Mississippi police stated Saturday they had been nonetheless investigating the dying of Tasia Fortune, a black lady discovered hanging from a tree final month, a day after a person was arrested in reference to the killing.
Family members additionally painted an image of Fortune as a mom, athlete and lady of religion who they hoped wouldn’t solely be remembered for her horrific dying.
Further arrests are anticipated within the case, Jackson Police Chief RaShall Brackney stated Friday.
Police sought and arrested 51-year-old Jarques Ratliff, who’s black, after they encountered him strolling on the road, authorities stated.
Ratliff ought to seem in Jackson Municipal Court docket no later than Monday morning, stated André de Gruy, Mississippi’s state defender.
Brackney stated Ratliff had an “affiliation” with Fortune however wouldn’t elaborate on their relationship. She known as Ratliff’s arrest on a homicide cost “an essential growth” within the investigation.
“However it’s not the conclusion. This case stays lively, and extra arrests can be pending as our investigators proceed to observe the proof wherever it leads,” Brackney stated Friday.
“We perceive that this case has acquired media consideration from throughout the globe, and throughout this neighborhood.”
Police present little new info on Saturday
The state medical expert’s workplace decided Thursday night that the dying was a murder, Brackney stated, permitting police to execute the warrants they already had readily available.
Police didn’t reply to calls and messages from The Related Press on Saturday about potential updates to the investigation past confirming it was nonetheless occurring.
Ratliff was charged with homicide, Hinds County jail information acknowledged Saturday. The jail report acknowledged that Ratliff was a resident of Jackson and contained little different info.
It couldn’t instantly be decided if he had a lawyer, and a message was left for the general public defender’s workplace. If represented by a public defender, it might be the Hinds County public defender, de Gruy stated.
Fortune’s mom stated she is grateful to police
Christy Spivey, Fortune’s mom, stated Friday after police advised her of the arrest that “I simply began crying and advised them ‘thanks, thanks, thanks.’”
Spivey stated police didn’t share a motive or whether or not DNA led them to the arrest. Spivey stated she didn’t know the person who had been arrested, however she was asking her daughter’s pals in the event that they knew him. Spivey described the household as “in disbelief” and “shock.”
“We nonetheless don’t have a whole lot of solutions,” Spivey stated.
Police found Fortune’s physique hanging within the yard of an deserted house in Jackson on Aug. 3.
Spivey stated she was sure that her daughter, 29, wouldn’t have killed herself.
“Completely not. Even when she might climb that tree, no, no, she would by no means, ever, ever,” Spivey stated.
Fortune was a mom, an athlete and a deeply non secular particular person
An obituary about Fortune posted on the web site of Tucker Funeral Dwelling in Central Metropolis, Kentucky, in August acknowledged that Fortune’s “path was not all the time straightforward, and there have been highs and lows.”
It additionally acknowledged that she skipped her junior yr of highschool, was a star cross-country runner, and had a powerful religion in God. Companies had been held final month in Kentucky.
“She leaves behind a strong legacy of resilience, rooted deeply in her unwavering religion. Even in her darkest hours, she by no means stopped believing in her Savior,” the obituary acknowledged.
Fortune was additionally the mom of 4 youngsters, however she not often noticed two of them, Spivey stated. The final time Spivey noticed her daughter was in late July for a deliberate household reunion in Kentucky that was canceled, however her daughter got here to see her anyway.
“When she was there, there was this pull, like a non secular pull to her. I wanted her. I suppose God knew that was going to be it,” Spivey stated.
Spivey stated she and Fortune’s father confronted racism and violence as a mixed-race couple in Crittenden County, Kentucky, earlier than Fortune was born.
Fortune was taken from her mother and father and positioned in foster care as a toddler. Throughout her highschool years, she moved round amongst group properties and finally ran away to Mississippi. The obituary acknowledged that she had lived in Jackson for 10 years.
Spivey wasn’t certain the place Fortune was dwelling on the time of her dying however stated her daughter had been scuffling with homelessness lately. Fortune had two sisters and was shut with them. The daddy of certainly one of her youngsters was verbally and bodily abusive to Fortune, Spivey stated.
Earlier than she died, Fortune had talked about beginning a cleansing enterprise and was making an attempt to get her life so as.
“Say her identify. Hold it going,” Spivey stated. “As a result of I’m not going to cease till I get solutions.”
