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Woman says she was raped by man accused of murdering Memphis jogger

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Posted at 2:56 PM, Sep 22, 2022
and last updated 2022-09-22 16:56:01-04

A woman is suing the City of Memphis, Tennessee, alleging police didn’t properly investigate her rape.

Alicia Franklin claims she was raped by Cleotha Henderson, who is now accused of kidnapping and raping Eliza Fletcher.

In the lawsuit, Franklin says she connected with Henderson on a dating app last year and eventually agreed to go on a date with him.

Franklin claims Henderson put a gun to her head and raped her. She said he then left her alone in an apartment.

"I was raped when I was pregnant,” Franklin told TV station WMC. “That was really traumatizing for me."

Franklin said she went to a hospital and a rape kit was collected.

She told WMC that she escorted officers back to where she was raped, but claims they didn’t collect evidence at the scene

She also said she gave officers Henderson’s phone number and a description of his vehicle.

"They just walked around, they walked out the little back slide door, where the Charger was parked at, where he forced me in the car and raped me. That's it. They didn't fingerprint for anything, nothing like that,” Franklin said.

Franklin added that police presented her with a photo lineup but she didn’t recognize Henderson from the picture they provided.

Franklin’s lawsuit says her DNA test results were entered into the national database three days after Fletcher was kidnapped.

Franklin believes Fletcher would be alive today if authorities investigated her case in a timely manner.

"I started taking everything in and I'm like wow I'm alive. And she didn't make it because I know what she went through,” she said.

NBC News reports that police declined to comment on Fletcher’s lawsuit.