MEMPHIS, Tenn. — It's been almost a year to the day since Memphis mother and avid runner Eliza Fletcher was kidnapped and later murdered while going on a morning run in her Midtown Memphis neighborhood, and hundreds of runners showed up at the route of her run Friday to finish what she couldn't a year ago.
The 8.2 mile course began at the corner of Central Avenue and Belvedere Blvd. in Midtown at 4:20 a.m. Friday, the same time Fletcher first went missing. Runners went down Central to Zach Curlin Street near the University of Memphis, where Eliza was abducted, turned around and went back.
All along the route, which was closed and closely monitored by Memphis Police, runners lit candles and left signs in honor of Fletcher, who was 34 years old when she died.
Event organizers said the run meant a lot to their community, and the city.
"There's meaning in the choices we make, and for those that chose to show up here today, I think that's a pretty powerful message," run organizer Charlie Hayden said.
Ahead of the run, the University of Memphis announced the first phase of widespread security upgrades, including new streetlights and increased police presence in the area around campus.
The Tennessee Highway Patrol also honored Fletcher's memory with their own 'Finish Eliza's Run' with the current class of cadets.
Eliza Fletcher first went missing the morning of Sept. 2, 2022, and was found dead three days later, her identity being confirmed on Sept. 6.
The investigation of her death resurfaced the issue of thousands of untested rape kits in Memphis as Cleotha Abston, the man facing charges in Fletcher’s abduction and death, has been identified in another rape investigation just one year prior.