A second man was denied bond Wednesday in connection with the killing of Tasia Fortune, a 29-year-old mother of four who was found last month hanging from a tree in west Jackson.
Jackson Police Chief RaShall Brackney announced the arrest of Earnest Lloyd Jr., 25, Tuesday at the Jackson City Council meeting. She said the Jackson Police Department is seeking help from the U.S. Marshals Service to arrest at least one other person.
Last week, police charged Jarques Ratliff, 51, with Fortune’s killing. He pleaded not guilty and remains in custody after being denied bond. His attorney said a preliminary hearing is scheduled for Friday.
“I will guarantee you, there are actually more arrests to come in this incident,” Brackney said at the meeting.
Fortune’s death became national news, as the story of a Black woman found hanging harkened back to the Mississippi’s dark history of racist terror lynchings. Both Lloyd and Ratliff are also Black.
On Aug. 3, Fortune’s body was found hanging from a tree outside a vacant house on the 500 block of Road of Remembrance. She was 29 years old.
Christy Spivey, Fortune’s mother, was at the meeting when the police chief announced the latest arrest. She and her husband traveled from Kentucky to be in Jackson this week to attend the court dates of the two suspects and to visit Fortune’s children.
She held a press conference with Jackson City Councilman Kenneth Stokes before the Tuesday council meeting. Stokes is trying to schedule a meeting with the U.S. Attorney and the FBI.
“You know, she didn’t have a lot to give, she was struggling,” Spivey said at the press conference. “But she would do anything to help anybody.”
Spivey told Mississippi Today that the recent arrests, after a “brutal silence,” have given her hope that authorities are now more aggressively seeking justice for her daughter. She said the family is anxious about any additional arrests.
Spivey also visited the crime scene for the first time on Tuesday.
“It was hard, but I felt like I owed it to Tasia,” she said.
Spivey described seeing cardinals flying, and she took pictures of her daughter’s memorial, a small mound of flowers, balloons, teddy bears and pinwheels surrounding a framed picture of her.
