A man has been arrested in connection with the death of a Black woman found hanged from a tree in Jackson, Mississippi, police announced Friday, warning that further arrests may follow.
The body of Tasia Fortune was discovered in the lot of an abandoned home in Jackson in August. Police only announced they were treating her death as a possible homicide earlier this week.
Jackson Police Chief RaShall Brackney identified the suspect as Jarques Ratliff, 51, and confirmed there was an "association" between Ratliff, who is also Black, and Fortune. She did not elaborate further.
The medical examiner confirmed Fortune's cause of death as homicide, and Brackney said a murder charge would be filed.
"That arrest today is an important development in this investigation, but it is not the conclusion," Brackney said. "This case remains active."
"Additional arrests will be pending as our investigators continue to follow the evidence," she added, noting that investigators had interviewed 15 people in the case.
Fortune's mother, Christy Spivey, said she cried when police called to update her about the arrest. "I guess I do feel like a little sigh of relief...like a little bit of peace just come over me," she said. "I just hope that they've got the right person."
Spivey and residents in Jackson had described weeks of relative silence and inaction from local officials following Fortune's death. Spivey said she had tried contacting Jackson police multiple times over two weeks, leaving voicemails that went unanswered.
Brackney addressed the family's frustration on Friday, saying: "We have been in constant contact with the mother and the stepfather, as well as the biological father, throughout this case."
A letter Spivey wrote to officials about the limited communication and the pace of the investigation was read at a public city meeting on Tuesday, moments before police announced they were treating the death as a possible homicide.
"I'm kind of like in awe," Spivey said. "Like, I can't believe it. That was quick."
Fortune's death has alarmed residents in Jackson, a majority-Black city in a state with a history of racial violence and lynching. Earlier this month, a member of the US Congress described her death as part of a pattern of "possible modern-day lynchings."
More than 50 members of Congress this week sent a letter to the FBI and the Justice Department saying they were "extremely alarmed by reports of black people found hanging from trees in numerous states" and calling for an independent investigation into the deaths of Black Americans.
"The series of deaths raise significant suspicion of foul play given the role of lynching in our nation's history," the letter states.
According to the letter, there have been at least 10 reported hangings of Black people in the United States so far this year, and more than 70 lynchings were documented between 2000 and 2025.
