Police in Jackson, Mississippi, arrested 51-year-old Jarques Ratliff on Friday, September 11, 2026, in connection with the death of Tasia Fortune. Fortune, a 29-year-old Black woman, was found hanging from a tree in the backyard of an abandoned home on August 3. The arrest followed a determination by the medical examiner on Thursday, September 10, that Fortune's death was a homicide.
Jackson Police Chief RaShall Brackney stated that Ratliff was apprehended on the street after officers were unable to locate him at the address listed on his warrants. Ratliff is charged with murder. While Brackney noted that Ratliff had a prior "association" with Fortune, she did not provide specific details regarding the nature of their relationship. Fortune’s mother, Christy Spivey, said she did not know the man arrested and was contacting her daughter's friends for information.
The investigation involved interviews with nearly 15 people and the collection of forensic evidence. Chief Brackney emphasized that the case remains active and that additional arrests are pending as investigators follow remaining leads. During a press conference, Brackney acknowledged the local and national attention surrounding the case due to Mississippi’s history but declined to comment on the specific cause of death or how long Fortune's remains had been at the location.
The arrest of one individual on a murder charge marks a shift in the status of the case from a death investigation to a criminal prosecution. For the residents of Jackson and the surrounding Hinds County area, this case follows two other hanging deaths in Mississippi within the last year: 21-year-old Trey Reed in Cleveland and Cory Zukatis in Vicksburg. While authorities ruled both of those cases as suicides—conclusions that drew calls for transparency and independent autopsies from Reed's family—the homicide classification in Fortune’s case establishes a different legal status for how such discoveries are being processed by state examiners.
What happens next: Jarques Ratliff faces a murder charge, though as of Friday evening, he had not appeared in local jail logs and it was not yet known if he had obtained legal representation. The Jackson Police Department is continuing its investigation, with Chief Brackney stating that more arrests are expected. Future court dates for Ratliff's initial appearance or bond hearing have not been reported. The full autopsy report details and a specific motive for the killing have also not yet been released to the public or the victim's family.