Third arrest in death of Tasia Fortune; police say hanging was staged

A Mississippi judge set a $5 million bond Monday for Eric Clark, 45, the third person charged in the death of Tasia Fortune, a 29-year-old Black woman whose body was discovered hanging from a tree behind an abandoned home in Jackson on August 3. Clark turned himself in Friday after a warrant was issued for his arrest. According to Jackson Police Detective Samuel Dukes, Fortune was killed in a drug-related dispute before her body was placed at the scene. The medical examiner determined the hanging was "staged," meaning Fortune was dead before being positioned in the tree—between two to three days before discovery.

The case initially sparked widespread fear in Mississippi's majority-Black capital because the image recalled historical lynchings in a state with a documented history of racial violence. Some officials had called for a federal civil rights investigation before police disclosed the staged nature of the scene. Judge Jeffery Reynolds acknowledged the severity of the case, calling it "heinous" and noting that "people justifiably didn't know if we had a killer on the loose who might hang people for racial reasons." Jackson Police Chief RaShall Brackney stated that "props" were left at the scene "as part of the staging" and indicated more arrests were possible.

Two other men, Jarques Ratliff, 51, and Earnest Lloyd Jr., 25, were previously arrested and charged with murder. All three defendants and Fortune are Black. Detective Dukes testified that Fortune "fought hard" with her attackers before being killed. Police have disclosed few details about how the suspects are connected to Fortune's death or the exact cause of her death. Investigators interviewed as many as 15 people during their investigation. Local reporting indicates Lloyd was accused of using a cable cord to hang Fortune's body, and that an alleged physical altercation between Lloyd and Fortune occurred shortly before her death.

Fortune's mother, Christy Spivey, told reporters that Clark approached her at the courthouse and said he was turning himself in for murder, though he did not admit to involvement in her daughter's death. Spivey has expressed confusion about the case's developments. While she initially found some relief learning her daughter died before being hanged, the revelation of the staged scene and lack of disclosed details about the cause and motive have left her with more questions. She acknowledged her daughter struggled with addiction and homelessness but rejected allegations that Fortune stole drugs. Fortune's four sons, ranging in age from one to seven, are now living with family members and friends, with two in the process of being adopted.

Brackney noted that the case's initial appearance—a Black woman hanging from a tree—had reinforced fears rooted in the nation's history of racial terror and lynching, particularly acute in the South. She indicated this imagery had caused additional harm to communities already dealing with trauma related to that history.