JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Tasia Fortune was reportedly killed in a drug dispute before her body was hung in a tree in a staged lynching behind an abandoned home in Jackson, Mississippi, according to testimony from a detective on Friday. The body was discovered on August 3, and the circumstances surrounding her death have drawn significant attention due to the historical context of racial violence in the region.
Authorities have not released the specific cause of Fortune's death but have classified it as a homicide. Two men, both Black, have been arrested on murder charges, and a warrant has been issued for a third suspect. During a hearing to determine if there is enough evidence to present the case to a grand jury, Jackson police Detective Samuel Dukes stated that the hanging was staged, referencing the medical examiner's findings.
Dukes indicated that the motive for the killing appears to be related to a drug dispute, and that interviews suggested Fortune fought before her death. Jarques Ratliff, 51, who was arrested in mid-September, has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bond. A second suspect, 25-year-old Earnest Lloyd Jr., was arrested this week.
During the hearing, which is set to continue on September 30, Ratliff claimed in court that he and Fortune were friends. Lashuna Jones, Ratliff's stepdaughter, expressed her support for him outside of court. Fortune's mother, Christy Spivey, mentioned that her daughter, who had four children, had faced homelessness in recent years and was attempting to start a cleaning business at the time of her death.