Judge sets $5m bond for third suspect in killing of Black woman hung from tree in Mississippi
Police said Tasia Fortune, 29, was killed before her body was placed in the tree, and the scene was ‘staged’ A Mississippi judge set a $5m bond on Monday for a third man charged in the death of a Black woman whose body was found hanging from a tree in August. Police disclosed on Friday that Tasia Fortune, 29, was killed before her body was placed in a tree behind an abandoned house in Jackson,…
A Mississippi judge has set a $5 million bond for Eric Clark, the third man charged in the death of Black woman Tasia Fortune, whose body was found hanging from a tree in Jackson, Mississippi. Police disclosed on Friday that Fortune was killed before her body was placed in the tree, and the scene was described as "staged". Judge Jeffery Reynolds stated that the act was "heinous" and shocked Jackson.
Fortune, 29, was Black, and the discovery of her hanging body stoked fear due to the scene's resemblance to actual lynchings in the state, known for its history of racial violence. Fortune's mother, Christy Spivey, said that Clark approached her at the courthouse after a hearing for co-defendant Jarques Ratliff and hugged her, saying he was there to turn himself in for murder, though he never admitted to the crime.
RaShall Brackney, Jackson police chief, confirmed that Fortune's death was a result of a dispute over drugs and added that more arrests were likely.
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