Mississippi man pleads not guilty in murder case of woman found hanged

A Jackson, Mississippi, municipal judge denied bond on Monday and accepted a not-guilty plea from 51-year-old Jarques Ratliff, who is charged with murdering 29-year-old Tasia Fortune. Fortune’s body was found hanging from a tree behind an abandoned home on Aug. 3, and a state medical examiner ruled the death a homicide.

Police arrested Ratliff on Friday and said he had an "association" with the victim, though details were not disclosed. Prosecutors noted that Fortune was hanged with a black cable cord and that Ratliff attempted to evade officers in a vehicle the day of his arrest.

The case has drawn significant public attention because the manner of death evokes historic lynchings in the state, though officials have not indicated whether race influenced the investigation.

Fortune, a Kentucky native with a Black father and white mother, had lived in Jackson for about a decade and was a mother of four. Her mother, Christy Spivey, said her daughter had recently been planning to start a cleaning business and had faced periods of homelessness.

Police chief RaShall Brackney said additional arrests may follow, but declined to comment further after the hearing. The incident follows two other recent Mississippi hanging deaths that were ruled suicides.