Police say Mississippi Black woman Tasia Fortune was dead before her body was hung on a tree.
Two arrested in murder case
Jarques Ratliff, 51, was the first suspect arrested and has pleaded not guilty. Police also arrested 25-year-old Earnest Lloyd Jr this week.
Jackson police detective Samuel Dukes told a hearing that the hanging appeared to have been “staged”, citing the medical examiner’s opinion. Tasia Fortune, a Black woman whose body was found hanging from a tree behind an abandoned home in Jackson last month, had already died before her body was placed there, a police detective testified in court Friday. Authorities have ruled Fortune’s death a homicide but have not publicly disclosed the exact cause of death or explained why her body was hung from the tree. Police have arrested two men in connection with Fortune’s death and issued a warrant for a third person. He remains in the Hinds County jail without bond. Both men face murder charges.
The investigation remains ongoing. Authorities have not publicly disclosed the precise circumstances of Fortune’s death or the reason investigators believe her body was subsequently hung from the tree.