Man pleads not guilty in the hanging death of Tasia Fortune in Mississippi

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A man charged with murder in the hanging of a Black woman in Mississippi pleaded not guilty Monday at his first court appearance.

The body of Tasia Fortune, 29, was found hanging from a tree behind an abandoned home in the state's capital city, Jackson, on Aug. 3.

On Friday, police arrested 51-year-old Jarques Ratliff, who is also Black, on a murder charge after the state medical examiner deemed her death a homicide.

READ MORE: What we know about the death of Tasia Fortune in Mississippi

During Monday's brief hearing in Municipal Court, a judge denied bond for Ratliff, who told the court he's not guilty. Ratliff's attorney at the hearing left the courthouse without speaking to reporters.

The case has attracted widespread attention because the manner of Fortune's death recalled lynchings in the Southern state, which has a tumultuous civil rights history stained by episodes of racial violence.

Police and prosecutors haven't given a suspected motive or said whether they think race played any role.

Police Chief RaShall Brackney said Friday that Ratliff, 51, had an "association" with Fortune, but she didn't elaborate. She also said additional arrests are expected in the case.

Prosecutors on Monday offered few new details in court, though they said Fortune had been hanged with a "black cable cord" and that Ratliff had tried to hide from officers in a vehicle the day of his arrest.

Brackney and other police officials who attended Ratliff's hearing Monday declined to comment afterward.

A Kentucky native, Fortune had a Black father and a white mother, though she identified as Black, said Christy Spivey, the dead woman's mother. Fortune had been living in Jackson for about 10 years, according to relatives. Fortune had four children, Spivey said, adding she rarely saw two of her grandchildren.

Spivey wasn't sure where Fortune was living when she died, but she said her daughter had struggled with homelessness in recent years. She said Fortune had talked recently about starting a cleaning business and was trying to get her life in order.

Two other Mississippi hanging deaths over the past year — those of a Black student at Delta State University and a homeless white man in Vicksburg — also drew widespread attention. Both of those deaths were deemed to be suicides.