Memphis moms on edge after Eliza Fletcher and Target abductions: 'People are re-evaluating'

Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy discusses the Eliza Fletcher murder trial and weighs in on suspect Cleotha Abston’s violent criminal record dating back to early childhood.

Memphis moms are on edge after two mothers were abducted last week, including deceased kindergarten teacher Eliza Fletcher and an unidentified mother who was kidnaped from a Target in broad daylight and released just a day before Fletcher disappeared.

And their fears are not unique to Memphis; these stories have put mothers on high alert across the nation.

"This is what she did every morning, and … what should be an activity you can just do has been taken away from people," Crady Schneider, one of the owners of the Memphis Mom Collective, told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. "A lot of people are re-evaluating whether or not they want to do that or when they want to do that. It's just sad that you kind of have to live with those thoughts always in the back of your mind."

Schneider doesn't live far from Fletcher, who was abducted while running on Central Avenue near the University of Memphis around 4 a.m. on Sept. 1. She was found dead at an abandoned building on Monday, and suspect Cleotha Henderson has been charged in her disappearance and murder.

Left: Eliza Fletcher in a photo released by Memphis Police. Right: Cleotha Henderson appears in court for his arraignment Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022.  (Memphis Police Department, Adam Sabes/Fox News Digital)

Schneider described Central Avenue as "a well-lit, safe street to the university," which "has its own police on campus and police boxes, and the corner where she was abducted has a camera on every single light across the road." Golf courses, neighborhoods, museums and churches surround Central