An arrest was made in the death of 29-year-old Tasia Fortune, a Black woman who was found hanging from a tree in Mississippi last month.
Announced on Friday, Jackson Police Chief RaShall Brackney said that 51-year-old Jarques Ratliff was arrested for his connection to the killing. He is now being charged with murder and is set to have his first court appearance today.
Police had previously obtained two search warrants and one arrest warrant for Ratliff’s arrest. Unable to find him at the location tied to the search warrant, police arrested the 51-year-old suspect as he walked through the city.
Although Fortune’s official manner of death has not been released, the medical examiner officially ruled her death a homicide, allowing police to get an arrest warrant.
Brackney said that there was an “association” between Ratliff and Fortune. The nature of the association was not disclosed, but more details will be provided at his court appearance. Christy Spivery, Fortune’s mother, said that she herself had not known about Ratliff, but is asking other people in Fortune’s life if they knew him.
Upon the arrest being made public, Spivery spoke to the Associated Press, saying that she “just started crying and told them ‘thank you, thank you.’”
Ratliff’s arrest will not be the only arrest in connection with the case, according to Brackney, who predicts “more arrests to come.”
“But it is not the conclusion. This case remains active, and additional arrests will be pending as our investigators continue to follow the evidence wherever it leads,” Brackney said Friday at the conference. “We understand that this case has received media attention from across the globe, and across this community.”
Fortune was found dead in a backyard early last month on August 3rd. Her death came just less than a year after 21-year-old Trey Reed and 35-year-old Cory Zukatis were found dead in Mississippi in a similar manner.
Both Reed’s and Zukatis’ deaths were ruled as suicides by the Mississippi police and State Medical Examiner. Reed’s family eventually called for an independent autopsy and the release of security camera recordings in response to the ruling.
Concerns have been expressed about how Mississippi law enforcement handles the investigation of the deaths of Black citizens.
Bernice King, however, urged people “not to rush to conclusions,” while also addressing the history of racial violence in the state.
“We also cannot dismiss the fear and painful history these circumstances evoke for Black communities, especially in Mississippi,” said King in a statement. “That history makes transparency, thoroughness, and truth essential.”
Although Spivey told ABC News that she “does not want her name to be associated” with whether or not the case was racially motivated, she said that she does not believe that Fortune would kill herself.
Fortune was a mother of four and had lived in Mississippi for more than a decade after moving from Kentucky. In Kentucky, she was taken from her parents and placed in different foster homes.
In recent years, she struggled with homelessness.
Before she died, Fortune had plans to change her life and start her own cleaning business.
