JACKSON, Miss. (AP) 鈥� The hanging death of Tasia Fortune, whose body was found outside an abandoned house, has shaken her family and community , where two other people have been found hanging from trees in less than a year.
Police have not indicated whether they consider the 29-year-old Black woman鈥檚 death suspicious, saying only that they are actively working 鈥渢o determine the circumstances surrounding the death.鈥�
A week after Fortune鈥檚 body was found, a pink and white memorial honoring her life stood as a bright spot Monday in the otherwise overgrown backyard of the abandoned house in Jackson.
Feet from where rainbow pinwheels, white flowers and teddy bears surrounded a photograph of Fortune, empty chip bags and discarded plastic bottles littered the ground. Nearby, an entrance to the home gaped open, a tarp, foam pad and other debris scattered outside.
Jackson police officers responded to the home on Aug. 3 and discovered a body hanging in the backyard. Hinds County chief medical examiner investigator Jeremiah Howard later confirmed the identity as Fortune.
Her body is now in the custody of the Mississippi State Medical Examiner鈥檚 Office, where an autopsy will be conducted to determine the cause and manner of death.
Here’s what we know so far about Fortune’s death:
What was Fortune doing when she was last heard from?
Christy Spivey, Fortune’s mother, told ABC 小萝莉影视 on Sunday that she last saw her daughter on July 26. Fortune, a mother of four who had lived in Mississippi for more than 10 years, had traveled to Kentucky for a family reunion.
She described her daughter as a loving mother who was not behaving out of the ordinary.
鈥淪he did not do this to herself,” Spivey told the outlet. “I know my daughter, and she did not do this to herself.鈥�
On Wednesday, Jackson City Councilman Kenneth Stokes wrote a letter to Mississippi U.S. Attorney Baxter Kruger asking for assistance in the case. In the letter, Stokes referred to Fortune as a murder victim.
Do authorities have any suspects?
Jackson police have commented very little on Fortune’s death. They have not identified any suspects or person of interest.
Local media report that a man interviewed by investigators said he had argued with Fortune but had no involvement in her death. Police have not disclosed how the man, who was arrested last week on an unrelated charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm, is acquainted with Fortune.
Where were the other hangings in Mississippi?
Fortune’s death comes less than a year after the hanging deaths of 21-year-old , a Black student at Delta State University in Cleveland, and Cory Zukatis, an unhoused white man in his 30s, in Vicksburg.
Police in Cleveland concluded Reed’s death was a suicide. were consistent with a preliminary examination of the body by the Bolivar County coroner, which found no evidence of foul play.
Reed’s family and their attorneys called for an independent autopsy and for authorities to share security camera recordings.
The Mississippi State Medical Examiner determined Zukatis died by suicide.
Why are the Mississippi cases attracting interest?
How law enforcement agencies in Mississippi, a state with a , handle death investigations of Black residents has drawn extreme interest in recent weeks with the case of .
The 18-year-old joined friends on a Fourth of July boat excursion to an island off Mississippi鈥檚 Gulf Coast but did not return with them. His body was found two days later.
Wells鈥� parents say how their son died remains a mystery and there have been conflicting stories and missing details.
Spivey, Fortune鈥檚 mother, told ABC 小萝莉影视 she 鈥渄oes not want her name associated with鈥� the death possibly being racially motivated.
Bernice King, daughter of the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., cautioned people to 鈥渘ot rush to conclusions.鈥� At the same time, Fortune’s death is triggering.
鈥淲e also cannot dismiss the fear and painful history these circumstances evoke for Black communities, especially in Mississippi,” she said in a statement. 鈥淭hat history makes transparency, thoroughness, and truth essential.” ___
This story has corrected the spelling of Bernice King’s first name.
___ Tang reported from Sunnyvale, California.
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