Black woman found hanging from tree was dead before body was ‘staged’, police say

Police in the US state of Mississippi have said they believe a black woman was already dead before her body was "staged" by being placed hanging in a tree.

The disclosure was made in court by a detective on Friday, who also said they believed Tasia Fortune, a mother of four, had been killed in a dispute related to drugs.

The 29-year-old's body was found hanging from a tree at an abandoned home in Jackson in August.

The discovery sparked widespread fears in the majority-black city, due to the state's deep history of racial violence and lynchings. After weeks of speculation and demands for information, police made multiple arrests.

Police said that the medical examiner had determined that Fortune's death was a homicide and that "the scene and the hanging were staged".

Officials have not stated the exact cause of death or shared why they believe the hanging may have been staged.

Fortune's mother told the BBC that she remembered the coroner telling her: "We're not treating this as [an] actual hanging." Her daughter, they told her, was dead before being placed in the tree.

Christy Spivey also recalled police telling her the incident was "drug related".

She described how she knew her daughter fought for her life till the very end while speaking to reporters outside the Jackson Police Department on Friday.

"I know she did. I know my daughter," Spivey said, adding that Fortune had left behind four young children, aged seven, five, four and one.

Dressed in a shirt that read "Justice for Tasia Fortune", Spivey stressed that she did not want to see any innocent people going to jail.

"I just hope they have the right people," she said.

Three people have so far been arrested in relation to the case,all of whom are black, including Jarques Ratliff, 51, who has pleaded not guilty. He remains in custody without bail.

A second person, Earnest Lloyd Jr, 25, was arrested in relation to the case this week.

A third, 45-year-old Eric Clark, turned himself in to authorities on Friday and was charged with murder. He is scheduled to appear in court on Monday.

The 29-year-old's death is one of several cases in recent years that has prompted lawmakers to call on the justice department and the FBI to investigate all hanging deaths of black people in the country.

Representative Ayanna Pressley, a Democrat from Massachusetts, cited at least 10 documented incidents in her September letter to Congress, which contained over 50 signatures from US lawmakers.

The most recent incident happened in Prince George's County, a majority-black suburb near Washington DC, on Sunday. It has since been ruled a suicide.

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