JACKSON, Miss. — Authorities believe Tasia Fortune’s hanging was staged and that she was possibly killed at another location before being found behind an abandoned Mississippi home, a detective said in court Friday.
\n\nNew details about Fortune’s death last month were revealed during a court hearing for Jarques Ratliff, one of the two men arrested and charged with murder.
\n\nAt a court hearing earlier this month, Ratliff, 51, was denied bond after he pleaded not guilty.
\n\nFortune, a 29-year-old Black woman, was found hanging from a tree behind the Jackson home on Aug. 3. Officials believe she may have been dead for two or three days before she was found.
\n\nA motive in the killing and a cause of death have not been released.
\n\nA detective said at Friday’s hearing that there may have been an issue over missing illegal narcotics. The detective declined to release additional details because the grand jury has not received all of the evidence.
\n\nRatliff, 51, told the court that Fortune was his friend.
\n\nHis attorney, Toney Baldwin, said he wants the “truth about what happened to come out.”
\n\n“My client said he’s not involved and that’s absolutely what I believe,” he said.
\n\nFortune’s mother…
Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/business