Mother of Tasia Fortune Seeks Answers in Mississippi Hanging Death

The mother of a Black woman found hanging from a tree in Mississippi's capital is continuing her push for answers about how her daughter died, a case that has revived painful memories of the racist lynchings that once scarred the American South.

The body of Tasia Fortune, 29, a Kentucky native, was discovered on Aug. 3 in the yard behind an abandoned home in Jackson. Jarques Ratliff, 51, pleaded not guilty to murder on Monday. Police and prosecutors have not disclosed a suspected motive and have said more arrests are expected.

Fortune's mother, Christy Spivey, said she had long braced herself for a difficult phone call, but not the one she received. "I've been expecting some sort of call for years, you know. But not that call, not the hanging call," she said. "And, I don't think it's really sinked in too much."

Spivey, who spoke before Ratliff's arrest, rejected the idea that race drove her daughter's death. "Everybody keeps on saying racial. I don't think this was racist. I think this was something very personal," she said, pointing to the height at which Fortune was found. "For her to be able to get up that high... if they had to use the fireman's ladder to get her out, that's very high."

She described a daughter who loved her and who had four children of her own. Fortune, who had a Black father and a white mother, identified as Black, Spivey said, adding that she rarely saw two of her grandchildren. Relatives said Fortune had lived in Jackson for about a decade. Spivey was unsure where her daughter was staying when she died but said Fortune had struggled with homelessness in recent years and had recently talked about starting a cleaning business and getting her life in order.

Jackson Police Chief RaShall Brackney said the medical examiner's office officially classified Fortune's death as a homicide, after which investigators secured two search warrants and an arrest warrant for Ratliff.

Even with a Black man charged in the case, the imagery of a hanging body and a noose carries a weight that reaches beyond the specifics of any single investigation. "Even if a Black person is involved, it will change the narrative. But still because the symbolism of hanging Black people in public, the symbolism of the noose, right, is so potent, we're going to continue to draw those connections with lynching," said Karlos Hill, a professor of African and African American Studies at the University of Oklahoma.

Over the past two years, about a half-dozen Black women and men have been found hanged across the South. In some of those cases, police quickly ruled the deaths suicides, a conclusion that has drawn historically grounded skepticism when investigators offered limited evidence to rule out foul play.

For Spivey, the search for a full account of her daughter's final days remains unfinished. "Say her name, keep it going. Cause I'm not gonna stop until I get answers. The right ones, hopefully, you know," she said.