Police investigate death of Tasia Fortune, found hanging from tree, as a homicide

(CNN) — Jackson, Mississippi, police are investigating the death of Tasia Fortune as a homicide after the 29-year-old Black woman was found hanging from a tree outside an abandoned house last month, the city’s police chief said Tuesday. “Jackson Police Department has been investigating this case from day one as a homicide, until we hear otherwise from the medical examiner’s office,” Chief RaShall Brackney said at a city council meeting . Police had previously categorized the case as a “ death pending investigation .” With the autopsy results pending, Fortune’s family is demanding answers and local officials are questioning the circumstances surrounding the case. The scrutiny is unfolding against Mississippi’s long history of racial violence involving hangings and follows other recent hanging deaths in the state that authorities ruled were suicides. “We need to pursue (Fortune’s) investigation to its final conclusion and whatever the results, we need to address those results,” Jackson City Council President Vernon Hartley said.

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