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JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A man charged with murder in the hanging of a Black woman in Mississippi pleaded not guilty Monday during his first court appearance. The body of Tasia Fortune , 29, was found hanging from a tree behind an abandoned home in the capital, Jackson, on Aug. On Friday, police arrested 51-year-old Jarques Ratliff , who is also Black, on a murder charge after the state medical examiner deemed her death a homicide. During the brief hearing Monday in Municipal Court, the judge denied bond for Ratliff, who told the court he’s not guilty. Ratliff’s attorney at the hearing left the courthouse afterward without speaking to reporters.
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A Kentucky native, Fortune had been living in Jackson for about a decade, according to relatives. Spivey wasn’t sure where Fortune was living when she died, but she said her daughter had struggled with homelessness in recent years.
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