Man arrested in hanging death of Tasia Fortune in Jackson, Mississippi
Jacques Ratliff was arrested on 11 September in connection with the homicide of 29-year-old Tasia Fortune, found hanging in Jackson, MS in August.
Arrest made in Jackson hanging death ruled homicide
Jackson Police Chief RaShall Brackney confirmed on Friday, 11 September, that a man has been arrested in connection with the death of 29-year-old Tasia Fortune, clarionledger.com reports.
Fortune was found dead, hanging from a tree in the backyard of a vacant home in the 500 block of Road of Remembrance on 3 August. Hinds County Coroner Jeramiah Howard had previously confirmed those details to the Clarion-Ledger. The Mississippi State Medical Examiner's Office subsequently classified her death as a homicide.
Brackney identified the arrested man as Jacques Ratliff. Officers took Ratliff into custody on Friday along Capitol Street in Jackson. Brackney stated that Ratliff has an "association" to Fortune, but said the department would not be disclosing the nature of that relationship.
The police chief made clear that additional arrests are expected. "This is not closure," Brackney said. "This is just one step as we continue to investigate this case, but it is a very important step. As you can tell, the moment that the medical examiner gave us a determination, we were already having the search warrants and the arrest warrants in hand. None of which we could execute until we had a final determination."
Brackney also addressed earlier media reports involving a 65-year-old man who lived on the same street as the crime scene and had been interviewed by investigators as a person of interest. Local outlets had reported the man admitted to an argument with Fortune but denied any involvement in her death. Police did not charge him in connection with Fortune's death, though he was arrested on a separate, unrelated charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
"We have never named a person of interest," Brackney said. "That is something that was put out through the media or through the community, but we have never named any person of interest in this case."
Anyone with information related to the case is asked to contact the Jackson Police Department at (601) 960-1234 or Crime Stoppers at (601) 355-8477.
Fortune's death follows two other hanging deaths in Mississippi within the past year. De'Martravion "Trey" Reed, a 21-year-old Black student at Delta State University in Cleveland, was found dead in similar circumstances. The Mississippi State Medical Examiner ruled Reed's death a suicide, a finding consistent with a preliminary examination by the Bolivar County coroner. Reed's family rejected that conclusion and retained civil rights attorney Ben Crump to pursue a private investigation; they say they were promised results from an independent autopsy but have yet to receive a final report.
In a separate case, Cory Zukatis, a homeless white male in his 30s, was found near Ameristar Casino in Vicksburg around 1:30 p.m. on 15 September. The Mississippi State Medical Examiner also determined that Zukatis died by suicide. Few additional details of that case were made public.
Source: Google News MT — Crime (en)