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More than one month after Tasia Fortune was found in a tree behind an abandoned home in Mississippi, detectives testified that she was already dead before she was hanged.
Detective Samuel Dukes of the Jackson Police Department testified in court on Friday, September 25, that he believes Fortune’s hanging was “staged” while citing the medical examiner’s opinion, according to the Associated Press.
Authorities have not shared how they think Fortune, 29, actually died, but they did rule her death on August 3 a homicide. Dukes said on Friday that police concluded Fortune, a Black woman, had fought hard before she was killed based on interviews.
Dukes also testified that authorities believe the motive for Fortune’s death was a drug dispute.
Despite sharing the theory, authorities have not said why they believe the defendants hanged Fortune’s body if she was already dead.
Two men have since been arrested on murder charges, and authorities issued a warrant for the arrest of a third person.
Jackson police made their first arrest in the case when they took Jarques Ratliff into custody on September 11 and charged him with murder. At the time, police confirmed that Ratliff, 51, had an “association” with Fortune, but they did not elaborate on how the two knew each other.
However, Ratliff said during Friday’s hearing that he and Fortune were friends.
The second arrest was made on Tuesday, September 22, when police took Earnest Lloyd Jr. into custody and charged him with murder. Lloyd’s relationship with Fortune is not currently known.
Ratliff has pleaded not guilty, while it’s not currently clear whether Lloyd, 25, has entered a plea.
It is not known whether either defendant has retained legal counsel following their arrests.
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The purpose of Friday’s hearing was to determine whether there’s enough evidence to send the case to a grand jury for a possible indictment. The hearing is scheduled to resume on Wednesday, September 30.
Fortune’s death has left her loved ones in shock, and her family launched a GoFundMe page to help financially support her kids following the tragedy.
“From the bottom of our family’s hearts we want to THANK EVERYONE for helping our family in one of the most tragic moments of our life’s. With your love, prayers and offerings, we will be able to Bring our girl home to her final resting place close to her family,” the family wrote on the page. “Also we will be able to bless her 4 beautiful children. We also will be able to take the next steps in helping Tasia and our family [receive] justice and answers.”
The statement continued, “God will take care of this and thank you for allowing God to use you to bless our family to be able to take this mess and turn it into a message. We will stand strong together in our ups and are [sic] downs. Once again thank you!”
