Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for the man accused of abducting Memphis, Tennessee teacher Eliza Fletcher while she was on a morning jog and killing her last year.

Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy, who has been a staunch critic of capital punishment, announced Thursday he would pursue the death penalty if 39-year-old Cleotha Abston-Henderson is convicted of first-degree murder. Factors that warrant a death penalty under state law include that a killing was “heinous, atrocious and cruel.”

Fletcher was last seen being pulled into a car near the University of Memphis campus on Sept. 2. Abston-Henderson was arrested two days later and charged with first-degree murder, especially aggravated kidnapping, unlawful possession of a firearm and tampering with evidence. He has pleaded not guilty.

What happened to Eliza Fletcher?

Fletcher, a 34-year-old mother of two who taught junior kindergarten at St. Mary’s Episcopal School in Memphis, was first reported missing after she didn’t return from her early morning jog.

She was last seen at about 4:20 a.m. that day. Surveillance footage captured images of a man approaching Fletcher before forcing her into the passenger side of a GMC Terrain. “There appeared to be a struggle” during the abduction, a police affidavit said.

Her cell phone and water bottle were found outside a University of Memphis-owned house after she disappeared, and the SUV was found a day after the abduction. Police linked DNA from shoes found at the scene of the abduction to Abston-Henderson, and his phone also placed him at the scene.

Her partially decomposed body was found in tall grass, behind an abandoned house roughly five miles from the campus after an extensive three-day search. An autopsy report obtained by The Memphis Commercial Appeal, part of the USA TODAY Network, indicated she died of a gunshot wound to the back right side of her head and blunt force trauma.

Abduction, killing rocked community

Community members rallied around Fletcher’s family after she was reported missing and her death shook the Memphis community and drew national attention.