A Mississippi woman’s mysterious death is now being investigated as a homicide as authorities wait for autopsy results that could finally reveal what happened.
Tasia Fortune, 29, was found hanging from a tree behind a vacant home in Jackson on Aug. 3, sparking growing outrage and demands for answers from her family and the community.
Jackson Police Chief RaShall Brackney said this week that detectives have treated the case as a homicide from the beginning.
“We have been investigating this case from day one as a homicide until we hear otherwise from the medical examiner’s office,” Brackney said during a Sept. 8 city council meeting.
Fortune’s body was sent to the Mississippi state medical examiner for an autopsy, but officials have not yet released a final cause or manner of death.
Her mother, Christy Spivey, has repeatedly said she does not believe her daughter took her own life.
“She was better than I had seen her in a long time. She was at peace,” Spivey told ABC News. “I know my daughter and she did not do this to herself.”
Spivey has also become increasingly frustrated with how long the investigation is taking.
“It’s making me angry,” she told the BBC. “What is the hold up?”
The case has drawn even more attention because of Mississippi’s long and painful history of racial violence, with some community members questioning whether Fortune may have been the victim of foul play.
Jackson City Councilman Kenneth Stokes has called for federal help and sent a letter to the U.S. Attorney’s Office asking officials to assist with the investigation.
“Surely, somebody should say something,” Stokes said.
Police have also questioned 65-year-old Terence Anderson in connection with Fortune’s death.
Anderson was later arrested on an unrelated charge of possession of a weapon by a convicted felon.
According to local reports, Anderson denied having anything to do with Fortune’s death but told investigators that he had argued with her.
He has not been charged in connection with her death.
Fortune was a mother of four and was remembered in her obituary as a standout cross-country athlete who “never lost her faith in God.”
She is survived by her parents and her children, Davion, 7, Terence Jr., 5, Tristian, 4, and Donte’, 1.
A GoFundMe created to help her family with funeral expenses had raised more than $175,000 as of Sept. 10.
For now, the biggest question remains unanswered: how did Tasia Fortune die?
Her family is still waiting for the medical examiner’s findings, while police continue treating the case as a homicide unless the evidence says otherwise.
