A man was nabbed Friday in the horrific hanging of a black mother of four in Mississippi — just a day after state medical examiners classified her death a homicide.
Jacques Ratliff, 51, was cuffed by Jackson police as he strolled down Capitol Street, hours after officers executed search and arrest warrants in connection with Tasia Fortune’s death.
“That arrest today is an important development in this investigation, but it is not the conclusion,” Jackson Police Chief RaShall Brackney told reporters, warning that additional arrests are pending in the active case.
“We understand the questions, and the desire for answers, given Mississippi’s history,” Brackney added, noting that officials are treating the sensitive case with a “global lens.”
Fortune’s body was discovered hanging from a tree in the backyard of an abandoned home in Jackson on Aug. 3.
Her grieving mother, Christy Spivey, broke down in tears upon hearing news of the suspect’s arrest.
“I just started crying and told them ‘thank you, thank you, thank you,’” Spivey told reporters.
Spivey said police have not yet disclosed a motive or revealed whether DNA evidence led to the bust, adding that she did not know Ratliff and that her family remains in “disbelief” and “shock.”
“We still don’t have a lot of answers,” she admitted.
Spivey last saw her daughter, 29, on July 26 during a family reunion in Kentucky before Fortune returned home to Mississippi.
“She was better than I had seen her in a long time. She was at peace,” Spivey told ABC News.
Fortune’s death came less than a year after two other hanging deaths in the state — 21-year-old Delta State University student Trey Reed and Cory Zukatis, a 30-something homeless man.
Both of those cases were ultimately ruled suicides by authorities.
Fortune, whose whole name is “Tasia Sidea Fortune,” had lived in Jackson for 10 years after moving from Marion, Kentucky.
Relatives describe Fortune as religious, bright and athletic.
Fortune was “intelligent and talented, having skipped her junior year of high school,” her obituary says.
“She was also a star cross country athlete. But no matter what, she never lost her faith in God. She leaves a powerful legacy of resilience, rooted deeply in her unwavering faith.”
With Post wires
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