their attention to Richard. Commentators scrutinized his body language in the appeal, called his grief “not genuine,” and criticized him for touching his face on camera. Some speculated that he had arranged the crime or was motivated by an inheritance tied to Eliza’s grandfather’s fortune.⁸

Investigators found none of that credible. Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy addressed the rumors directly: “In contrast to whatever baseless speculation you might’ve seen, we have no reason to think this was anything other than an isolated attack by a stranger.”⁸ The physical evidence tied Abston, a stranger to the Fletchers, to the abduction: DNA on sandals found at the scene, cellphone records placing him near Central Avenue, surveillance footage from a nearby movie theater, and blood evidence in the SUV linked to Eliza.¹⁰

After the arrest, many of the users who had accused Richard acknowledged they were wrong and called for a public apology. Some persisted in their suspicions anyway.⁸

The Funeral

Eliza’s funeral was held on September 10, 2022, at Second Presbyterian Church, the same building where she and Richard had met and married. The parking lots filled. A 50-person choir, a pipe organ, and an orchestra performed. Pastor George Robertson delivered the message. Before taking his seat, Richard kissed his wife’s coffin.¹¹

The Guilty Plea and What the Family Said

On October 28, 2024, Abston pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping, and tampering with evidence in Eliza’s case. Under the plea agreement, which took the death penalty off the table, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. That sentence runs consecutively with an 80-year sentence he had already received in April 2024 for the aggravated rape and kidnapping of Alicia Franklin, a 22-year-old woman he attacked in September 2021.¹²¹³ The Shelby County District Attorney’s office said the Fletcher family supported the plea agreement.¹⁴

Members of the Fletcher family attended the plea hearing but did not deliver victim impact statements themselves. District Attorney Mulroy read their written statements aloud, speaking directly to Abston. Part of the family’s statement read: “We miss the bright light of Liza’s life every day. No legal resolution and no sentence can diminish the anguish of Liza’s murder. We accept the outcome that her murderer has pled guilty to all charges, will wake up in prison for the rest of his life, and cannot harm anyone else.”¹²

Richard Fletcher in His Own Words

Near the one-year anniversary of Eliza’s death in August 2023, Richard gave an interview to Geoff Calkins at The Daily Memphian. It was one of his few public statements. He talked about late-night conversations with Eliza about their life in the city: “We would have late-night talks about Memphis. We could have been far away, without any worries in the world. I was always like, ‘We need to get out of here.’ But she didn’t want to leave.”¹⁵

He said his wife “would be the first to forgive. That’s who she was,” and expressed hope that “something positive has to happen from this.”¹⁶

How Eliza Is Being Remembered

The family established memorial funds in Eliza’s name at St. Mary’s Episcopal School (the Liza Wellford Fletcher Memorial Fund), Christ Methodist Day School, and Second Presbyterian Church.² The University of Memphis is building the Liza Wellford Fletcher Stadium on its Park Avenue Campus for the women’s soccer program she once played for.¹⁷

Each year since 2022, hundreds of runners have gathered before dawn in Memphis to “Finish Liza’s Run,” completing the 8.2-mile route down Central Avenue that Eliza was running when she was taken. By August 2025, the run had been held four years in a row, with participants meeting at 4:20 a.m. in front of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.¹⁷

The case also pushed Tennessee to change how it processes rape kits, after it emerged that a kit collected from an earlier Abston victim had sat untested for nearly a year. In September 2022, Governor Bill Lee fast-tracked funding for 25 additional forensic lab positions at the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, and the TBI used a $1.85 million federal grant to contract with an outside lab for more than 850 backlogged kits. By August 2023, average processing time had dropped from 45.4 weeks to 19.6 weeks.¹⁸

1
Memphis Magazine. A Memorable Memphis Wedding
2
Canale Funeral Directors. Eliza Liza Wellford Fletcher Obituary
3
The Sun. Eliza Fletcher Husband Richard Fletcher III
4
Commercial Appeal. Eliza Fletcher Memphis Family Update
5
New York Post. Who Is the Billionaire Family of Missing Teacher Eliza Fletcher
6
E! News. Inside the Disturbing Aftermath of the Eliza Fletcher Murder Case
7
BBC. Eliza Fletcher Memphis Teacher Found Dead
8
Nicki Swift. Why Social Media Is Apologizing to Eliza Fletcher’s Husband
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NBC News. Eliza Fletcher Kidnapping Killing Memphis Guilty
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Fox 6 Now. Eliza Fletcher Abduction Timeline
11
The Gospel Coalition. The Light of Eliza Fletcher
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Action News 5. Man Accused of Killing Eliza Fletcher Pleads Guilty
13
WSMV. Judge Denies Appeal of Conviction in Rape Kidnapping Case
14
New York Times. Eliza Fletcher Murder Guilty Plea
15
Daily Memphian. Calkins: A Year Later, Richie Fletcher Talks About Liza
16
Daily Memphian. The Early Word
17
The Daily Helmsman. For the Fourth Year in a Row Memphians Finished Liza’s Run
18
Forensic Magazine. One Year After Eliza Fletcher Case Tennessee Cuts Rape Kit Processing Time