Tasia Fortune: Suspect Arrested in Hanging Death in Mississippi

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September 13, 2026

Ashton Pittman, Mississippi Free Press and Capital B Staff

The young mother’s death was ruled a homicide nearly a month after her body was found in a vacant home.

For more than a month, Tasia Fortune’s family has waited for answers after she was found hanging from a tree outside a vacant house in Jackson, Mississippi.

This week, authorities arrested a suspect. Jackson Police Chief RaShall Brackney said at a news conference Friday that police had secured search and arrest warrants for Jarques Ratliff, 51, and arrested him when they encountered him walking on the street. Brackney said the man had an “association” with Fortune but would not elaborate on their relationship.

The state medical examiner’s office determined on Sept. 10 that the death was a homicide, Brackney said, allowing police to execute the warrants they already had on hand.

“This case remains active, and additional arrests will be pending,” he said.

“Jackson Police Department has been investigating this case from day one as a homicide until we hear otherwise from the medical examiner’s office,” Brackney said at a city council meeting on Sept. 8.

Read more about the case.

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