Kidnap, Murder of Memphis Teacher Prompts Calls for Tougher Sentencing

The prime suspect in the murder was released from state prison in 2020 after serving 20 years of a 24-year sentence for aggravated kidnapping.

Mark Weber/Daily Memphian via AP
Memphis police officers search an area where the body of missing teacher Eliza Fletcher was found in South Memphis. Mark Weber/Daily Memphian via AP

Truth-in-sentencing advocates are saying that a slain Memphis kindergarten teacher kidnapped while jogging on Friday would still be alive if stricter sentencing requirements passed earlier this year were in place when her suspected killer was released from jail two years ago.

Law enforcement identified the body of Eliza Fletcher, a mother of two, in Memphis on Tuesday. She was forced into a dark GMC Terrain while out for a jog near the University of Memphis campus around 4:20 a.m. on Friday. Fletcher is the granddaughter of a billionaire hardware magnate, Joseph Orgil III. 

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