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The mother of a woman found hanging from a tree in Mississippi said she was shocked after authorities determined that her daughter had died before her body was placed at what police described as a staged crime scene.
Tasia Fortune, a 29-year-old mother of four, was found hanging from a tree at an abandoned property in Jackson in August, according to the BBC. The discovery caused widespread concern in the majority-Black city, which has a long history of racial violence and lynchings.
On Friday, the Jackson Police Department said the medical examiner who conducted Fortune’s post-mortem examination had ruled her death a homicide. Police said “the scene and the hanging were staged”.
Mother says investigation has raised new questions
Authorities have not disclosed the precise cause of death or a possible motive for the alleged staging. Three people, all of them Black, have been arrested in connection with the case.
“I have more questions now than what I did before,” Fortune’s mother, Christy Spivey, told the BBC.
Spivey said she had initially felt some relief after learning that her daughter had not died by hanging. However, she said she was upset by the way police had handled the investigation and remained uncertain about the suspects’ alleged links to Fortune.
“Still no cause of death, no date of death - nothing,” she said. “What actually killed her?”
Police allege possible drug-related dispute
Police told a court on Friday that Fortune’s death was believed to have followed a dispute linked to drugs. A detective said she may have been killed over allegations that she had stolen drugs.
Spivey rejected those allegations but acknowledged that her daughter had struggled with addiction.
“Even if she still was doing drugs, which I’m sure she probably was, she still didn’t deserve to be done like that. Nobody does,” she said.
Fortune was homeless at the time of her death and usually stayed at other people’s homes, her mother said. Her four sons, aged between one and seven, are now living with a combination of relatives and friends. Two of the children are in the process of being adopted.
Fortune’s death had left the local community on edge and prompted lawmakers to call for federal investigations. The latest disclosures have added to uncertainty surrounding the case.
