By GB News (World News) | Created at 2026-09-26 12:11:05 | Updated at 2026-09-26 12:56:09
1 hour ago
Detectives in Mississippi said a the body of a black woman found hanging from a tree was "staged" and she was already dead before being placed there.
Tasia Fortune was apparently killed in a drug dispute before being found outside an abandoned home in Jackson.
Following the discovery of her body, there was widespread concern in the local community owing to the state's long running history of racist violence and lynchings.
However, Jackson police Detective Samuel Dukes told a court Tasia was killed in a disagreement about drugs, adding the hanging was "staged", citing a coroner's report.
Authorities in Mississippi have not disclosed the exact cause of Tasia's death or said why they think her body was hanged afterward.
However, they ruled it a homicide and arrested two men, Jarques Ratliff, 51, and Earnest Lloyd Jr, 25, both of them also Black, on murder charges.
A 45-year-old man turned himself in Friday after a warrant was issued for his arrest.
He was charged with murder and will appear in court on Monday.
Tasia Fortune was found dead
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Jarques Ratliff has been charged
HINDS COUNTY POLICE
Speaking to reporters outside the courtroom, Tasia's mother Christy Spivey said her daughter fought for her life until the end.
She said: "What bothered me was they said Tasia fought for her life. I know she did. I know my daughter".
Wearing a shirt that reads "Justice for Tasia Fortune", Miss Spivey stressed she does not want to see any innocent people going to jail.
Miss Spivey told reporters: "I just hope they have the right people."
Tributes were paid to Tasia Fortune
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Writing on a GoFundMe Page, Miss Spivey paid tribute to her daughter, saying there was "still a long road ahead".
She said: "Tasia Sidea was so much more than the way her life ended. She was our daughter. She was someone who was loved, someone who mattered, and someone whose life touched the people around her.
"To those who knew Tasia, she was a person with her own personality, her own heart, her own struggles, her own dreams, and so many memories that will stay with us forever. To our family, she will always be our Tasia.
"We never imagined that one day we would have to plan her funeral, say goodbye to her, and then continue living without her. There are moments when the reality of her absence is overwhelming.
"The holidays, birthdays, family gatherings, ordinary days, all of them are now reminders of the person who should still be here."
Tasia's mother paid tribute to her
GOFUNDME
Black Americans living in the Deep South warned against several recent incidents where the legacy and painful memories of lynching and racist vigilante violence still loom large.
In February, police in Cobb County, Georgia, found the body of 21-year-old Kyle Bassinga in a park.
While investigators said there was no indication of foul play, Mr Bassinga’s death “caused many to think of the days of slavery and of Jim Crow,” said Cobb County Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid.
The September 2025 death of 21-year-old Black student Trey Reed at Mississippi’s Delta State University was ruled a suicide, as was that of Dennoriss Richardson, 39, in September 2024 in Alabama’s rural Colbert County.
The body of Trey Reed was found at Mississippi’s Delta State University
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Mr Richardson’s wife, Leigh said, despite chronic asthma and other breathing problems that would cause her husband anxiety attacks, "that is just not a way that he would even process to leave this world".
According to the Alabama-based Equal Justice Initiative, more than 4,400 lynchings occurred in the US between Reconstruction and World War Two.
The 1955 lynching of teenager Emmett Till in Mississippi over accusations he flirted with a white woman helped launch the civil rights movement.
Karlos Hill, professor of African and African American Studies at the University of Oklahoma, said: "These were public, intentionally public in order to convey terror, not just to the individuals and their families, but to a whole community."
Anyone who is in emotional distress, struggling to cope or at risk of suicide can call the Samaritans anonymously for free from a UK phone on 116 123 or go to samaritans.org.
