Investigators are releasing new details about a Mississippi woman found hanging behind an abandoned Jackson home.
During a hearing for one of the suspects, a detective testified that someone killed Tasia Fortune before hanging her body from a tree in what investigators described as a “staged” lynching.
Police found the 29-year-old mother of four dead behind a home in the 500 block of Road of Remembrance on Aug. 3. Authorities have not released the exact cause of death.
Jarques “Jock” Ratliff, 51, and Earnest Lloyd Jr., 25, face murder charges in connection with Fortune’s death. Police arrested Eric Clark, 45, on Friday. More arrests are possible.
During Ratliff’s bond hearing, Jackson police detective Samuel Dukes testified that Fortune had been dead for two to three days before police found her body.
He also testified that the motive for the killing appears to have been a drug dispute.
Dukes says Fortune and Ratliff stayed at the same property and had been “intimate with each other.”
Ratliff blurted out, “She was my friend,” and was urged to be quiet.
Later in the hearing, Dukes told the court that police have a witness who will attest to Ratliff’s alleged involvement in Fortune’s death. That witness claims Fortune was killed for taking drugs belonging to Ratliff.
The detective said investigators questioned Ratliff twice before arresting him after he revealed details about Fortune’s death that “you would only know if you were there.”
“He made statements in reference to Ms. Fortune. He gave an account of her ability to protect herself. Ms. Fortune fought off,” Dukes said, according to WLBT.
Christy Spivey, Fortune’s mother, was in the courtroom during the detective’s testimony.
“What really got me was when he said Tasia put up a big fight,” she told local media. “I know my daughter, so she fought for her life.”
Questioning grew heated when the defense attorney challenged the conduct of officers who interviewed Ratliff, alleging an officer pistol-whipped his client and knocked out his teeth.
Dukes told the court that Ratliff gave officers the name of the person who allegedly hit him, prompting police to investigate the claim.
After more than an hour of proceedings, the judge announced the case would remain in recess until Sept. 30 at 2 p.m., and that part of the questioning would be closed to the public.
The court postponed the hearing in part because investigators are still working the case and have yet to present the evidence to a grand jury.
Fortune’s mother is also waiting to hear more evidence in the case.
“She said if anything happens to her, she was going to get every piece of DNA evidence she could. So, I’m waiting to see what evidence they have,” Spivey said.
Ratliff will remain behind bars without bond. Lloyd also remains in custody with no bond.
