Police say Mississippi hanging was staged after woman’s death
A Jackson detective testified that Tasia Fortune was probably dead before her body was placed in a tree behind an abandoned home. Authorities have classified the death as a homicide, arrested two men and issued a warrant for another person, while saying a dispute involving drugs appears to have motivated the killing.
Investigators believe Tasia Fortune was already dead when her body was hanged from a tree in Jackson, Mississippi, a detective testified at a court hearing on Friday. Jackson police Detective Samuel Dukes said the hanging appeared to have been staged, citing the medical examiner’s opinion. Fortune’s body was found on August 3 behind an abandoned home in the state capital.
Authorities have not disclosed the precise cause of death, but have classified the case as a homicide. Police have arrested Jarques Ratliff, 51, and Earnest Lloyd Jr., 25, on murder charges and issued a warrant for a third person. Dukes testified that investigators believed the motive was connected to a drug dispute.
Interviews with other people suggested Fortune fought hard before she was killed, he said. Authorities have not explained why they believe her body was placed in the tree after her death. The circumstances have drawn widespread attention because the scene evoked the history of lynching and racial violence in Mississippi.
Both defendants arrested in the case are Black, as was Fortune. Ratliff, who has pleaded not guilty, remains in the Hinds County jail without bond. Friday’s hearing concerned whether prosecutors had sufficient evidence to send the case to a grand jury for possible indictment.
The hearing is scheduled to resume on September 30. Fortune’s mother, Christy Spivey, said her daughter had four children and had experienced homelessness in recent years. She said Fortune was trying to establish a cleaning business and put her life in order, although she did not know where her daughter was living when she died.
Ratliff told the court that Fortune had been his friend.
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