# An arrest upends the Mississippi hanging story

> A Black mother of four was found hanging from a tree in Jackson, and the arrest that followed looked nothing like the story people expected.
- Title: An arrest upends the Mississippi hanging story · Fox News
- Summary: A Black mother of four was found hanging from a tree in Jackson, and the arrest that followed looked nothing like the story people expected. Public…
- Keywords: true crime, mississippi, media narrative, homicide, policing, news, politics, arrest, upends, hanging, story, Fox News
- Source: Fox News — https://foxnews.com/us/arrest-rips-apart-media-narrative-death-black-woman-found-hanging-mississippi-tree
- Author: Bradford Betz
- Published: 2026-09-13T00:00:00+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: true crime, mississippi, media narrative, homicide, policing, news, politics
## A body behind an empty house
Tasia Fortune, 29, a Black mother of four, was found Aug. 3 hanging from a tree behind a vacant property on Road of Remembrance in Jackson, Mississippi.
## A state with a long memory
The location did the talking. In a state carrying a history of racialized violence, the image of a Black woman hanging from a tree drove weeks of national and global attention.
## Congress picked it up
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez warned of "racial terror" and modern-day lynchings, joining dozens of Democrats pressing the Justice Department to investigate hanging deaths of Black Americans.

> widespread modern-day lynchings
## The medical examiner ruled
Police logged hundreds of hours and interviewed nearly 15 people, but could not move on warrants until the state medical examiner classified the death a homicide late Thursday.
## An arrest on Capitol Street
Jarques Ratliff, 51, a Black Jackson resident with a prior personal connection to Fortune, was taken into custody without incident after officers served two search warrants.
## Evidence over speculation
Chief RaShall Brackney said the department takes the public's concern seriously but will only say what forensic facts support. She also denied ever naming a 65-year-old man as a person of interest.

> We do have a responsibility to make sure that what we say publicly is supported by our evidence and the facts.
## Her mother never believed suicide
Christy Spivey thanked police for the quick notification and repeated what she had said all along: her daughter would never take her own life.
## The case is not closed
Ratliff is held at Hinds County on a murder charge with an initial appearance due by Monday. Police expect more arrest warrants and have not detailed the evidence linking him to the scene.
## Key takeaway

Public speculation ran weeks ahead of the forensic evidence, and when the evidence arrived it pointed somewhere else entirely.