Tasia Fortune Case: Police Say Her Hanging Was Staged as a Third Man Is Charged

When people in Jackson first heard that a young Black woman had been found hanging from a tree behind an empty house, many of them assumed the worst thing a Mississippian can assume. The image carried the weight of a century of history. Vigils followed. So did fear.

Eight weeks later, the case of Tasia Fortune looks different, and in some ways more confusing. Police now say the hanging was staged after she was already dead. Three men, all charged with murder, are in custody. And a courtroom hearing last Friday offered the first real look at what investigators believe happened, along with sharp pushback from the defense.

Here is what is known, what is alleged, and what is still missing.

Who Was Tasia Fortune?

Tasia Fortune was 29 years old and the mother of four children. Her mother, Christy Spivey, lives in Marion, Kentucky. Spivey has said her daughter struggled with homelessness in recent years and that she was not sure where Fortune was living when she died, CBS News reported. She also said Fortune had talked about starting a cleaning business and was trying to get her life in order.

That detail is worth holding onto. In cases like this, the victim can become a symbol or a headline. She was a daughter who wanted to start a business.

The Discovery on Road of Remembrance

Fortune’s body was found on August 3 behind an abandoned home in the 500 block of Road of Remembrance in Jackson. She was hanging from a tree. Her death was ruled a homicide.

The discovery drew national attention. Mississippi has a long and painful history of racial violence, and a hanging from a tree carries a meaning in the state that nothing else quite does. Early questions centered on whether this was a hate crime.

Five days later, on August 8, detectives told Jackson Municipal Court they had a person of interest, according to a timeline published by WLBT, the NBC affiliate in Jackson. Then the case went quiet for more than a month.

Three Arrests in Two Weeks

The pace picked up in September.

September 14: Police arrested Jarques Ratliff, 51, and charged him with murder. Some local reports spell his first name Jarquez and note that he goes by “Jock.” Ratliff pleaded not guilty and was denied bond. Police have said he had an “association” with Fortune, NBC News reported.

September 22: Police arrested Earnest Lloyd Jr., 25, also on a murder charge. He was denied bond. WLBT reported that Lloyd allegedly had a physical altercation with Fortune either days or minutes before she died, and that police accused him of hanging her with a black cable cord. Those are allegations from police, and Lloyd has not been convicted of anything.

September 25: Eric Clark, 45, turned himself in after a warrant was issued and was charged with murder. He was expected to appear in court Monday, NBC reported.

Both Ratliff and Lloyd are Black, according to NBC. Police say detectives have interviewed as many as 15 people, collected forensic evidence and followed numerous leads.

What the Detective Told the Court

The most detailed account so far came during Ratliff’s preliminary hearing on Friday, September 25. The purpose of that hearing is to decide whether there is enough evidence to send the case to a grand jury. Jackson police Detective Samuel Dukes took the stand.

According to reporting from WLBT and NBC News, Dukes testified that:

• Fortune had been dead for two to three days when her body was found.
• The state medical examiner determined she was killed before she was hanged, and the hanging was “staged.”
• She may have been killed at another location.
• She fought hard against her attackers.
• Investigators believe the killing may be connected to a dispute over illegal narcotics. Dukes said police allege she was killed for taking drugs belonging to Ratliff.
• Ratliff was questioned twice before his arrest and made statements that, in the detective’s words, “you would only know if you were there.”
• Police have a witness who they say will testify to Ratliff’s involvement.
• Investigators canvassed the area but found no surveillance cameras.

Dukes declined to go further on several points, saying he wanted to hold evidence for the grand jury. Authorities still have not publicly released Fortune’s exact cause of death.

He also said more arrests are possible. “It could be three, it could be four, it could be five,” he said, according to WLBT. “The investigation is ongoing.”

The Defense Pushes Back

Every one of these men is presumed innocent, and the defense made its case loudly on Friday.

Ratliff’s attorney, Toney Baldwin, pressed the detective on why he would not share more evidence at a hearing designed to test it. “You have not given this man one reason to lock him up in jail with no bond and call him a flight risk,” Baldwin said in court, according to WLBT.

Baldwin asked about motive and about video. The detective initially said he did not know a motive, though he testified the two stayed at the same property and had been intimate. On video, the answer was that there were no cameras.

Baldwin also raised a serious allegation of his own. He claimed that after Ratliff was first released from police questioning, someone pistol-whipped him, and he suggested that information from the interview had leaked to people on the street. Police have not publicly responded to that claim in the reporting reviewed for this article.

Ratliff himself blurted out in court that Fortune was his friend. “My client said he’s not involved and that’s absolutely what I believe,” Baldwin said, according to NBC News.

About a dozen supporters came to court for Ratliff. His stepdaughter, Lashuna Jones, said, “He didn’t do it, and I’m behind him,” according to CBS News.

A Mother Waiting for the Evidence

Christy Spivey sat in that courtroom wearing a shirt that read “Justice for Tasia Fortune” on the front and “Tasia’s Mom” on the back.

What hit her hardest, she said, was hearing that her daughter fought. “I know my daughter, so she fought for her life,” she told reporters, according to WLBT. She said Fortune had once told her that if anything ever happened to her, she would get every piece of DNA evidence she could. “So, I’m waiting to see what evidence they have.”

Spivey said she already knew her daughter died before the hanging, but that the staging “brought all the attention to it,” CBS reported. And she showed a kind of fairness that is rare in moments like this. After hearing Ratliff call Fortune his friend, she said: “I hope if he is innocent that he can prove he’s innocent. We don’t want any innocent people going to jail.”

The Questions Still Hanging Over the Case

Even with three arrests, the core mystery here is not fully solved. Here is what the public still does not know:

• How did she die? Authorities have ruled it a homicide but have not released a cause of death.
• Where was she killed? The detective testified she may have been killed somewhere else, but no location has been made public.
• Why stage a hanging? Police have not said why they believe her body was hanged after death. Whoever did it created a scene guaranteed to draw national attention, which raises obvious questions about intent.
• What role is each man alleged to have played? Police have described an alleged altercation involving Lloyd and a drug dispute involving Ratliff. Clark’s alleged role has not been detailed publicly.
• Are there more people involved? The lead detective suggested there could be.

Staged death scenes are among the hardest cases for investigators and the public alike, because the first impression is designed to mislead. We have looked at how contested death rulings can divide families and investigators for years in cases like the Ellen Greenberg case, and how patient forensic work can change a story entirely, as it did with Boise’s Unknown Wanderer. Arrests are not the end of those stories. They are the middle. See also our coverage of the Ohio dentist murder investigation for how a case can shift once charges are filed.

What Happens Next

The calendar this week is busy:

• Monday, September 28: Eric Clark is expected in Jackson Municipal Court.
• Wednesday, September 30, 2 p.m.: Ratliff’s preliminary hearing resumes before Judge Lilli Bass. The judge said part of the questioning will be closed to the public.
• After that: The case is expected to go before a grand jury, which will decide whether to indict.

Here is where we land for now. A community that feared the worst about how Tasia Fortune died deserves the full truth about it, whatever that turns out to be. Three men deserve their day in court before anyone decides they did it. And a mother in Kentucky deserves to see the evidence she has been waiting for. The courtroom is the right place for all three.