ARREST MADE (And More Expected) In Hanging Death Of Black Woman In Mississippi

00:00:11
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks. It is Sunday, September 13th, and a woman found hanging from a tree in Mississippi. Her family knew there was no way she killed herself. And now authorities finally are agreeing with the family. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ Robes. This is a major development, a major story that had major implications nationally. But an arrest has finally been made. Robes, I say finally. They finally even said that this woman died by a homicide. So it took a while to get to that.

00:00:46
Speaker 2: It took them nearly a month. Actually, it took them a month to come to that conclusion. And you know what?

00:00:51
Speaker 3: I'm curious how you feel about it because when I finally saw the headlines that an arrest had been made in the hanging death of 29-year-old Tasia Fortune, I actually felt my shoulders relax. Obviously, it's horrific and awful, but to think that another woman hanging of a black person in Mississippi was going to be ruled a suicide was so deeply alarming. It actually just felt like relief that it was investigated to the point where, yes, they were determining that it was a homicide and that they found at least one person responsible.

00:01:25
Speaker 1: And you know what? I saw others reporting and they thought it was worth noting and they put it in there. The person they arrested is a black man.

00:01:31
Speaker 3: Yep.

00:01:32
Speaker 1: They arrested a black guy for the death of a black woman who was hanging from a tree in Mississippi. Try to make sense of all of that. But it was last month, Tasia Fortune, robes and her picture was everywhere. 29-year-old young lady, mother of four in robes. This is Mississippi. You've got to remember, right? So a woman, 29-year-old woman, woman of faith, mother of four, hanging from a tree, decided to kill herself. And we know what the story was initially and how people were taking this initially. Even Bernice Keene got involved initially. Initially people just making comments. Hey, we need to wait, but come on, Mississippi. What are we doing? Yes.

00:02:10
Speaker 3: And she was found hanging from a tree in one of the most horrific scenes. It looked like something out of a horror movie. It was an abandoned building and this tree in the backyard. It was, it was truly like, you couldn't believe this actually took place in real life. It was that disturbing of just a setting and clearly, obviously the, the way she was found, but we still don't know how she died.

00:02:36
Speaker 1: No, Robes, and it's an odd way for someone to kill themselves, right? A public display like that. And for a black person to choose to do that in Mississippi, it just didn't make a whole lot of sense.

00:02:52
Speaker 2: It doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

00:02:54
Speaker 1: And it also, baby, doesn't make sense for the person they say killed her to also do this to her.

00:03:03
Speaker 2: A black man.

00:03:04
Speaker 1: What was the point of this display? Don't you want to hide the crime? Or is he trying to push people away from him by suggesting, oh, people will think this is some racist stuff. They'll never look at me.

00:03:17
Speaker 3: I had the same thought because any other time you see someone murder someone else, they hide the body.

00:03:24
Speaker 2: They try to keep the body out of public view.

00:03:26
Speaker 3: They don't want authorities to find the body because the longer it takes for someone to find someone who's missing... the better chance you have of getting away with it because forensic evidence deteriorates. So to choose, and for a black man to choose to display the person he just killed, a black woman from a tree in Mississippi, is beyond puzzling.

00:03:48
Speaker 1: So we're puzzled there, but Robes, it didn't help. Because as we sit here, Robes, on this Sunday, September the 13th, she was found August 3rd, so a full month ago. And in that time, Robes, until recent days, police didn't say a whole lot, including whether or not they thought she died by suicide or homicide.

00:04:09
Speaker 2: Right? So what changed?

00:04:11
Speaker 3: It was late last week that the medical examiner finally acknowledged publicly that they had ruled Tayshia's death a homicide. And it was then that they were able to, I guess, get some... arrest warrants or some sort of search warrants. It allowed the investigation to proceed to that led to an arrest. But why wait so long? And because they wouldn't release the manner of death, just that it was a homicide. There's just there are so many questions that police are going to have to answer at some point and sooner rather than later.

00:04:45
Speaker 1: I would love to hear Robes. It happened immediately. Emmy said she was a homicide on Thursday. They had an arrest on Friday. Like it almost seemed I'm sorry, easy to solve the crime. After they said she died by homicide, was there no, like what was so evidentiary in that autopsy that led them within 24 hours to this guy? What was that? I'm very curious. They have not said how she died. They have not given us a motive. And Rob, they're even telling us, they're even vague about the relationship.

00:05:19
Speaker 3: Yeah, so his name is 51-year-old Jacques Ratliff, and he looks like he's lived a hard life based on the mugshots that have been released, but the only connection that we have been told officially by police is that he's been is that he had an association with her, and that's it. And we've heard, and we'll get into it, but from some of the family members, her mom has been very outspoken throughout all of this, but no one knows who this man is.

00:05:48
Speaker 2: It's not someone familiar to the family. It's not someone familiar to friends.

00:05:52
Speaker 3: So this isn't anyone that at least those who knew her and loved her were aware of. And early on, we did a story on this, obviously, when this happened, as shocking as it was, There was some suggestion that a former father of one of her children who lived on the street might be involved.

00:06:10
Speaker 2: So initially when you got this name, you're thinking, is that him? Is that him? And no, it's not.

00:06:16
Speaker 1: That was the other puzzling part of the story. I actually forgot about the other guy. He was arrested, but not for this.

00:06:23
Speaker 3: Correct.

00:06:23
Speaker 2: They actually arrested him, I believe, the next day on another charge. Yes. And we're holding him.

00:06:28
Speaker 3: And look, we've seen police use this tactic before. They can't necessarily pin murder charges or bigger charges on someone they suspect might be involved in a homicide.

00:06:38
Speaker 2: So they lock him up for life.

00:06:40
Speaker 3: A smaller charge that they know that they can get him behind bars for. So it really did seem like he might be a potential suspect, and turns out we've got a completely different man who no one was talking about and who no one in her life apparently was aware of.

00:06:57
Speaker 1: I'm not used to that word, Robes. Police do this often when it comes to murder investigations. Somebody's being arrested. This is a friend, an acquaintance of something. have an association. I'm not that familiar what that could possibly mean, but robes at least, I guess, for a lot of folks, family included, and maybe a lot of people in Mississippi. It's crazy, and I know this, just say it, and you'll hopefully understand what I'm saying, a relief that it wasn't what we thought it might be. And I hate that we wish the woman was not dead no matter what, but there were certain implications to what this represented if, in fact, this was I don't know, had some racial connection to it, but they're telling us at this point, no. No motive. Don't know who this guy is, why she might have been killed, why he would have hung her up in a tree. But Robesley said, wait a minute, do I have it right?

00:07:53
Speaker 3: No.

00:07:54
Speaker 1: They came out and said the homicide, the M.E., on Thursday.

00:07:57
Speaker 3: Yes.

00:07:58
Speaker 1: Did they? No, they arrested him on Friday. I got it wrong. But yes, on Friday, they went to the house to serve search warrants. He's not there. And then they just get lucky.

00:08:07
Speaker 2: They find him walking on the street.

00:08:09
Speaker 1: They're driving back to the police station.

00:08:12
Speaker 2: And they just see him on the street. They arrest him on the spot. And here's what.

00:08:15
Speaker 3: Police said officially about the arrest. The arrest today is an important development in this investigation, but it is not the conclusion. This case remains active and additional arrests will be pending in as our investigation continues to follow the evidence.

00:08:33
Speaker 2: Wherever it leads.

00:08:34
Speaker 3: So that was a big headline to say that they expect more people to be arrested. And look, the police chief also acknowledged this. We understand the questions and the desire for answers given Mississippi's history. He also acknowledged this particular story has garnered international headlines at this point because of the way she was found.

00:08:59
Speaker 1: I think that's okay, and I think they should, Robes. A nod to just acknowledge. I know, y'all, this is Mississippi. I get it, and I understand why you all are scrutinizing. I think that's fair, and to have that acknowledgement, I thought, was... Important, and I think it's one we don't see enough of, just to acknowledge what the community might be feeling or thinking. We get it, y'all. This is Mississippi. Oh, yes, we've done this story before. In the history, folks who have kept up with, historically in this country, the number of lynchings, Mississippi leads the way.

00:09:34
Speaker 3: Yes.

00:09:35
Speaker 2: By leaps and bounds.

00:09:36
Speaker 1: Actually, yes.

00:09:37
Speaker 2: And so the point being, yes, I agree with you.

00:09:39
Speaker 3: When I saw that the police chief included that in the statement, about the arrest and that more arrests were coming, I just, it goes, I wish every public official would just see this and remember, it's important. It's important to acknowledge what we're all thinking. It's important to acknowledge what the concerns are. To sweep them under the rug or to pretend like they don't exist further pisses people off. And I do think you do so much good by actually just being transparent and honest and Be willing to state the obvious.

00:10:17
Speaker 1: Acknowledge people's feelings.

00:10:18
Speaker 3: Yes.

00:10:18
Speaker 1: Use that word all the time. Just validation.

00:10:20
Speaker 2: Validation is so important.

00:10:23
Speaker 3: And even to hear some of the reactions from her family to find out that arrest was made, it was.

00:10:32
Speaker 2: More than relief.

00:10:33
Speaker 3: It was just like, oh, thank God. Because I think they were all holding their breathes. will we ever know what happened to our daughter? Will we ever know what really happened? And they said from the very beginning, repeatedly to everyone who would listen, this young woman would never have taken her own life, ever.

00:10:57
Speaker 1: As we're talking about the history of Mississippi and whatnot, it doesn't matter necessarily to the family. There is no relief. They don't feel any relief knowing it wasn't someone racist incident. They don't at all. Their pain is the same, but there is this other dynamic, and it was very much a part of the story, and Robes has been a part of the story because we have had recent cases, including the kid, the Delta State kid, his name, Trey Reed. That was just in September of last year. Delta State University, he was found hanging from a tree on campus. They did officially rule this one a suicide.

00:11:33
Speaker 2: Which still just doesn't seem possible.

00:11:38
Speaker 1: Again, from everything that everybody describes about this kid, it doesn't seem possible that he would do this. Outgoing football player, all this stuff, Rope, that didn't make sense. But then they have had a couple more in recent years. Same thing, Robes. Somebody found hanging from a tree that's ruled a suicide. I just, that's tough to, it's hard to understand why a black person in the South would want to kill themselves by hanging themselves from a tree for everybody to see.

00:12:06
Speaker 2: That makes zero sense.

00:12:07
Speaker 3: And so to have another case like this happen and to think that they were possibly going to rule it a suicide as well. Look, it was concerning that it took them a month to rule it a homicide. I know we've seen this in other cases. But I really don't understand. If the medical examiner was capable of ruling it a homicide a month later, why did it take a month?

00:12:25
Speaker 2: I never understand the delay. Why wouldn't you?

00:12:28
Speaker 3: Because that would have gone a long way in easing some of these fears, like, oh, no, here we go again. If they had immediately ruled it a homicide, at least that would have made people feel like, okay, thank God police are taking this seriously.

00:12:40
Speaker 1: We still don't know how Nolan Wells died.

00:12:42
Speaker 2: We still don't know how Nolan Wells died.

00:12:43
Speaker 1: We're waiting on those autopsy results.

00:12:45
Speaker 2: In the state of Mississippi.

00:12:46
Speaker 1: In the state of Mississippi. once again. But stay here, folks. We do want you to hear a little bit about Tasia Fortune. I'm going to read you something specifically from the obituary, the official obituary that was put out for her, and it is heartbreaking. All right, folks, we continue here on this September 13th. Here on Amy and TJ, arrests being made in the Tasia Fortune case. Rogue, you were just saying you saw some more from her family.

00:13:25
Speaker 3: Yes, her mom has been speaking out and wanting people to remember who her daughter was and just talking about how she had a very tough life, but that she was on the verge of actually turning it around, that she was taken from her parents and at a young age, placed in foster care. Her parents talked about how difficult it was being an interracial couple. Her mom is white, her dad is black, and she said that they faced racism and violence, and it was a difficult upbringing, and so she moved around from group homes, ran away to Mississippi, and she had been living in Jackson for 10 years, but she had struggled with homelessness, And she had dealt with abusive exes. So she had just started or was getting ready to start a cleaning business, getting her life in order, was turning her life around.

00:14:16
Speaker 2: It's just one of those stories.

00:14:17
Speaker 3: She was only 29. She had the responsibility of four young kids. And she was working hard to try and just put her life on the right path. It gives me chills from head to toe because it's so unfair that she was stopped so short at the age of 29.

00:14:32
Speaker 2: And now those poor children are left without their mother.

00:14:36
Speaker 1: You know, you describe her life. It was like there was a tragedy before this one.

00:14:40
Speaker 2: Yes.

00:14:40
Speaker 1: And I don't know. I just, I don't know, man. It's been a rough few days with a lot of stories. And just, I don't know. I just wish we could be kinder. Like, folks struggle. And we see them from a distance sometimes and think they're this or they're that or they're whatever judgment we might have for this woman. Single mom with four kids at 29 years old. Everybody struggles. Everybody's having a hard time.

00:15:05
Speaker 2: And it just.

00:15:05
Speaker 1: They're not bad people. I don't know. We don't see the tragedy sometimes. We see them as statistics. We see them as demographics. She bounced around from group home to group home and struggled with her parents and all this stuff that happens and this is how her life ends?

00:15:22
Speaker 2: Right?

00:15:24
Speaker 3: I mean, it's hard not to cry when you think about it. Yes, her children's ages. Seven, five, four, and one.

00:15:33
Speaker 2: Babe, she had a one-year-old who will never remember his mom. And that is just so awful.

00:15:39
Speaker 1: I got to hear this motive. What was the point of this? What moved you to do this to this woman and then put her out like that? What, why? And you said there's a history they talked about, and we don't know what the association is.

00:15:54
Speaker 3: We don't, and we don't know who the other people who might be arrested, what their connection might be to her as well.

00:16:00
Speaker 2: You mentioned the obit.

00:16:01
Speaker 3: I thought this was beautiful because, again, you talk about, unfortunately, people are symbols of this or they represent that, but they were human beings with hopes and dreams and futures. And when you hear what her obituary said, it really brings it home. Tasia's path was not always easy, and there were highs and lows. She was intelligent and talented. Having skipped her junior year of high school, she was a star cross-country athlete. But no matter what, she never lost faith in God, and she leaves behind a powerful legacy of resilience rooted deeply in.

00:16:33
Speaker 2: Her unwavering faith.

00:16:35
Speaker 3: Even in her darkest hours, she never stopped believing in her Savior.

00:16:40
Speaker 1: Well, you should be applauded. Somebody's gone through all that, and you got four kids you're raising and still chugging on. Yes, that is a legacy of resilience.

00:16:49
Speaker 3: Yeah, and to think she was so smart, she skipped her junior year of high school because she was just that brilliant. And you see the pictures of her, by the way. She's stunning and gorgeous. And to think about when I saw the star cross-country athlete, it was so sad because given a different circumstance, given a different beginning, she could have done so much more with all of the blessings she had, but she had so many strikes against her that weren't her own doing. And you just think about all the lost possibility and that she was still trying to do better and do better for her children. It's just awful to think that this is how it all ended. But my God, I understand when you hear her, her family literally just screaming is what they were described as.

00:17:38
Speaker 2: Thank God.

00:17:38
Speaker 3: Thank God that there at least are going to be some answers and hopefully some justice served.

00:17:44
Speaker 2: But it just all of it came too late for her.

00:17:46
Speaker 1: Some of the answers you speak of, possibly we could get a few more tomorrow. The suspect that has been arrested and is facing a murder charge will, or is expected at least, to be in court tomorrow morning for a first court appearance. We will keep a close eye on that one and keep a close eye on this case because Robes, this is apparently just getting started as far as arrests go, according to authorities. So folks, we just wanted to get this on your radar and get you updated. We always appreciate you spending a little time with us. TJ, on behalf of my dear Amy Robach, we'll talk to y'all soon.