Police in Jackson, Mississippi, have arrested a man in connection with the death of Tasia Fortune, the 29-year-old Black woman found hanging from a tree behind an abandoned home last month, after the state medical examiner ruled her death a homicide, CNN reported.
The suspect, who has not been publicly identified, was taken into custody as he walked along a city street, Jackson Police Chief RaShall Brackney said at a Friday news conference. More arrest warrants are expected in the case, the chief said.
Fortune's death, first reported after her body was discovered in the 500 block of Road of Remembrance, drew national attention and demands for answers from her family, who did not believe she took her own life. Police said they had treated the case as a homicide from the start while awaiting the autopsy findings, which the medical examiner has now confirmed.
Authorities have released few other details, and it was not immediately clear what charge the newly arrested man faces or how he is alleged to be connected to the death. Earlier in the investigation, a 65-year-old man described as a person of interest was arrested on an unrelated weapons charge after telling police he had argued with Fortune. He denied any involvement in her death. It was not clear whether he was the same man taken into custody Friday.
The case has stirred fear in the community and questions about whether race played a role, given Mississippi's history of racial violence. The police chief has urged the public not to jump to conclusions, warning of "a lot of misinformation" surrounding the case.
