Jarques Ratliff of Jackson was denied bond Monday after he pleaded not guilty to murder in the death of Tasia Fortune, whose body was found hanging in a tree in west Jackson in August.
Ratliff, 51, appeared at Jackson Municipal Court for his initial appearance Monday.
In court, investigators revealed Ratliff tried to hide in a car on Friday, the day he was arrested. Prosecutors said he had prior charges of grand larceny and cocaine possession and several thousand dollars in traffic fines. No convictions were found for Ratliff via a search of the Mississippi Electronic Court system.
Ratliff’s attorney Toney Baldwin argued his client was gainfully employed and “a pillar of the community.”
Judge Taurean Buchanan determined Ratfliff was a flight risk and denied his bond.
Ratliff, who is Black, was charged with murder for the death of Fortune, a 29 year-old Black woman who was found hanging from a tree outside a vacant home in west Jackson. The case drew national attention because the manner in which Fortune’s body was found hearkened back to Mississippi’s history of racist violence.
After court, Baldwin cautioned the public and the media from prejudging the case. He said his client made no confession, but could not provide further details on the investigation.
“I sympathize with the family, and therefore we want the truth to give the family closure,” Baldwin said.
The Jackson Police Department arrested Ratliff after the state medical examiner ruled Fortune’s death as a homicide. After the hearing Monday in Jackson Municipal Court, JPD Chief of Staff Tonya Norwood said the department has no further comment.
The case is still active. JPD announced on Friday that additional arrests were expected.
The Associated Press reported that Christy Spivey, Fortune’s mother, said when she learned of the arrest, “I just started crying and told them ‘thank you, thank you, thank you.’”
Spivey, a Kentucky resident, said the family was in “shock” and “disbelief.” She said she didn’t know Ratliff and was asking Fortune’s friends if they did.
Fortune, a mother of four, was a Kentucky native who ran away from home at 16 with someone she had met in foster care, her family earlier told Mississippi Today.
