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Jackson police responded to the 500 block of Road of Remembrance on August 3 after neighbors reported a body hanging from a tree in the backyard of a vacant home, Mississippi Today reported. The Hinds County coroner identified the deceased as 29-year-old Tasia Fortune, a Black mother of four who had lived in Mississippi for more than a decade. Her body was transported to the Mississippi State Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy to determine the cause and manner of death, according to the coroner’s office. Fortune had last been seen by family members on July 26 when she attended a reunion in Kentucky.
Christy Spivey told ABC News that her daughter appeared happy and at peace during their last meeting and insisted she would not have taken her own life. “I know my daughter and she did not do this to herself,” Spivey said. The family has rejected suggestions of suicide but has also stated it does not believe the death was racially motivated, according to interviews with ABC News and the New York Post. Spivey described Fortune as a loving mother who was full of life and faith.
Jackson City Council member Kenneth Stokes sent a letter to U.S. Attorney Baxter Kruger requesting federal assistance with the investigation, AP News reported. Civil rights activist Celina Charles interrupted a recent city council meeting to demand answers in Fortune’s case as well as that of Demartravion Reed, whose body was found hanging on a university campus in 2025, the Clarion Ledger reported. Charles was escorted from the meeting but used the opportunity to highlight what she called a broader problem, according to the newspaper.
This incident is one of at least 10 reported cases in the past year in which Black individuals were found hanging from trees across multiple states, a Yahoo News compilation of local reports found. In Reed’s case, the state medical examiner ruled the death a suicide but his family has sought an independent autopsy through civil rights attorney Ben Crump, NBC News reported. Authorities in Jackson have described Fortune’s case as an active death investigation without indicating whether foul play is suspected.
A memorial with pink and white flowers was placed at the site of Fortune’s discovery in the days following the incident, according to AP News. An aunt launched a GoFundMe campaign to cover burial costs that had raised more than half its $3,000 goal within days, Mississippi Free Press reported. Fortune’s relatives have urged anyone with information to contact Jackson police, a call repeated in statements from the department.
The Mississippi State Medical Examiner’s Office has not yet released findings from the autopsy as the probe continues into September, multiple outlets reported. Spivey has said the family will press for a full accounting of events leading to her daughter’s death. Jackson police have asked the public for any relevant details that could assist investigators.
