Police: Tasia Fortune Was Killed in a Drug Dispute Before Her Hanging Was Staged in Jackson
JACKSON, Miss. — Tasia Fortune was apparently killed during a drug dispute before her body was found hanging from a tree behind an abandoned home in Mississippi's capital this summer, a Jackson police detective testified Friday, describing the scene as staged.
Detective Samuel Dukes told the court that Fortune was killed in a disagreement about drugs and fought hard with her attackers before she died. Citing the medical examiner's opinion, he said the hanging was staged.
Fortune was Black, and the Aug. 3 discovery of her body hanging from a tree stoked fear and drew national attention because the image recalled the lynchings that have haunted Mississippi and the wider South for generations. The case quickly became a flashpoint in Jackson and beyond, renewing painful questions about race, violence and how authorities investigate deaths that evoke that history.
Authorities have not disclosed Fortune's exact cause of death or said why they believe her body was left hanging afterward. They have ruled the death a homicide and brought murder charges against multiple men, all of them Black.
A 45-year-old man turned himself in Friday after a warrant was issued for his arrest, police said. He has been charged with murder and is expected to appear in court Monday.
A makeshift memorial honoring Tasia Fortune stands in the backyard on Aug. 10 in Jackson, Mississippi. Credit: Sophie Bates/AP
Outside court, Fortune's mother, Christy Spivey, told reporters she had already known that her daughter died before her body was left hanging. But the hanging, she added, 'brought all the attention to it.'
'What bothered me was they said Tasia fought for her life. I know she did. I know my daughter,' Spivey said.
The hearing was held to determine whether there is enough evidence to send the case against the first man arrested, Jarques Ratliff, to a grand jury for a possible indictment. It is scheduled to resume Sept. 30.
Jarques Ratliff, in an image provided by Hinds County, Mississippi. Ratliff was arrested in connection with the death of Tasia Fortune. Credit: Hinds County, Mississippi
Ratliff, 51, was arrested in mid-September and has pleaded not guilty. He remains jailed without bond. Police also arrested 25-year-old Earnest Lloyd Jr. this week.
During Friday's hearing, Ratliff blurted out in court that he and Fortune were friends.
'It sounded sincere. Tasia had a lot of friends,' Spivey said later. 'I hope if he is innocent that he can prove he's innocent. We don't want any innocent people going to jail.'
Ratliff's stepdaughter, Lashuna Jones, was among Ratliff's supporters in court.
'He didn't do it, and I'm behind him,' she said.
Spivey has said her daughter, who had four children, struggled with homelessness in recent years and that she was not sure where Fortune was living at the time of her death. She said Fortune had talked about starting a cleaning business and was trying to get her life in order.
Editor's note: This story was first published on Sept. 25, 2026. It was updated on Sept. 26, 2026, to clarify that Jackson police Detective Samuel Dukes said Tasia Fortune was apparently killed in a drug dispute before her body was hung in a tree in a staged scene behind an abandoned home. Dukes did not indicate whether Fortune's alleged killers intended to make the scene look like a lynching.
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