Police Say Tasia Fortune’s Hanging Was ‘Staged’

The mysterious hanging of 29-year-old Tasia Fortune is coming closer to closure.

On Friday, a police detective testified that Fortune was first killed in a dispute over drugs, and her body subsequently hung from a tree in a “staged” lynching, according to the Washington Post.

The Post reports that “Fortune was killed in a disagreement about drugs, and she fought hard with her attackers before she was killed,” Jackson police Detective Samuel Dukes told the court.

Dukes also testified that investigators believe Fortune was killed at another location before her body was placed in a hanging position in a tree behind the abandoned home where she was later discovered, reports Newsweek. 

Authorities believe she was dead for two to three days before her body was found, NBC News reports. Police allege that Earnest Lloyd Jr., 25, one of the men charged with murder in Fortune’s death, used a black cable cord to hang her from the tree, WLBT reports. The detective declined to release additional details because the grand jury has not received all of the evidence.

Fortune’s mother, Christy Spivey, said she actually knew that her daughter was killed before she was hanged, but told reporters outside of Friday’s hearing that the hanging “brought all the attention to it.”

“What bothered me was they said Tasia fought for her life,” said Spivey. “I know she did. I know my daughter.”

The young mother’s hanging in August sparked national attention because of the manner in which people thought Fortune died. There was not much traction until mid-September, when the Jackson coroner ruled Fortune’s death a homicide, and the next day police arrested a 51-year-old man in direct connection to Fortune’s death, as reported by NewsOne.

Shortly thereafter, a second man, 25-year-old Lloyd, was arrested in Fortune’s death.

A third person turned himself in Friday and was charged with murder. WLBT reports that Eric Clark, 45, will appear in court on Monday, Sept. 28.

He joins Jarques Ratliff, 51, and Lloyd, who have already been arrested and indicted in the young mother of four’s death.

In court, Dukes said Ratliff and Fortune were friends who had been intimate, Newsweek reports. Ratliff was denied bond earlier this month after he pleaded not guilty. His attorney, Toney Baldwin, told reporters his client denies involvement and that he believes him, according to NBC News.

Fortune, originally from Kentucky, had lived in Jackson for the past 10 years. She was buried in August at West End Cemetery, a historically Black cemetery in Greenville, Kentucky, CNN reports.

SEE ALSO:

Black Woman Found Hanging In Jackson Identified As Tasia Fortune

Black Man Arrested In The Hanging Death Of Tasia Fortune

2nd Black Man Arrested In Hanging Death Of Tasia Fortune