Woman who claims Presley link may drop case

By Lawrence Buser (Contact), Memphis Commercial Appeal
Originally published 11:34 a.m., Dezember 15, 2008
Updated 11:34 a.m., Dezember 15, 2008

A woman seeking to be declared the daughter of Vernon Presley - and the half-sister of Elvis - plans to drop her effort to be named as an heir to the father’s estate, a judge was told this morning.

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Eliza Presley, 46, a divorced mother of four from Washington state, filed the claim in October saying DNA from a still-living Elvis Presley showed her to be a relative.

This morning in Probate Court, however, an attorney for the estate announced to Judge Karen Webster that Eliza Presley’s attorney had advised him that she planned to have the case voluntarily dismissed.

No reason was given and Eliza Presley’s attorney, Kathleen Caldwell, was not in court.

Caldwell could not be reached this morning, but estate attorney William Bradley Jr. told the court that Caldwell had informed him of her intention to have the case dropped.

Bradley, who represents Elvis Presley Enterprises and Lisa Marie Presley Lockwood, said outside of court he would have no comment until the case is formally dismissed.

Eliza Presley, who changed her name this summer from Alice Elizabeth Tiffin, also was not in court.

Her mother, former Memphian Florence Sharp Clark of Oregon, has said she was part of the Elvis social circle for a period, but that she had no child by Vernon or his father. Clark said her daughter appears to have undergone plastic surgery in an effort to resemble Presley