Local officials are seeking answers in the death of a Black woman found hanging from a tree behind a vacant house in Jackson, Mississippi, earlier this week as her family demands justice.
Tasia Fortune, 29, was identified by the Hinds County Coroner’s Office as the woman found dead on Monday at around 9 p.m., multiple local news outlets report.
The investigation into the death is ongoing and and her body has been sent to the state Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy.
Fortune’s sister, LaToni Fortune, told Mississippi Today she had last seen her sibling in July when the 29-year-old was visiting family in Kentucky.
Prior to Fortune being identified, Ward 3 Jackson City Councilman Kenneth Stokes told local news station WAPT his office had reached out to U.S. Attorney Baxter Kruger’s office on Wednesday pleading for assistance in the case.
“We are in dire need of the assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s office with the death of an unidentified female discovered hanging in the backyard of an abandoned house on the Road of Remembrance in Jackson, Mississippi,” the councilman’s letter stated.
Though authorities have not confirmed foul play in the case, Stokes’ letter referred to Fortune’s death as a murder.
Police and Stokes did not immediately respond to requests for comment from JS.
Fortune’s aunt, Etta Avolio, described her late niece as a “strong-minded, big-hearted, vibrant young woman” in a GoFundMe launched to offset funeral expenses.
“The family also wants others to know that justice will be served, and they hold firmly to their faith, believing that God is on their side as they walk through this heartbreaking loss,” Avolio wrote.