Black woman Tasia Fortune’s hanging was ‘staged’ after her death, Mississippi police say

Investigators believe Tasia Fortune was already dead before the black woman’s body was hanged from a tree behind an abandoned home in the Mississippi capital this summer, a detective testified on Friday.The hanging of Tasia Fortune’s body, which was found on August 3, was “staged”, Jackson police detective Samuel Dukes testified, citing the medical examiner’s opinion.Authorities have not disclosed the exact cause of Fortune’s death, but they did rule it a homicide and have arrested two men, both of them black, on murder charges and issued a warrant for the arrest of a third person.Dukes also testified that the motive for the killing appears to have been a drug dispute. He said interviews with others revealed that Fortune fought hard before she was killed.The case has attracted widespread attention because the scene recalled lynchings in the Southern state, which has a long and troubled history of racial violence.Christy Spivey wears a shirt with a portrait of her late daughter, Tasia Fortune, in Marion, Kentucky, on September 8. Photo: APAuthorities have not said why they believe the defendants hanged Fortune’s body after she was already dead.Dukes testified at a hearing for Jarques Ratliff, 51, who was the first person arrested in the case earlier this month. Ratliff, who has pleaded not guilty, remains in custody in the Hinds County jail without bond.