Jackson police arrest second man in Tasia Fortune death

Police in Jackson, Mississippi, have arrested a second man in the death of Tasia Fortune, a 29-year-old Black woman found hanging from a tree in August. They have also obtained an arrest warrant for a third suspect and say more arrests may follow.

Police identified the second man as Earnest Lloyd Jr., 25. Jackson Police Chief RaShall Brackney announced the arrest at a City Council meeting Tuesday night, saying Lloyd had been charged with homicide. He appeared at a brief hearing Wednesday.

“What I can tell you is, today, we’ve taken another person into custody and charged them with homicide in this case,” Brackney said Tuesday.

Fortune’s body was found Aug. 3 behind an abandoned home in Jackson. Police have not released a cause of death or suggested a motive. Brackney previously described Fortune as having been found “in a hanging position,” saying she needed to use that language so as not to jeopardize the case.

The first man arrested, Jarques Ratliff, 51, has pleaded not guilty to a murder charge and remains jailed without bond. Brackney has said Ratliff had an “association” with Fortune but has not elaborated. Ratliff and Lloyd are both Black.

Police have not identified the person named in the third warrant or described that person’s alleged role. NBC News reported that U.S. marshals are assisting with the warrant. Brackney said detectives are pursuing additional warrants. “I will guarantee there are actually more arrests to come in this incident,” she said.

Fortune’s mother, Christy Spivey, attended Lloyd’s hearing Wednesday. She said afterward that she was ecstatic to see arrests in her daughter’s death, while cautioning that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. Spivey said neither she nor several of Fortune’s friends knew Lloyd.

“My family is not the only family that this is affecting,” Spivey said, referring to the defendants’ families. “I feel for them as well. The only difference is that mine can never come back.” She added: “I’ll never truly have peace.”

The circumstances in which Fortune was found drew widespread attention and concern. Police have not said whether they believe race played a role. According to the NAACP, Mississippi recorded 581 public lynchings between 1882 and 1968, more than any other state.

CBS News reported that Fortune’s death came about a year after two other hanging deaths in Mississippi: those of Trey Reed, a 21-year-old Black student at Delta State University, and Cory Zukatis, an unhoused white man. Both were ruled suicides, though Reed’s family and attorneys have called for an independent autopsy.

Fortune, a Kentucky native and mother of four, had lived in Jackson for about a decade, relatives said. Spivey has said her daughter struggled with homelessness in recent years and that she did not know where Fortune was living when she died. Before her death, Fortune had talked about starting a cleaning business and was trying to get her life in order, her mother said.