Detectives in Mississippi are continuing their enquiries into the death of Tasia Fortune, a Black woman discovered hanging from a tree last month, following the arrest of a suspect in relation to her homicide. Family and friends have remembered Ms Fortune as a mother, athlete and devout woman of faith, expressing their wish that her legacy extends beyond the tragic circumstances of her passing. Authorities detained Jarques Ratliff, 51, who is Black, after locating him on a street on Friday.
Jackson Police Chief RaShall Brackney stated on Friday that further arrests are anticipated as the investigation progresses. According to André de Gruy, Mississippi's state defender, Ratliff is scheduled to appear in Jackson Municipal Court by Monday morning at the latest. Brackney said Ratliff had an “association” with Fortune but would not elaborate on their relationship.
She said police arrested Ratliff on a homicide charge and called that “an important development” in the investigation. This case remains active, and additional arrests will be pending as our investigators continue to follow the evidence wherever it leads,” Brackney said Friday. Ratliff also did not appear in Hinds County jail records on Saturday.
It couldn’t immediately be determined if he had a lawyer, and a message was left for the public defender's office. If represented by a public defender, it would be the Hinds County public defender, de Gruy said. Christy Spivey, Fortune’s mother, said Friday after police told her of the arrest that “I just started crying and told them ‘thank you, thank you, thank you.’” Spivey said police did not share a motive or whether DNA led them to the arrest.
Spivey said she did not know the man who had been arrested, but she was asking her daughter's friends if they knew him. Spivey described the family as “in disbelief” and “shock.” “We still don’t have a lot of answers,” Spivey said. Police discovered Fortune’s body hanging in the backyard of an abandoned home in Jackson on Aug. 3.
Spivey said she was certain that her daughter, 29, would not have killed herself. Even if she could climb that tree, no, no, she would never, ever, ever,” Spivey said. An obituary about Fortune posted on the website of Tucker Funeral Home in Central City, Kentucky, in August stated that Fortune's “path was not always easy, and there were highs and lows.” It also stated that she skipped her junior year of high school, was a star cross-country runner, and had a strong faith in God.
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