Finish Eliza’s Run: Northeast Arkansas community honors slain Memphis runner

JONESBORO, Ark. (KAIT) – End Eliza’s Run.

It’s greater than a phrase. It’s a name to motion that introduced out tons of across the area,n together with in Jonesboro.

It’s been per week since Eliza Fletcher was kidnapped and killed. Her homicide befell about 70 miles away from Jonesboro in Memphis, however the ache and grief felt by runners across the space are the identical.

Callie Talley, proprietor of Griffin Coaching Middle and organizer of Friday’s run, instructed the greater than 100 runners who turned out early Friday, that it might be onerous to get up, however simply understand it’s even more durable for the household and buddies of Eliza Fletcher.

“To see that 60 miles away, it’s simply exhausting. To be a girl, to be a mother, to be a good friend, to be a sister, and to suppose that the following time I am going out for a run, I may not make it dwelling due to the evil on the earth is simply exhausting,” Talley mentioned.

She mentioned it’s terrifying to suppose something tragic might occur to her in a matter of seconds throughout her run.

It hurts her coronary heart to suppose runners can’t exit to clear their minds, higher their our bodies, or destress from a protracted day with out the worry of not making it again dwelling to their households.

To indicate their solidarity, most of the runners wore pink tanks and purple shorts just like what Fletcher wore on her final run.

“You don’t know what’s going to occur across the nook. You don’t know who’s going to be there, and that’s why I simply attempt to present my assist even when it’s simply going for a run,” mentioned Logan Techmer. “It may not be nothing we are able to do now, however assist, it’s an enormous factor.”

The Northeast Arkansas neighborhood shouldn’t be solely near Memphis but additionally near Jackson County the place Arkansas runner Sydney Sutherland was kidnapped and killed in 2020.

Talley, who organized an analogous run in Sutherland’s honor, say the occasions weigh heavy on her coronary heart.

“It was a really emotional run. I bear in mind the primary time we ran after Sydney’s homicide. I needed to cease working as a result of I used to be simply sobbing as a result of she didn’t get to return dwelling,” Talley mentioned. “I used to be exhausted. It was a two-and-a-half mile run, and I used to be overcome with emotion as a result of all she wished to do was go for a run and are available dwelling.”

As they pushed up the hill and rounded the nook on their two-mile run, of their minds, hearts and prayers are the household and buddies of Eliza Fletcher, who set out for her regular 10-mile run and by no means returned.

“She’s going to all the time be on our thoughts,” Talley mentioned. “This isn’t one thing that we assist her as we speak, after which tomorrow, we return to regular lives. That is one thing that can persist with you without end.”

Talley hopes a day will come when she received’t need to host a memorial run, however she’s grateful for many who confirmed as much as end Eliza’s Run.

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