Authorities believe Tasia Fortune was killed in a different location over “missing illegal narcotics” before the “staged” hanging of her body from a tree, a Jackson Police Department detective testified Friday, according to multiple reports.
In an evidentiary hearing, Detective Samuel Dukes also testified that authorities believe the 29-year-old Black mother of four was dead for two to three days before her body was discovered.
Two men, Jarques Ratliff and Earnest Lloyd Jr., both Black, have been arrested on murder charges, and police are looking to detain one more individual.
Fortune’s killing has gripped the nation because of its eerie resemblance to lynchings that have historically plagued the country.
Dukes said Friday that Fortune and Ratliff were friends who were “intimate with each other,” according to the Mississippi Clarion Ledger.
The authorities believe Lloyd used a black cable cord to hang Fortune from the tree behind the Jackson, Mississippi, house where she was discovered, local outlet WLBT reported.
Ratliff’s attorney, Toney Baldwin, reportedly said he wants the “truth about what happened to come out.”
“My client said he’s not involved and that’s absolutely what I believe,” Baldwin added.
Speaking to reporters after the hearing on Friday, Fortune’s mother, Christy Spivey, said she was saddened, the Clarion-Ledger reported.
“I just hope they have the right people,” Spivey added.
In an ongoing GoFundMe campaign, Fortune’s aunt Etta Avolio called her niece a “strong-minded, big-hearted, vibrant young woman.”
“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 added.
Fortune’s death also came amid a spate of hanging deaths of Black individuals, which have sparked alarm and suspicion, along with the racially charged circumstances involved in the highly publicized death of 18-year-old Nolan Xavier Wells in Mississippi.
The Jackson Police Department did not immediately respond to JS’s request for comment.