Jackson police arrested Jacques Ratliff on Sept. 11 in the Tasia Fortune case after the Mississippi State Medical Examiner's Office ruled Fortune’s death a homicide. RaShall Brackney said the arrest was made in Jackson and that more warrants are expected as the case moves forward.
Hinds County Coroner Jeramiah Howard said Fortune was 29 when she was found dead and hanging from a tree in the backyard of a vacant home in the 500 block of Road of Remembrance on Aug. 3. Brackney said police had search warrants and arrest warrants ready before the final medical examiner determination, but could not execute them until that step was complete.
RaShall Brackney on Sept. 11
During a news briefing on Sept. 11, Brackney said, “This is not closure.” She added, “This is just one step as we continue to investigate this case, but it is a very important step. As you can tell, the moment that the medical examiner gave us a determination, we were already having the search warrants and the arrest warrants in hand. None of which we could execute until we had a final determination.”
The arrest took place on Capitol Street in Jackson, and police identified the man taken into custody as Jacques Ratliff. Brackney said Ratliff has an association to Fortune, but police would not disclose the nature of that relationship.
Jacques Ratliff and Tasia Fortune
Brackney also said, “We have never named a person of interest.” That point matters because local media reported that a 65-year-old man who lived on the same street as the crime scene had been interviewed as a person of interest, while police said he was never charged in Fortune’s death.
Police said the 65-year-old man was arrested on an unrelated charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm. The department’s next step is more arrest warrants in the Tasia Fortune case, which has moved from a death investigation into an active homicide case with at least one arrest.
Mississippi State Medical Examiner
Fortune’s death came less than a year after the hanging deaths of De'Martravion “Trey” Reed and Cory Zukatis, two cases the Mississippi State Medical Examiner ruled suicides. Reed’s cause of death was ruled a hanging, and Zukatis was found near Ameristar Casino around 1:30 p.m. Sept. 15 in Vicksburg.
For readers following the Tasia Fortune case, the immediate practical change is that investigators now have an arrest on the record and say more warrants are coming. The unresolved issue is the relationship between Ratliff and Fortune, and that answer will shape what police can prove next.
