Police in Jackson, Mississippi, have arrested a man in connection with the death of Tasia Fortune, a 29-year-old Black woman found hanging from a tree behind a vacant home last month.
Jackson Police Chief RaShall Brackney announced the arrest at a news conference on Friday, saying investigators had secured search and arrest warrants for 51-year-old Jarques Ratliff, also known as "Jock."
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| Police announced the arrest of a suspect after the medical examiner ruled Tasia Fortune's death a homicide. |
The state medical examiner's office classified Fortune's death as a homicide on Thursday evening, which allowed police to execute the warrants they already had prepared.
Officers did not find Ratliff at the searched location. He was later found walking on Capitol Street, where he was arrested and taken into custody.
Fortune's body was discovered on Aug. 3 hanging from a tree behind a home off Road of Remembrance in Jackson.
Brackney said Ratliff, who is also Black, had an "association" with Fortune but declined to elaborate on a motive.
"We understand the questions and the desire for answers given Mississippi's history," Brackney said. "We understand this case is being viewed through a broader lens, a global lens, and we do not dismiss those concerns. We are taking them seriously."
"At the same time, we do have a responsibility to make sure that what we say publicly is supported by our evidence and facts," Brackney added. "We cannot speculate by the nature or the manner in which Ms. Fortune was killed, beyond what has been officially determined by the medical examiner."
Brackney said investigators have interviewed nearly 15 people in the case, and additional arrests are expected as the investigation continues.
Family's Reaction
Fortune's mother, Christy Spivey, said she cried after police called to tell her about the arrest.
"I just started crying and told them 'thank you, thank you, thank you.'"
Spivey said police did not share a motive or say whether DNA evidence led to the arrest. She said she did not personally know the man who was arrested but was asking her daughter's friends whether they recognized him.
Spivey described the family as "in disbelief" and in "shock," adding that they still do not have a lot of answers.
She also said she had tried contacting Jackson police multiple times over the previous two weeks, leaving several voicemails without a response. Brackney said police had been in constant contact with Fortune's mother, stepfather, and biological father throughout the case.
Broader Context
Fortune's death has drawn national attention, both because of the severity of the crime and Mississippi's history of racist violence and lynchings. Jackson is a majority-Black city.
Her death followed the hanging deaths of 21-year-old Trey Reed, a Black student at Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi, and Cory Zukatis, an unhoused white man in his 30s, in Vicksburg, both within the past year.
Earlier this month, a member of Congress described Fortune's death as part of a pattern of "possible modern-day lynchings." More than 50 members of Congress sent a letter to the FBI and the Justice Department this week saying they were "extremely alarmed by reports of black people found hanging from trees in numerous states" and calling for an independent investigation.
The letter stated that there have been at least 10 reported hangings of Black people in the US so far this year, and that more than 70 lynchings were documented between 2000 and 2025.