Aug. 10, 2026
Death Investigation Underway After Black Woman Found Hanging From Tree In Mississippi
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RSS Feed It’s been exactly one week since 29-year-old mom of 4, Tasia Fortune, was found hanging from a tree in the back of an abandoned home in Jackson, Mississippi. The medical examiner’s office is conducting an autopsy, but as of this recording, police have not said whether they suspect foul play or suicide. Of note, a Jackson City Council member has asked the U.S. Attorney’s office for help investigating, as Fortune’s family is demanding answers and justice. Over the past decade in Mississippi, there have been 3 other tree hanging deaths of black men, all of them ruled suicides over the objections of their families.
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00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey, the folks, it is Monday, August tenth, two thousand, twenty six, and in twoenty twenty six. This is a current headline. Black woman found hanging from a tree in a backyard in Mississippi. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. That is a real headline that is happening right now. An investigation is underway to find out what happened, and a lot of folks aren't really waiting around for an answer, but an investigation is underway.
00:00:37
Speaker 2: Look, her family is desperate for an answer. And this is just another black life that has mysteriously been taken away under troubling circumstances where a community is asking for answers. And of course I'm referring to Nolan Wells, and obviously that case we've been covering for some time now. But yes, you have another. It's different, and yet some of the same feelings, the same frustrations are arising in the death surrounding this twenty nine year old woman, Tasia Fortune.
00:01:14
Speaker 1: This isn't or it shouldn't be complicated stuff, right given the history, this is Mississippi, this is twenty twenty six. We're talking about a black woman hanging from a tree. Die hanging from a tree in I say, a backyard. This is an abandoned it's an a bandon yard.
00:01:29
Speaker 2: I just if you all want to look this up. Tasia Fortune Jackson, Mississippi. They have the picture of the home that she was found behind. It is right out of a horror movie. It's a dilapidated, uninhabited home and it's just eerie and creepy without even knowing what was found in the backyard.
00:01:51
Speaker 1: Okay, this is it's just automatic. This is history that's within our parents' lifetimes in Mississippi. There is only one thing this is going to conjure up a memory of. You have to be a certain age, like what age our kids roes. What's the cutoff to where when you hear hanging in Mississippi, you don't automatically think back to that time.
00:02:14
Speaker 3: I don't know, but I think it's our kids generation.
00:02:17
Speaker 2: Maybe I don't know, it's certainly anyone who is our age or who is jen X.
00:02:24
Speaker 3: I think we are maybe the last generation to really know what that means.
00:02:30
Speaker 2: Certainly our parents and anyone who came before them, it would be obvious.
00:02:35
Speaker 1: It's just automatic. We get it and Robes, this type of imagery of all things. Look, the Nolan Wells story, we've been covering, just the fact that it's in Mississippi and knowing that history and whatnot, people will were still worked up about. But Robes, you put the imagery of a hanging in twenty twenty six, a tree of a black woman in Mississippi. Yes, that's going to make headlines. We don't have the answers here, but Robes, this is a young woman and a young woman who's a mother of four kids.
00:03:01
Speaker 2: Four kids, and she has siblings. She has her sister, her mom, her dad. Everyone is speaking out, talking to reporters, trying to get the attention that this story deserves. We know.
00:03:12
Speaker 3: Here's what we do know.
00:03:14
Speaker 2: Jackson Police Department is investigating her debt. They have confirmed that, we know that an autopsy is underway at the Mississippi State Medical Examiner's office right now. They have not given us any comment on the status of the investigation, if there are any persons of interest, if they suspect foul play, if they suspect suicide. But there was an interesting arrest around the time, within I think a day after they found her body. One of her exes was arrested on an unrelated charge. But he does happen to live on the same street where her body was found.
00:03:54
Speaker 1: That's a detailed Police aren't putting that together necessarily, and they are not calling him a suspect. I'm not saying they have a suspect at all. We should not absolutely say that. However, Look it's worth noting, and they noted it. And this guy is in jail right now on.
00:04:10
Speaker 3: The streated charges.
00:04:11
Speaker 2: Now, he reportedly admitted to having an argument with her, but he absolutely denies any involvement in her debt.
00:04:19
Speaker 3: So we just want to say that right now.
00:04:22
Speaker 2: But look, there is someone behind bars, but police have not said at all whether or not he's even a person of interest.
00:04:29
Speaker 3: So just to get that out of the.
00:04:31
Speaker 1: Way, and so we automatically robes have the thought, if you're saying that somebody's hanging from the tree, why is this not immediately automatically a homicide investigation. I know they have work they have to do. Is it possible she did this to herself? I suppose it is, but according to her family, there's no way she would have done this. Also, I haven't seen what is her connection other than him who's in this area? What's her? Why would she be there?
00:04:57
Speaker 2: She well, I know that her, A lot of her family's in Kentucky. I believe she lives there. And her family, who was speaking out, says they just saw her the week before.
00:05:09
Speaker 1: Her parents no live there, but time with the actual abandoned home. Oh that there's no connection.
00:05:14
Speaker 2: Oh, I was like, she lives in Mississippi. I know that her, A lot of her family is in Kentucky. And they all reported just having seen her, so they just were around her. They talked about a strong, independent woman who loved her kids, who loved her family, who gave zero indication that she was suicidal or who had any negative thoughts. In fact, her mom said this, she was better than I had seen her in a long time. She was at peace. She did not do this to herself. I know my daughter, and she did not do this to herself.
00:05:45
Speaker 1: They did that line. But I'm listening too closely or jumping to something, not a conclusion. But the mom suggested better than I've seen her in a long time. As if there had been a struggle.
00:05:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean maybe with four kids at twenty nine trying to keep a roof over their heads. There was absolute there was discussion, just that she has struggled financially, she has struggled trying to keep her kids all in one place, safe, healthy, fed, all of those things that a lot of single moms struggled with.
00:06:13
Speaker 3: So that was the implication.
00:06:14
Speaker 2: It didn't I never saw anything with mental health implication, just that yes, she was going through it, but that she was in a really good place. And her dad said she was a good mom, She loved her kids, she loved her family, and I would encourage anybody to listen to this interview. They were heartfelt talking about their daughter, and her sister also outspoken talking about just what an awesome person her sister was.
00:06:36
Speaker 1: I'm not just I don't get it. I guess it's possible. At robes, what in God's name and if you choose the confusing part to me, robes, if you did, if you're in Mississippi, you decide you want to take your own life. What black person decides that a tree in the backyard of all I mean, that's an odd choice.
00:06:56
Speaker 2: It's an awful thing to even imagine. But I also wondering, Okay, let's say she was the victim of a homicide, making that choice is also a statement. I mean, you know what you're doing. If you choose to kill a black person that way or display their body that way, you know what that implies.
00:07:19
Speaker 1: Does that make sense to do that, to draw attention to your crime in that way? It's one thing you killed somebody that they're going to get a police presence, You're going to get a national presence if you do this that none of it makes sense. Why is she hanging from a tree?
00:07:32
Speaker 2: And to that point, one of the council members, Jackson City Council members was so alarmed at just this crime and the investigation he actually sent a letter to the US Attorney's Office asking for help investigating the case. I'm going to read to you what this city council member said. We are in dire need of assistance of the US Attorney's Office with the death of an unidentified female discovered hanging in the backyard of an abandoned house on the Road of Remembrance in Jackson, Mississippi. This was almost immediately obviously, since then she has been identified as twenty nine year old Tajia Fortune, but immediately they were already saying help, we need federal help. We need folks who can come in from outside of Mississippi and investigate this, very much like you saw Nolan Wells family asking for outside assistance, because there is a massive level of distrust between the black community and mississipp law enforcement.
00:08:30
Speaker 1: Oh this is not just a regular crime, this or Nolan Wells for that matter, This appears to be Again, we don't know, but I'm saying, folks don't. I don't know of a lot of suicides robes that people decide to go out and hang themselves in my tree. I know at all, to publicly do that to yourself. We just that's rare. I'm sure there are instances robes, but that is just bizarre. So why there's only one way. Our head goes one direction, our head goes robes. And this is Mississippi. But we thought the same robe Nolan Wells. When you have a black kid surrounded by nothing but white kids who could possibly be responsible, you don't want to put that responsibility for the investigation in the hands of Mississippi police officials. No indictment on them, It's just a history there and here we go once again, robes. This is as terrifying as it gets. It really is is these were acts of terror meant to scare the hell out of you, and it does robes. It's scary present day. This is scary to drive through Mississippi history of sundown towns, places I grew up being told not to drive at certain times a nightpes And we don't know what this is, but.
00:09:47
Speaker 2: It needs to be thoroughly investigated. Well, ma'am, I wanted to include. Martin Luther King's daughter Bernice put out a statement based on this investigation, and I thought she did such a good job of it explaining what it is she is asking for from the black community from law enforcement. She put it like this, we should not rush to conclusions, but we also cannot dismiss the fear and painful history these circumstances evoke for black communities, especially in Mississippi. That history makes transparency, thoroughness, and truth essential. I am praying for Tasa's family and loved ones as they grieve. They deserve answers. Tasia deserves dignity and there must be a complete and transparent investigation into what happened to her.
00:10:36
Speaker 1: Again, I just it's it's just not likely. It's possible she did this to herself. I just just enlay and just step. We're old just from the outside. It just doesn't make any sense. So we'll wait, and we'll wait patiently. I say we wait patiently, but the Nolan Wells investigation romes that's been going on since the fourth of July, that we can we don't. That's been a month, we don't have answers there and they've completed the autops. How long will we wait on this one?
00:11:03
Speaker 2: That is an unknown entity? But certainly, given just the recent events there with Nolan Wells, I would imagine just the pressure on authorities to release information has to be growing.
00:11:18
Speaker 1: They didn't fill it enough with the Nolan Wells investigation, apparently not, so I can't imagine it with this one either.
00:11:24
Speaker 3: Look, and here's the deal.
00:11:27
Speaker 2: This story, as awful as it is, it doesn't even take much research to realize that this actually isn't an outlier. A year ago there was a very eerily similar situation. We'll tell you about that, and by the way, it was ruled a suicide. But in the last ten years, there have been three black people who have been found hanging from a tree in Mississippi, and all three of them have been ruled suicides again the feelings of the families.
00:12:03
Speaker 3: The families believe their loved ones were murdered.
00:12:06
Speaker 2: Mississippi has said, nah, it was suicide and welcome back everyone to Amy and TJ. We are talking about just a frightening story. I should maybe say, another frightening story out of Mississippi. Twenty nine year old Tajia Fortune, mom of four, found hanging from a tree in Jackson, Mississippi. A death investigation is now ongoing. We are waiting autopsy results. Her family is adamant that she did not do this to herself, and police have not yet said.
00:12:45
Speaker 3: Whether they suspect foul play or.
00:12:47
Speaker 2: Suicide, and we are waiting for word from Mississippi authorities. But in the meantime, this is a frightening We talk about the history of Mississippi and lynchings and go way, way way back. Only have to go back one year September twenty twenty five.
00:13:03
Speaker 3: Does this story ring a bell?
00:13:05
Speaker 2: Delta State University student twenty one year old DeMar trayvon Reid, he went by Trey found in Cleveland, Mississippi, on campus, hanging from a tree.
00:13:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, was that mill of the day of something that was a really weird one.
00:13:20
Speaker 2: Student football players found him and his death was ruled a suicide by the Mississippi State Medical Examiner, and that was over his family's belief. They absolutely refused to believe that their twenty one year old child would have killed himself by hanging from a tree on campus.
00:13:45
Speaker 1: Man, I don't know what their evidence is that presently. It just doesn't make sense.
00:13:47
Speaker 3: They couldn't find any evidence of foul play.
00:13:52
Speaker 1: That's something they had. I mean, that has to be a long press conference to where they walk the entire community to how they came to that conclusion. You just have to And so I don't know, I don't know if the family doesn't accept it. I don't know if there I mean, there's some part of famil's robes you would never want to accept that you're somebody would do that, But it's hard robes. These are bizarre cases. Why would somebody do this? And all we ended up there's no evidence of anything else. So that's just that doesn't sound good enough to.
00:14:20
Speaker 2: And of course no family wants to believe that their child died by suicide. I understand that completely, But you add to that, this is a black person who died by hanging himself off a tree branch. That makes it seem exceptionally difficult to accept.
00:14:39
Speaker 1: Man, and just these black folks are aware just to think, I'm gonna they know what that's going to mean to the community if they get found hanging.
00:14:48
Speaker 3: But they do that to their parents in the community.
00:14:51
Speaker 1: You could argue that ass might thinking about killing themselves. Wouldn't be considering that that is.
00:14:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, they would, robes, Yeah they would in Mississippi.
00:14:59
Speaker 3: You're black.
00:15:00
Speaker 2: You know what that means, you know? Okay, So that's September of twenty twenty five. That was less than a year ago as of this recording. You can go back to February of twenty eighteen, another twenty one year old Willie Andrew Jones Junior, And this one really shook me. He was found hanging from a tree in the yard of his white girlfriend's home. It took place after an argument with her. This was in Scott County, Mississippi, and the sheriff's department said it was a suicide. His family flat out came out and said they believe their son was lynched.
00:15:37
Speaker 1: So is that right?
00:15:38
Speaker 2: White girlfriend tree in her yard found hanging.
00:15:45
Speaker 1: I again, those are headlines and I'm trying to give space they did wherever they were supposed to do appropriately. That just doesn't make sense.
00:15:53
Speaker 2: And then just there was that one that was twenty eighteen, and then go back three years before that, March twenty fifteen, fifty four year old Otis burd found hanging from a tree, this one in Port Gibson, Mississippi, and the FBI got involved with that one, and their direct quote about how they came to their conclusion about the fact that they ruled it a suicide, and again, this is a lot of what we hear. There was no evidence to prove that Bird's death was a homicide. So basically, without evidence showing foul play, without evidence showing a homicide, the default is suicide.
00:16:30
Speaker 1: Nobody's going to ever accept that a families.
00:16:32
Speaker 2: None of these families have accepted the suicide conclusion, not one of them.
00:16:39
Speaker 3: So I just thought that was for me.
00:16:42
Speaker 2: I was shocked that in the last decade there have been if you add Tasia to this, four black people who chose to die by hanging off a tree. That that seems like a difficult thing.
00:17:01
Speaker 1: To accept, and they happen to do it in Mississippi. They happen to do it in Mississippi, the capital of lynching in this country. That is not an overstatement I am making there. They have numbers. The most documented lynchings in the United States happened in Mississippi. I I don't know, Robes these are. I'd always try to leave space, but we The alternative is very difficult, right suicide, brush it away, move on one of these every year, every couple of years, every every few le few years. Don't have to worry about it, right and maybe in their mindset, but Robes, the alternative is to accept that we are still lynching black people in this country, still doing it in Misnisi, Mississippi, and somebody is still getting away with it. We have got to face the possibility. That's what we're looking at, and that is a very scary pill to swallow. I would, as crazy as it sounds, Robes, I would be relieved if they could prove this was suicide.
00:18:11
Speaker 3: I totally get that a relief. I totally get that.
00:18:15
Speaker 1: But to think, Robes that somebody's out there doing this, somebody else out there is possibly seeing this, thinking oh I can get away with it too. Again, it's just that is an option and a possibility, and without I guess robes, good explanations and answers, that option is still hanging out there.
00:18:36
Speaker 3: It's just it.
00:18:38
Speaker 2: Look, that is why with this latest death investigation, and I think, yes, on the heels of what happened in September to that young man, and I say, what happened to him? But yes, authorities believe he died by suicide. But just on the heels of Trey Reid, a twenty one year old college student who decides, according to Pull, to hang himself on campus from a tree. And now less than a year later, you have a twenty nine year old black mom with four kids who are relying on her, whose family just saw her last week, also now found hanging from a tree in an abandoned lot.
00:19:20
Speaker 3: It just it.
00:19:21
Speaker 2: Requires so much information and transparency.
00:19:26
Speaker 3: I just think Bernice King put it perfectly.
00:19:29
Speaker 2: Everyone has to understand the history of the state, and everyone needs to understand why these families need answers.
00:19:39
Speaker 1: This feels like we know what the outcome is going to be already.
00:19:42
Speaker 2: I know this sounds awful because I would never hope for someone to have died by violence in any way, shape or form. But there is a part of me that's hopeful that there is, even though they haven't said it, potentially a person of interest in this case. If they can actually connect this to someone and have some one be held accountable for this, I would feel my shoulders relaxed.
00:20:04
Speaker 3: I mean, look, we don't know.
00:20:05
Speaker 2: Obviously, we want the truth to come out, whether it was in fact suicide or a homicide. But it just feels like, yes, don't we need more answers other than we can't prove foul play.
00:20:16
Speaker 3: So we must default to suicide.
00:20:19
Speaker 2: That's the part that just feels wrong, like that's not a good enough answer.
00:20:25
Speaker 3: It just isn't. So we will stay on top of the story.
00:20:29
Speaker 2: We will continue to follow up on this young woman, twenty nine year old Tajia Fortune again remember her name.
00:20:35
Speaker 3: We will keep our eye on this.
00:20:37
Speaker 2: Investigation and bring you any new updates. We will be waiting for that autopsy report, just like we're waiting for Nolan Well's autopsy report, but we're on top of it. We always appreciate you listening to us. Everyone, I Amy Robot alongside DJ Holmes.
00:20:51
Speaker 3: We'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 1: Hey, the folks, it is Monday, August tenth, two thousand, twenty six, and in twoenty twenty six. This is a current headline. Black woman found hanging from a tree in a backyard in Mississippi. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. That is a real headline that is happening right now. An investigation is underway to find out what happened, and a lot of folks aren't really waiting around for an answer, but an investigation is underway.
00:00:37
Speaker 2: Look, her family is desperate for an answer. And this is just another black life that has mysteriously been taken away under troubling circumstances where a community is asking for answers. And of course I'm referring to Nolan Wells, and obviously that case we've been covering for some time now. But yes, you have another. It's different, and yet some of the same feelings, the same frustrations are arising in the death surrounding this twenty nine year old woman, Tasia Fortune.
00:01:14
Speaker 1: This isn't or it shouldn't be complicated stuff, right given the history, this is Mississippi, this is twenty twenty six. We're talking about a black woman hanging from a tree. Die hanging from a tree in I say, a backyard. This is an abandoned it's an a bandon yard.
00:01:29
Speaker 2: I just if you all want to look this up. Tasia Fortune Jackson, Mississippi. They have the picture of the home that she was found behind. It is right out of a horror movie. It's a dilapidated, uninhabited home and it's just eerie and creepy without even knowing what was found in the backyard.
00:01:51
Speaker 1: Okay, this is it's just automatic. This is history that's within our parents' lifetimes in Mississippi. There is only one thing this is going to conjure up a memory of. You have to be a certain age, like what age our kids roes. What's the cutoff to where when you hear hanging in Mississippi, you don't automatically think back to that time.
00:02:14
Speaker 3: I don't know, but I think it's our kids generation.
00:02:17
Speaker 2: Maybe I don't know, it's certainly anyone who is our age or who is jen X.
00:02:24
Speaker 3: I think we are maybe the last generation to really know what that means.
00:02:30
Speaker 2: Certainly our parents and anyone who came before them, it would be obvious.
00:02:35
Speaker 1: It's just automatic. We get it and Robes, this type of imagery of all things. Look, the Nolan Wells story, we've been covering, just the fact that it's in Mississippi and knowing that history and whatnot, people will were still worked up about. But Robes, you put the imagery of a hanging in twenty twenty six, a tree of a black woman in Mississippi. Yes, that's going to make headlines. We don't have the answers here, but Robes, this is a young woman and a young woman who's a mother of four kids.
00:03:01
Speaker 2: Four kids, and she has siblings. She has her sister, her mom, her dad. Everyone is speaking out, talking to reporters, trying to get the attention that this story deserves. We know.
00:03:12
Speaker 3: Here's what we do know.
00:03:14
Speaker 2: Jackson Police Department is investigating her debt. They have confirmed that, we know that an autopsy is underway at the Mississippi State Medical Examiner's office right now. They have not given us any comment on the status of the investigation, if there are any persons of interest, if they suspect foul play, if they suspect suicide. But there was an interesting arrest around the time, within I think a day after they found her body. One of her exes was arrested on an unrelated charge. But he does happen to live on the same street where her body was found.
00:03:54
Speaker 1: That's a detailed Police aren't putting that together necessarily, and they are not calling him a suspect. I'm not saying they have a suspect at all. We should not absolutely say that. However, Look it's worth noting, and they noted it. And this guy is in jail right now on.
00:04:10
Speaker 3: The streated charges.
00:04:11
Speaker 2: Now, he reportedly admitted to having an argument with her, but he absolutely denies any involvement in her debt.
00:04:19
Speaker 3: So we just want to say that right now.
00:04:22
Speaker 2: But look, there is someone behind bars, but police have not said at all whether or not he's even a person of interest.
00:04:29
Speaker 3: So just to get that out of the.
00:04:31
Speaker 1: Way, and so we automatically robes have the thought, if you're saying that somebody's hanging from the tree, why is this not immediately automatically a homicide investigation. I know they have work they have to do. Is it possible she did this to herself? I suppose it is, but according to her family, there's no way she would have done this. Also, I haven't seen what is her connection other than him who's in this area? What's her? Why would she be there?
00:04:57
Speaker 2: She well, I know that her, A lot of her family's in Kentucky. I believe she lives there. And her family, who was speaking out, says they just saw her the week before.
00:05:09
Speaker 1: Her parents no live there, but time with the actual abandoned home. Oh that there's no connection.
00:05:14
Speaker 2: Oh, I was like, she lives in Mississippi. I know that her, A lot of her family is in Kentucky. And they all reported just having seen her, so they just were around her. They talked about a strong, independent woman who loved her kids, who loved her family, who gave zero indication that she was suicidal or who had any negative thoughts. In fact, her mom said this, she was better than I had seen her in a long time. She was at peace. She did not do this to herself. I know my daughter, and she did not do this to herself.
00:05:45
Speaker 1: They did that line. But I'm listening too closely or jumping to something, not a conclusion. But the mom suggested better than I've seen her in a long time. As if there had been a struggle.
00:05:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean maybe with four kids at twenty nine trying to keep a roof over their heads. There was absolute there was discussion, just that she has struggled financially, she has struggled trying to keep her kids all in one place, safe, healthy, fed, all of those things that a lot of single moms struggled with.
00:06:13
Speaker 3: So that was the implication.
00:06:14
Speaker 2: It didn't I never saw anything with mental health implication, just that yes, she was going through it, but that she was in a really good place. And her dad said she was a good mom, She loved her kids, she loved her family, and I would encourage anybody to listen to this interview. They were heartfelt talking about their daughter, and her sister also outspoken talking about just what an awesome person her sister was.
00:06:36
Speaker 1: I'm not just I don't get it. I guess it's possible. At robes, what in God's name and if you choose the confusing part to me, robes, if you did, if you're in Mississippi, you decide you want to take your own life. What black person decides that a tree in the backyard of all I mean, that's an odd choice.
00:06:56
Speaker 2: It's an awful thing to even imagine. But I also wondering, Okay, let's say she was the victim of a homicide, making that choice is also a statement. I mean, you know what you're doing. If you choose to kill a black person that way or display their body that way, you know what that implies.
00:07:19
Speaker 1: Does that make sense to do that, to draw attention to your crime in that way? It's one thing you killed somebody that they're going to get a police presence, You're going to get a national presence if you do this that none of it makes sense. Why is she hanging from a tree?
00:07:32
Speaker 2: And to that point, one of the council members, Jackson City Council members was so alarmed at just this crime and the investigation he actually sent a letter to the US Attorney's Office asking for help investigating the case. I'm going to read to you what this city council member said. We are in dire need of assistance of the US Attorney's Office with the death of an unidentified female discovered hanging in the backyard of an abandoned house on the Road of Remembrance in Jackson, Mississippi. This was almost immediately obviously, since then she has been identified as twenty nine year old Tajia Fortune, but immediately they were already saying help, we need federal help. We need folks who can come in from outside of Mississippi and investigate this, very much like you saw Nolan Wells family asking for outside assistance, because there is a massive level of distrust between the black community and mississipp law enforcement.
00:08:30
Speaker 1: Oh this is not just a regular crime, this or Nolan Wells for that matter, This appears to be Again, we don't know, but I'm saying, folks don't. I don't know of a lot of suicides robes that people decide to go out and hang themselves in my tree. I know at all, to publicly do that to yourself. We just that's rare. I'm sure there are instances robes, but that is just bizarre. So why there's only one way. Our head goes one direction, our head goes robes. And this is Mississippi. But we thought the same robe Nolan Wells. When you have a black kid surrounded by nothing but white kids who could possibly be responsible, you don't want to put that responsibility for the investigation in the hands of Mississippi police officials. No indictment on them, It's just a history there and here we go once again, robes. This is as terrifying as it gets. It really is is these were acts of terror meant to scare the hell out of you, and it does robes. It's scary present day. This is scary to drive through Mississippi history of sundown towns, places I grew up being told not to drive at certain times a nightpes And we don't know what this is, but.
00:09:47
Speaker 2: It needs to be thoroughly investigated. Well, ma'am, I wanted to include. Martin Luther King's daughter Bernice put out a statement based on this investigation, and I thought she did such a good job of it explaining what it is she is asking for from the black community from law enforcement. She put it like this, we should not rush to conclusions, but we also cannot dismiss the fear and painful history these circumstances evoke for black communities, especially in Mississippi. That history makes transparency, thoroughness, and truth essential. I am praying for Tasa's family and loved ones as they grieve. They deserve answers. Tasia deserves dignity and there must be a complete and transparent investigation into what happened to her.
00:10:36
Speaker 1: Again, I just it's it's just not likely. It's possible she did this to herself. I just just enlay and just step. We're old just from the outside. It just doesn't make any sense. So we'll wait, and we'll wait patiently. I say we wait patiently, but the Nolan Wells investigation romes that's been going on since the fourth of July, that we can we don't. That's been a month, we don't have answers there and they've completed the autops. How long will we wait on this one?
00:11:03
Speaker 2: That is an unknown entity? But certainly, given just the recent events there with Nolan Wells, I would imagine just the pressure on authorities to release information has to be growing.
00:11:18
Speaker 1: They didn't fill it enough with the Nolan Wells investigation, apparently not, so I can't imagine it with this one either.
00:11:24
Speaker 3: Look, and here's the deal.
00:11:27
Speaker 2: This story, as awful as it is, it doesn't even take much research to realize that this actually isn't an outlier. A year ago there was a very eerily similar situation. We'll tell you about that, and by the way, it was ruled a suicide. But in the last ten years, there have been three black people who have been found hanging from a tree in Mississippi, and all three of them have been ruled suicides again the feelings of the families.
00:12:03
Speaker 3: The families believe their loved ones were murdered.
00:12:06
Speaker 2: Mississippi has said, nah, it was suicide and welcome back everyone to Amy and TJ. We are talking about just a frightening story. I should maybe say, another frightening story out of Mississippi. Twenty nine year old Tajia Fortune, mom of four, found hanging from a tree in Jackson, Mississippi. A death investigation is now ongoing. We are waiting autopsy results. Her family is adamant that she did not do this to herself, and police have not yet said.
00:12:45
Speaker 3: Whether they suspect foul play or.
00:12:47
Speaker 2: Suicide, and we are waiting for word from Mississippi authorities. But in the meantime, this is a frightening We talk about the history of Mississippi and lynchings and go way, way way back. Only have to go back one year September twenty twenty five.
00:13:03
Speaker 3: Does this story ring a bell?
00:13:05
Speaker 2: Delta State University student twenty one year old DeMar trayvon Reid, he went by Trey found in Cleveland, Mississippi, on campus, hanging from a tree.
00:13:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, was that mill of the day of something that was a really weird one.
00:13:20
Speaker 2: Student football players found him and his death was ruled a suicide by the Mississippi State Medical Examiner, and that was over his family's belief. They absolutely refused to believe that their twenty one year old child would have killed himself by hanging from a tree on campus.
00:13:45
Speaker 1: Man, I don't know what their evidence is that presently. It just doesn't make sense.
00:13:47
Speaker 3: They couldn't find any evidence of foul play.
00:13:52
Speaker 1: That's something they had. I mean, that has to be a long press conference to where they walk the entire community to how they came to that conclusion. You just have to And so I don't know, I don't know if the family doesn't accept it. I don't know if there I mean, there's some part of famil's robes you would never want to accept that you're somebody would do that, But it's hard robes. These are bizarre cases. Why would somebody do this? And all we ended up there's no evidence of anything else. So that's just that doesn't sound good enough to.
00:14:20
Speaker 2: And of course no family wants to believe that their child died by suicide. I understand that completely, But you add to that, this is a black person who died by hanging himself off a tree branch. That makes it seem exceptionally difficult to accept.
00:14:39
Speaker 1: Man, and just these black folks are aware just to think, I'm gonna they know what that's going to mean to the community if they get found hanging.
00:14:48
Speaker 3: But they do that to their parents in the community.
00:14:51
Speaker 1: You could argue that ass might thinking about killing themselves. Wouldn't be considering that that is.
00:14:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, they would, robes, Yeah they would in Mississippi.
00:14:59
Speaker 3: You're black.
00:15:00
Speaker 2: You know what that means, you know? Okay, So that's September of twenty twenty five. That was less than a year ago as of this recording. You can go back to February of twenty eighteen, another twenty one year old Willie Andrew Jones Junior, And this one really shook me. He was found hanging from a tree in the yard of his white girlfriend's home. It took place after an argument with her. This was in Scott County, Mississippi, and the sheriff's department said it was a suicide. His family flat out came out and said they believe their son was lynched.
00:15:37
Speaker 1: So is that right?
00:15:38
Speaker 2: White girlfriend tree in her yard found hanging.
00:15:45
Speaker 1: I again, those are headlines and I'm trying to give space they did wherever they were supposed to do appropriately. That just doesn't make sense.
00:15:53
Speaker 2: And then just there was that one that was twenty eighteen, and then go back three years before that, March twenty fifteen, fifty four year old Otis burd found hanging from a tree, this one in Port Gibson, Mississippi, and the FBI got involved with that one, and their direct quote about how they came to their conclusion about the fact that they ruled it a suicide, and again, this is a lot of what we hear. There was no evidence to prove that Bird's death was a homicide. So basically, without evidence showing foul play, without evidence showing a homicide, the default is suicide.
00:16:30
Speaker 1: Nobody's going to ever accept that a families.
00:16:32
Speaker 2: None of these families have accepted the suicide conclusion, not one of them.
00:16:39
Speaker 3: So I just thought that was for me.
00:16:42
Speaker 2: I was shocked that in the last decade there have been if you add Tasia to this, four black people who chose to die by hanging off a tree. That that seems like a difficult thing.
00:17:01
Speaker 1: To accept, and they happen to do it in Mississippi. They happen to do it in Mississippi, the capital of lynching in this country. That is not an overstatement I am making there. They have numbers. The most documented lynchings in the United States happened in Mississippi. I I don't know, Robes these are. I'd always try to leave space, but we The alternative is very difficult, right suicide, brush it away, move on one of these every year, every couple of years, every every few le few years. Don't have to worry about it, right and maybe in their mindset, but Robes, the alternative is to accept that we are still lynching black people in this country, still doing it in Misnisi, Mississippi, and somebody is still getting away with it. We have got to face the possibility. That's what we're looking at, and that is a very scary pill to swallow. I would, as crazy as it sounds, Robes, I would be relieved if they could prove this was suicide.
00:18:11
Speaker 3: I totally get that a relief. I totally get that.
00:18:15
Speaker 1: But to think, Robes that somebody's out there doing this, somebody else out there is possibly seeing this, thinking oh I can get away with it too. Again, it's just that is an option and a possibility, and without I guess robes, good explanations and answers, that option is still hanging out there.
00:18:36
Speaker 3: It's just it.
00:18:38
Speaker 2: Look, that is why with this latest death investigation, and I think, yes, on the heels of what happened in September to that young man, and I say, what happened to him? But yes, authorities believe he died by suicide. But just on the heels of Trey Reid, a twenty one year old college student who decides, according to Pull, to hang himself on campus from a tree. And now less than a year later, you have a twenty nine year old black mom with four kids who are relying on her, whose family just saw her last week, also now found hanging from a tree in an abandoned lot.
00:19:20
Speaker 3: It just it.
00:19:21
Speaker 2: Requires so much information and transparency.
00:19:26
Speaker 3: I just think Bernice King put it perfectly.
00:19:29
Speaker 2: Everyone has to understand the history of the state, and everyone needs to understand why these families need answers.
00:19:39
Speaker 1: This feels like we know what the outcome is going to be already.
00:19:42
Speaker 2: I know this sounds awful because I would never hope for someone to have died by violence in any way, shape or form. But there is a part of me that's hopeful that there is, even though they haven't said it, potentially a person of interest in this case. If they can actually connect this to someone and have some one be held accountable for this, I would feel my shoulders relaxed.
00:20:04
Speaker 3: I mean, look, we don't know.
00:20:05
Speaker 2: Obviously, we want the truth to come out, whether it was in fact suicide or a homicide. But it just feels like, yes, don't we need more answers other than we can't prove foul play.
00:20:16
Speaker 3: So we must default to suicide.
00:20:19
Speaker 2: That's the part that just feels wrong, like that's not a good enough answer.
00:20:25
Speaker 3: It just isn't. So we will stay on top of the story.
00:20:29
Speaker 2: We will continue to follow up on this young woman, twenty nine year old Tajia Fortune again remember her name.
00:20:35
Speaker 3: We will keep our eye on this.
00:20:37
Speaker 2: Investigation and bring you any new updates. We will be waiting for that autopsy report, just like we're waiting for Nolan Well's autopsy report, but we're on top of it. We always appreciate you listening to us. Everyone, I Amy Robot alongside DJ Holmes.
00:20:51
Speaker 3: We'll talk to you soon.