Let find out ‘Rape Victim Demands Memphis Police Accountability For Leaving Suspect On The Streets To Kill Eliza Fletcher’ The plaintiff filed a complaint on Tuesday against the City of Memphis for failing to look into the 2021 case and thereby failing to stop Eliza Fletcher’s death.
The plaintiff claims that she was raped by Eliza Fletcher’s accused killer 11 months ago.
Rape Victim Demands Memphis Police Accountability
She claims she provided authorities all the information she knew about the suspect, including his name and phone number, and is suing Memphis Police for failing to properly investigate her September 2021 rape case and allowing Cleotha Henderson on the loose to allegedly abduct and kill Eliza Fletcher.
However, a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation laboratory didn’t handle a rape sample from Alicia Franklin for nine months, and it took another two months before the lab named Henderson as the suspect – the same day Fletcher’s body was discovered in south Memphis behind an abandoned home.
Franklin has now spoken out with specifics of her experience to WREG, claiming she wants the police department held accountable. Franklin had previously discussed the 2021 rape and the victim’s lawsuit in an article published longtime ago.
Because they requested TBI to expedite processing of DNA they obtained at the site on September 2, Memphis police learned Henderson’s identification within 18 hours of Fletcher’s kidnapping. After Franklin’s rape, they did not request a haste, and TBI’s lab had a 49–52 week backlog, the agency said WREG.
Franklin, who has since left Memphis, told the station that she planned a dinner date with “Cleo,” a man she had been corresponding with on a dating app. They met at what he claimed to be his apartment, but Franklin had questions right away because it had a concrete floor and looked like it was being renovated. He then placed a revolver to her neck, covered her head with a black T-shirt, and threatened to murder her if she moved.
He dragged her outside, pushed her into a car, took her to another residence, and repeatedly abused her sexually there.
Franklin claimed, “That’s when he raped me.” “I implored and begged. Please let me go, I pleaded. I’m expecting. None of it mattered to him. He said that he often raped victims.
Franklin followed Henderson’s lead and left her handbag behind before making her way to the police. She turned in the rape kit and called the police, who arrived after she found her handbag. She provided them the address of where she first met Cleo, his name, and his phone number.
Franklin claimed the incident report was completed three hours after the attack, and the following day, she talked with a detective once again. They displayed a lineup of photos to her, but she wasn’t certain she recognized her assailant. Police informed her that they would receive better images after claiming that some of the shots were out of date. She never heard from the police again, but she was able to identify Cleotha Henderson when he was taken into custody for kidnapping and killing Fletcher.
“I haven’t been able to sleep or eat all night since I’ve been awake thinking about this lovely person! My heart breaks for her and her family, especially those infants, since I have firsthand knowledge of what she has gone through! After learning of the murder, Franklin wrote on Facebook, “May your spirit rest in everlasting peace Eliza,” according to The Daily Memphian.
Fletcher is deceased “because the cops didn’t do what they should’ve done,” according to Jeff Rosenblum, Franklin’s attorney, who spoke to WREG.
He referred to his client as “a hard-working person in our community who didn’t have the ability to pick up the phone and call the chief of police, the mayor, or the governor,” and claimed that if authorities had done their jobs and thoroughly examined this DNA kit, they would have determined that Cleotha Abston-Henderson was the perpetrator of the rape and taken him off the streets before he could harm anyone else.
In an interview with the Daily Memphian, Franklin herself drew attention to the gap.
She added, “You know, I was just a regular Black girl in the city of Memphis. “I just feel like it wasn’t important.
“I phoned again maybe four months later, and they told me to keep in mind that processing a rape sample might take anywhere from a year to two. I gave up at that moment.
An inquiry for comment was not answered by the Memphis Police.
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