A third man has been arrested in connection with the death of Tasia Fortune, a 29-year-old mother of four whose body was found hanging from a tree in Jackson, Mississippi, in August — with investigators now confirming the scene was deliberately staged after she had already been killed elsewhere.
Eric Clark, 45, surrendered to authorities on Friday and was charged with murder. He joins two previously arrested suspects, Earnest Lloyd Jr, 25, and Jarques Ratliff, both also charged with murder. All three men, like Fortune herself, are Black. Lloyd and Ratliff have pleaded not guilty and have each been denied bond. Clark was scheduled to make a court appearance on Monday. The Jackson Police Department (JPD) said its investigation is ongoing and that authorities believe additional individuals may be involved.
Fortune's body was discovered on 3 August hanging from a tree behind a vacant home on the 500 block of Road of Remembrance in western Jackson, Mississippi's capital city. Investigators have since determined she had been dead for two to three days before her body was found and that she was killed at a different location before being placed in the tree. A JPD detective told a court that the killing may have stemmed from a drug-related dispute, with allegations that Fortune stole drugs. Police have said a black cable cord was used to hang her body. Detectives have interviewed as many as 15 people in the course of the investigation.
The case drew national attention in part because of Mississippi's deep and well-documented history of racial violence and lynchings, and the discovery initially prompted widespread fear in Jackson, a majority-Black city. Lawmakers called for federal probes into the death. The confirmation that the scene was staged — rather than representing a racially motivated lynching — has shifted but not resolved those concerns, leaving the community and Fortune's family with significant unanswered questions.
Fortune's mother, Christy Spivey, told the BBC she feels greater confusion than relief.