Mississippi police make arrest in Tasia Fortune case after medical examiner rules death a homicide
By Dalia Faheid, CNN
(CNN) — Police in Jackson, Mississippi, have arrested a man in the case of Tasia Fortune, the 29-year-old Black woman found hanging from a tree outside an abandoned house last month, following the state medical examiner ruling her death a homicide.
“Last night, the medical examiner’s office officially classified Miss Fortune’s death as a homicide. With that determination, our investigators moved quickly,” Chief RaShall Brackney said at a Friday news conference.
Police secured two search warrants and an arrest warrant for the man, according to Brackney. After being unable to locate the man at the search warrant location, officers returning to police headquarters arrested the suspect as he was walking along a city street, she said. More arrest warrants could be served in connection with the case, the chief said.
“That arrest today is an important development in this investigation but it is not the conclusion,” Brackney said.
The suspect had “an association” with Fortune, Brackney said, declining to provide further details.
“We cannot speculate about the nature or the manner in which Miss Fortune was killed beyond what has been officially determined by the medical examiner,” Brackney said. “We owe it to Miss Fortune, to her family and the integrity of this investigation to let the evidence guide us.”
The chief said Fortune was found in a “hanging position” with “various states of decomposition of her body” on August 3.
Fortune’s death shook her family and community in Mississippi, where two other people have been found hanging from trees in less than a year.
The investigation into Fortune’s death comes less than a year after the hanging deaths of 21-year-old Trey Reed, a Black student at Delta State University in Cleveland, and Cory Zukatis, an unhoused white man in his 30s, in Vicksburg, according to The Associated Press. Both deaths were determined by authorities to be suicides.
Jackson police interviewed nearly 15 people, collected forensic evidence and followed leads in the case. Brackney said the investigation into Fortune’s death remains active.
“This is not closure. This is just one step as we continue to investigate this case,” Brackney said.
This story has been updated with additional information.
CNN’s Leah Thomeer contributed to this report.
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