Jackson Police Chief RaShall Brackney announced on Friday that Jarques Ratliff, 51, had been taken into custody in relation to the death of Tasia Fortune, a black woman whose body was found in the lot of an abandoned home in Jackson in August. The medical examiner has classified the death as homicide and a murder charge is expected to be filed. Brackney cautioned that the arrest does not conclude the investigation, noting that fifteen people have already been interviewed and additional arrests are possible as evidence is examined.
Fortune's mother, Christy Spivey, told the BBC she felt a "sigh of relief" upon hearing of the arrest but expressed hope that the right person had been identified. She said she had left multiple voicemails for Jackson police over the previous two weeks without response, prompting her to write a letter to city officials that was read aloud at a public meeting just before the homicide announcement.
The case has revived longstanding fears in Jackson, a majority‑black city, about the legacy of racial violence and lynching in Mississippi. Earlier this month a member of the US Congress described the incident as part of a pattern of "possible modern‑day lynchings". More than fifty members of Congress subsequently sent a letter, independent of the FBI and Justice Department, urging an independent investigation into recent deaths of black Americans found hanging from trees across several states.
According to the congressional letter, at least ten such hangings have been reported in the United States this year, and over 70 lynchings of black people have been documented between 2000 and 2025. Lawmakers said the series of deaths raises "significant suspicion of foul play given the role of lynching in our nation's history" and called for heightened scrutiny of the investigations.
Category: International
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