After Tasia Fortune’s body was discovered hanging from a tree behind an empty house in Jackson, Mississippi, her family and many others braced for the verdict that the 29-year-old had taken her own life. Five weeks later, authorities reached an altogether different conclusion.
Fortune’s body was discovered on August 3, behind an empty house in the 500 block of Road of Remembrance, in West Jackson. It took three days to identify her body, and state medical examiners performed an autopsy on August 11, though the findings would take weeks to return. (per NBC News)
In the meantime, Jackson police logged the case as a “death pending investigation,” stopping short of saying whether they believed it was a crime. The story spread in the community like wildfire, not least of all because the state had already borne witness to similar incidents. Two other Mississippi hanging deaths have occurred within the past year — those of Trey Reed, a 21-year-old Black student at Delta State University, and Cory Zukatis, a 35-year-old white man who was unhoused — each of which authorities concluded was a suicide.
Her mother never believed the suicide theory
Fortune’s mother, Christy Spivey, rejected the suicide theory from the start. “She did not do this to herself,” Spivey told ABC News. “I know my daughter, and she did not do this to herself.” As weeks passed without answers, pressure mounted.
Detectives questioned more than a dozen people as the investigation continued. The state medical examiner’s office officially ruled Fortune’s death a homicide on the night of Thursday, September 10 — and by the next morning, Jackson police had secured two search warrants and an arrest warrant. On Friday afternoon, they arrested 51-year-old Jarques Ratliff, charging him with murder, as he walked on Capitol Street, near where Fortune was found.
The case had drawn national attention in part because Fortune was a Black woman found hanging from a tree, a detail that evoked the South’s history of lynching and had prompted a Jackson city councilman to formally ask federal authorities to investigate. Ratliff, who is also Black, has not had a specific motive disclosed by police.
What we know about Fortune’s death and her connection to Ratliff
Jackson Police Chief RaShall Brackney has said Fortune and Ratliff knew each other but wouldn’t describe their relationship further. “This case remains active, and additional arrests will be pending as our investigators continue to follow the evidence wherever it leads,” Brackney said during a Friday press conference, per the Mississippi Free Press. “This is not closure,” she added. “This is just one step as we continue to investigate this case.” She also explained that despite the media scrutiny, the police “have a responsibility to make sure that what we say publicly is supported by our evidence and facts.”
Born in Kentucky, Fortune was removed from her parents’ custody as a child and raised in foster care, moving between group homes. At 16, she ran away from a foster facility in Kentucky to Mississippi, where she later settled in Jackson and, relatives said, battled addiction. She left behind four children, and was buried in her home state near Greenville.
And so, for Fortune’s family and the community that rallied around her case, the search for answers is still ongoing.
Published: Sep 13, 2026 09:00 am