A Tennessee teacher who vanished after being abducted during her morning jog is part of a wealthy Memphis family with a billion dollar business.
Eliza Fletcher, whose grandfather launched the now $3 billion hardwares business Orgill Inc., was violently kidnapped Friday. Her family has offered a $50,000 reward for information that can help find her.
“It’s just a matter of waiting and hoping and praying,” her father-in-law, Richard Fletcher Jr, told The Post. Flechter said he visited his son, Richard Fletcher III, and they talked “about his wife [being] missing and how hard it is and how unexpected it is and how hard it is to cope with something that seems so random.”
Fletcher, 34, a mother of two, was reported missing at 7:45 a.m. Friday.
“The investigation into the abduction of Eliza Fletcher is still active and ongoing. Investigators are continuing the search and following all leads. No arrests have been made relative to this case,” Memphis police said Saturday.
Deputies from the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office were seen searching Overton Park, about 1.5 miles from where Eliza was taken.
Grainy surveillance footage showed the pre-kindergarten educator, clad in a bright pink jogging top and purple running shorts, being trundled off into a black SUV, which the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations later described as a “dark-colored GMC Terrain.”
Her smashed phone and water bottle were discovered near the scene of the crime.
“We look forward to Eliza’s safe return and hope that this award will help police capture those who committed this crime,” Fletcher’s family said in a statement, Fox13 Memphis reported.
Less than 24 hours after the abduction, police were at Fletcher’s home and were seen towing a white SUV from the scene. A computer and a pair of lawn shears were tagged as evidence and removed from the home, local ABC24 reported.
“We don’t know what’s going on, but everybody is desperately looking for her and the police here are on it,” Fletcher’s friend Hart Robinson toldWREG. “You can see there is a lot of activity, so if you know anything or saw anything early this morning, we just ask that you come forward. We want to find her.”
Fletcher lives in midtown Memphis with her husband Richard Fletcher III and their two boys. She is the granddaughter of hardware magnate Joseph Orgill III. The private family business, Orgill Inc., employs 5,500 people and does $3 billion in sales annually, according to their website.
