The man charged with murdering Eliza Fletcher is now facing additional charges of kidnapping and rape from a separate incident.
Cleotha Henderson, the 38-year-old suspected of murdering the Memphis mother of two, is facing “unrelated” charges of aggravated kidnapping and rape, a Memphis police official confirmed to Fox News.
Henderson was indicted for the new charges on Thursday afternoon, which involve a reported sexual assault on September 21, 2021. In that case, a sexual assault kit was then given to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation two days after the alleged incident.
“An official CODIS [national DNA database] hit was not received until after the unfortunate event that occurred on September 2, 2022,” a police spokesman told the Commercial Appeal, a Memphis based newspaper. “Probable cause to make a physical arrest of any suspect did not exist until after the CODIS hit had been received.”
Memphis police did not give any additional information on the new charges. Henderson also faces a first degree murder charge and especially aggravated kidnapping charge relating to the Fletcher kidnapping and murder.
Henderson has an extensive criminial history stretching back to when he was a teenager, and includes convictions for aggravated assault, rape, and kidnapping.
He served 20 years in prison for kidnapping a lawyer at gunpoint when he was 16 years old and forcing the lawyer to withdraw cash at multiple ATMs. Henderson also “committed a juvenile delinquent act of rape against an unnamed suspect when he was 14,” Fox News added.
Fletcher, whose abduction was captured on surveillance footage, was out for a dawn jog on Friday when the suspect allegedly grabbed her and forced her into a dark SUV. A married mother of two, Fletcher taught at St. Mary’s Episcopal School in Memphis.
She was the granddaughter of the late hardware wholesale tycoon Joseph Orgill III, founder of the privately-held Orgill Inc. The company has annual sales of more than $3 billion.
Her body was found about seven miles from the crime scene, where police on Friday found her water bottle and smashed cell phone.
Fletcher’s murder and kidnapping left many devastated in the Memphis community.
“We are heartbroken and devastated by this senseless loss,” the family said in a statement. “Liza was such a joy to so many — her family, friends, colleagues, students, parents, members of her Second Presbyterian Church congregation, and everyone who knew her.”
Ryan Saavedra contributed to this report.