Mississippi police arrest a man in the
death of Tasia Fortune
[September 12, 2026]
By JAIMIE DING and KRISTIN HALL
Mississippi police have arrested a man in the death of Tasia Fortune, a
Black woman found hanging from a tree last month.
Jackson Police Chief RaShall Brackney said at a news conference Friday
that police had secured search and arrest warrants for 51-year-old
Jarques Ratliff and arrested him when they encountered him walking on
the street. Brackney said the man had an “association” with Fortune but
would not elaborate on their relationship.
The state medical examiner’s office determined Thursday evening that the
death was a homicide, Brackney said, allowing police to execute the
warrants they already had on hand.
“This case remains active, and additional arrests will be pending,”
Brackney said.
Ratliff did not appear in Hinds County jail records, and court records
were not accessible online. It couldn’t immediately be determined if he
had a lawyer, and a message was left for the public defender's office.
Christy Spivey, Fortune’s mother, said Friday after police told her of
the arrest that, "I just started crying and told them ‘thank you, thank
you, thank you.’ ”
Spivey said police did not share a motive or whether DNA led them to the
arrest. Spivey said she did not know the man who had been arrested, but
she was asking her daughter's friends if they knew him. Spivey described
the family as “in disbelief” and “shock.”
“We still don’t have a lot of answers,” Spivey said.
Police discovered Fortune’s body hanging in the backyard of an abandoned
home in Jackson on Aug. 3.
Spivey said she was certain that her daughter, 29, would not have killed
herself.
“Absolutely not. Even if she could climb that tree, no, no, she would
never, ever, ever,” Spivey said.
Fortune was the mother of four children, but she rarely saw two of them,
Spivey said. The last time Spivey saw her daughter was in late July for
a planned family reunion in Kentucky that was canceled, but her daughter
came to see her anyway.
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Christy Spivey poses with a portrait of her late daughter Tasia
Fortune, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026, in Marion, Ky. (AP Photo/George
Walker IV)
“When she was there, there was this pull, like a spiritual pull to
her. I needed her. I guess God knew that was going to be it,” Spivey
said.
Spivey said she and Fortune's father faced racism and violence as a
mixed-race couple in Crittenden County, Kentucky, before Fortune was
born.
Fortune was taken from her parents and placed in foster care as a
child. During her high school years, she moved around among group
homes and eventually ran away to Mississippi.
Spivey wasn’t sure where Fortune was living at the time of her death
but said her daughter had been struggling with homelessness in
recent years. Fortune had two sisters and was close with them. The
father of one of her children was verbally and physically abusive to
Fortune, Spivey said.
Before she died, Fortune had talked about starting a cleaning
business and was trying to get her life in order.
“Say her name. Keep it going," Spivey said. “Because I’m not going
to stop until I get answers.”
___
Associated Press writer Josh Kelety contributed to this report.
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