WNN INVESTIGATES

Tasia Fortune: Death Ruled Homicide, Arrest Made as Police Say More Could Follow

By Dee Daniels | Women’s Network News
September 11, 2026

JACKSON, Miss. — More than a month after 29-year-old Tasia Fortune was found hanging from a tree behind a vacant home in Jackson, Mississippi, the investigation into her death has reached a critical turning point.

The Mississippi State Medical Examiner’s Office has officially classified Fortune’s death as a homicide, and Jackson police have made an arrest in connection with the case.

Jackson Police Chief RaShall Brackney announced Friday that investigators arrested a 51-year-old man identified in local reporting as Jarques or Jacques Ratliff.

The development moves the case substantially beyond where it stood when WNN Investigates previously reported on Fortune’s death.

THE MEDICAL EXAMINER'S RULING CHANGES THE CASE

Fortune was discovered August 3 hanging from a tree in the backyard of a vacant home in the 500 block of Road of Remembrance in west Jackson.

Her death immediately generated questions from her family and the community about how she died and whether another person was responsible.

Police said they had been treating the investigation seriously while awaiting the medical examiner's official determination.

That determination came Thursday night: homicide.

According to Chief Brackney, investigators were already prepared to move.

Police had obtained two search warrants and an arrest warrant but had been waiting for the medical examiner's determination before taking the next step.

Investigators executed the search warrants Friday but did not initially locate Ratliff. Officers subsequently encountered him walking along Capitol Street and took him into custody.

POLICE SAY RATLIFF KNEW FORTUNE

Police have confirmed that Ratliff and Fortune knew one another, but investigators have not publicly disclosed the nature of that relationship.

Authorities also have not publicly detailed a motive or disclosed what specific forensic or other evidence led investigators to Ratliff.

Those unanswered questions are significant.

An arrest establishes neither guilt nor the complete circumstances surrounding Fortune's death. Ratliff is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

But police are making clear that the arrest does not mark the end of their investigation.

Chief Brackney said additional arrests are expected as investigators continue following the evidence.

Police say approximately 15 people have been interviewed and investigators have devoted hundreds of hours to the case.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE EARLIER PERSON OF INTEREST?

The new arrest also raises an important question for people who have followed the case from the beginning.

Shortly after Fortune's body was discovered, 65-year-old Terence Anderson was questioned in connection with her death.

Anderson was subsequently arrested on an unrelated charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

During an earlier court proceeding, investigators said Anderson had acknowledged arguing with Fortune before her death. Police also described a possible relationship between the two, which Anderson reportedly disputed.

Most importantly, Anderson was not charged in connection with Fortune's death at that time.

The arrest of Ratliff therefore represents a separate and significant development in the homicide investigation.

Police have not publicly explained whether Anderson remains part of the investigation or whether investigators believe there is any connection between Anderson and Ratliff.

A FAMILY THAT HAS BEEN WAITING FOR ANSWERS

Fortune's mother, Christy Spivey, had publicly expressed frustration over the lack of answers surrounding her daughter's death.

Following Friday's arrest, Spivey told the Associated Press that she cried and thanked police when she learned someone had been taken into custody.

But the family still does not have the complete story.

According to the AP, Spivey said police had not told her a motive or whether DNA evidence contributed to the arrest. She also said she did not recognize the arrested man and was asking her daughter's friends whether they knew him.

Those questions — who was involved, why Fortune was killed and how investigators believe her death occurred — remain unanswered publicly.

WHY THIS CASE RECEIVED NATIONAL ATTENTION

The circumstances in which Fortune was found generated attention far beyond Jackson.

A Black woman found hanging from a tree in Mississippi inevitably raised questions because of the state's history of lynching and racial violence.

But investigators have cautioned against drawing conclusions unsupported by evidence.

Fortune's mother has also said she does not want her daughter's death characterized as racially motivated without evidence supporting that conclusion.

For WNN Investigates, that distinction matters.

The medical examiner has now determined that Fortune's death was a homicide. That tells us another person's actions caused her death.

It does not, by itself, tell us the motive.

Those are two different questions.

WHAT WNN IS WATCHING NEXT

Friday's arrest answers one of the biggest questions surrounding this investigation — whether police believed someone was criminally responsible for Fortune's death.

But it opens several others.

What evidence led investigators to Ratliff?

What was his relationship with Fortune?

What does the medical examiner say about the specific cause of death?

What role, if any, does the person previously questioned in the investigation have now?

And perhaps most importantly, why are police already saying additional arrests are expected?

Chief Brackney described Friday's development not as closure, but as another step in an active investigation.

For Tasia Fortune's family, the homicide ruling and arrest may finally begin providing some of the answers they have demanded since August.

But this investigation is not finished.

WNN Investigates will continue following the evidence, the court proceedings and any additional arrests in the death of Tasia Fortune.

Dee Daniels | Women’s Network News
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