Overview
- Neighbors discovered a Black woman hanging behind a vacant house on Road of Remembrance on Monday, Aug. 3, and the Hinds County Coroner identified her as 29-year-old Tasia Fortune.
- Police have opened an active death investigation and crime-scene teams are working the case, but authorities have not announced suspects, a motive, or whether foul play is suspected.
- Fortune’s body was transported to the state medical examiner for an autopsy to determine cause and manner of death, and officials have given no timetable for results.
- Jackson Ward 3 Councilman Kenneth Stokes wrote to U.S. Attorney Baxter Kruger calling for federal assistance and using the word 'murder,' while Fortune’s family has launched a GoFundMe and publicly demanded answers.
- The case is being reported alongside recent tree-hanging deaths and Mississippi’s history of lynchings, which has heightened local concern and means the autopsy findings will shape whether the probe expands or federal authorities intervene.