Tasia Fortune: Arrest made over the death of a black woman found hanged from a tree
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Christy Spivey
By
Brandon Drenon
Published
28 minutes ago
Warning: This story contains distressing details
Police in the US state of Mississippi have made their first arrest in the case of a black woman, Tasia Fortune, found dead and hanged from a tree, and say they could soon take more people into custody.
Investigation and Developments
"That arrest today is an important development in this investigation, but it is not the conclusion," said Jackson Police Chief RaShall Brackney on Friday. "This case remains active."
Fortune’s death has worried locals in Jackson, a majority-black city in a state with a history of racial violence and lynching.
During Friday’s news conference, Brackney confirmed Fortune’s cause of death as homicide and stated a suspected killer would be charged with murder.
They also announced they had arrested one man and "additional arrests will be pending as our investigators continue to follow the evidence".
Community Response
Fortune’s mother, Christy Spivey, told the BBC she felt a "sigh of relief…like a little bit of peace" upon learning of the arrest.
"I just hope that they’ve got the right person," she added.
The arrest followed weeks of silence and inaction from local officials, according to Spivey and Jackson residents. Combined with the nature of Fortune’s death and Mississippi’s history of racial lynchings, this had left the community shocked and fearful.
Spivey expressed her frustration with the lack of communication from police, stating she had tried reaching out multiple times without success.
Brackney addressed this on Friday, assuring Spivey and other family members that police had been in constant contact with them throughout the case.
A letter Spivey wrote to officials about the limited communication was read during a public city meeting on Tuesday, the same day Jackson police announced the possible homicide.
"I’m kind of like in awe," Spivey said upon learning of the arrest. "Like, I can’t believe it. That was quick."
This week, more than 50 members of Congress called for an independent investigation into suspicious deaths of black Americans, citing a pattern of "possible modern-day lynchings" including at least 10 reported hangings of black people in the US so far this year.
