Jackson, Mississippi, police arrested a 51-year-old man on a murder charge Friday in the death of Tasia Fortune, a 29-year-old Black woman whose body was found hanging from a tree behind an abandoned house last month, after the state medical examiner ruled her death a homicide.
Police Chief RaShall Brackney said officers secured search and arrest warrants for Jarques Ratliff and took him into custody after encountering him walking on a Jackson street. Brackney said Ratliff had an "association" with Fortune but declined to disclose further details, citing the ongoing investigation.
The warrants executed today and the arrest of Mr. Ratliff are significant steps, but there is still an ongoing investigation. This case remains active, and additional arrests will be pending.
RaShall Brackney, Jackson Police Chief
Weeks of forensic work behind the arrest
Fortune's body was discovered August 3 in the yard of an abandoned building on the city's outskirts. In the weeks that followed, investigators said they interviewed roughly 15 people, collected forensic evidence and pursued multiple leads before the medical examiner's office concluded Thursday that the manner of death was homicide, clearing the way for Friday's charge.
The image of a Black woman found hanging from a tree drew immediate national attention and concern given the method's fraught history in the United States, and Jackson police faced pressure from Fortune's family and community advocates to determine quickly whether her death was a homicide, a suicide, or something else. Friday's ruling and arrest answered the first of those questions, though police have not said whether investigators are examining any racial motive.
Fortune's mother, Christy Spivey, said she broke down when police told her an arrest had been made.
I just started crying and told them, "thank you, thank you, thank you."
Christy Spivey, mother of Tasia Fortune
Spivey told CBS News that the family remains "in disbelief" and still has not been told a motive or whether DNA evidence led investigators to Ratliff. According to NBC News, Ratliff has not yet entered a plea, and it was not immediately clear whether he had retained an attorney.
Chief Brackney said the case remains open and that further arrests are possible as detectives continue working through evidence gathered over the past several weeks. Jackson police have not set a date for Ratliff's first court appearance.
