Tasia Fortune's hanging was 'staged' in 'drug case gone very wrong': Police chief
Three men have been arrested and charged with murder in Fortune’s death.
The Jackson, Mississippi, police chief told reporters on Monday that the hanging of Tasia Fortune, whose body was found on Aug. 3, was a "staged event" in a "a drug case gone very wrong."
Police Chief RaShall Brackney also said that authorities are still investigating and expect "more arrests to be pending," as well as "charges of conspiracy" to be filed against the three suspects who were already charged in her murder.
"This is apparently from what we can see, a drug case gone very wrong, in the ultimate death of Tasia Fortune," Brackney said.
"So at this time, we do know the manner of death was homicide. We also are confirming that this was a staged event, and often we know that these events are staged so that we can derail the investigation, pointing in another direction," she added.
Brackney's comments came after a third suspect was arrested on murder charges on Friday in the death of Fortune, a 29-year-old Black mother of four whose body was found hanging from a tree behind an apparently vacant Jackson home.
Jarques Ratliff, 51, Earnest Lloyd Jr., 25 and Eric Clark, 45, were each arrested and charged with murder. Ratliff pleaded not guilty during a hearing on Sept. 14. It is unclear if Lloyd and Clark have entered pleas or if they have retained attorneys in this case. Ratliff's attorney Toney Baldwin confirmed his client's not guilty plea to ABC News, but did not comment on the charges.
Brackney said that police are still "actively investigating this case" and they expect additional arrests, as well as conspiracy charges against the suspects who are currently in custody.
"Eventually, charges of conspiracy will have to be filed in this case as it continues to develop," she said.
She also confirmed that "there was a known association" between Fortune and the suspects charged in this case.
Clark appeared in court on Monday morning, where Municipal Court Judge Jeff Reynolds set his bond at $5 million, according to ABC affiliate in Jackson, WAPT. Meanwhile, bond was denied for both Ratliff and Lloyd, WAPT reported.
Clark, Ratliff and Lloyd went to pick Fortune up from a home on Capitol Street in early August, a Jackson Police detective testified during the hearing on Monday, WAPT reported.
The detective said that, according to a witness account, the three suspects left with Fortune for a period of time before returning to the home on Capitol Street without her. Fortune's body was found hanging from a tree behind a vacant home on Road of Remembrance days later.
Following Ratliff's arrest, Fortune's family told ABC News in a statement that they are "grateful" for the arrest, and called for "patience" from the public as the investigation takes its course.
"We would like to thank everyone for their prayers and support and are grateful for the silence to be broken but we also want to say that we wish for people to have patience and wait for the rest of the facts to come out before jumping to conclusions," Fortune's family said in a statement Monday following Ratliffe's arrest. "We are hoping soon we will have more answers."
Christy Spivey, Fortune's mother, told ABC News in an interview on Aug. 8 that her daughter's death has "devastated" the family.
"This has just devastated us," she said. "Tasia was strong-minded, she was full of laughs and love, she had faith in God ... she had so little and gave so much."
