Mississippi police say more arrests expected in death of woman found hanging from tree

Police in Jackson, Mississippi, said Saturday they are still investigating the death of Tasia Fortune, 29, whose body was found hanging from a tree in the backyard of an abandoned home on 3 August. The update came a day after officers arrested a man connected to the case.

Officers arrested 51-year-old Jarques Ratliff on Friday after encountering him walking on the street. Jackson police chief RaShall Brackney said Ratliff had some kind of association with Fortune but declined to elaborate on their relationship. He was arrested on a homicide charge and is expected to appear in Jackson municipal court no later than Monday morning.

Brackney stressed the investigation is far from over, saying detectives will keep following the evidence and that additional arrests are anticipated. The state medical examiner's office ruled the death a homicide on Thursday evening, which allowed police to act on warrants they already held.

Fortune's mother, Christy Spivey, said she cried and thanked police upon learning of the arrest, but said the family still lacks answers about a motive. Spivey said she is certain her daughter did not take her own life.

A difficult path

Fortune was removed from her parents as a child and placed in foster care, later moving between group homes before running away to Mississippi, where she lived for a decade. In recent years she struggled with homelessness. She was the mother of four children, though she rarely saw two of them. An obituary described her as a woman of deep faith who had once been a standout cross-country runner in high school.

Spivey said she last saw her daughter in late July and that, before her death, Fortune had spoken of starting a cleaning business as she tried to rebuild her life.