Neighbor recalls final conversation with Tasia Fortune before she was found hanging from tree
By Nicholas Brooks
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JACKSON, Miss. (WAPT) — A neighbor on Road of Remembrance recounted her last conversation with Tasia Fortune, who was found dead on Aug. 3, with her death ruled a homicide by the state medical examiner.
“When they showed her picture, the only thing I could remember are her eyes, how she looked that day when I saw her,” Violet Wilson said.
Wilson said she last encountered Fortune while walking in the neighborhood.
“I actually saw her two days before that incident. I was taking my walk around the block, and she came up behind me and she spoke to me. I spoke to her because I had seen her in the park a few days before,” Wilson said. “She spoke to me, and I said, ‘Oh, you’re not in the park today,’ and she didn’t respond.”
Wilson said the memory of that brief interaction has stayed with her.
“It still haunts me because I saw that person walking, living, breathing, and then the next few days she’s gone,” she said.
Police arrested 51-year-old Jarques Ratliff on Friday and charged him with murder. Authorities said Ratliff had an “association” with Fortune but have not disclosed how they knew each other. Fortune’s body was found hanging from a tree behind a vacant house on Road of Remembrance. According to an affidavit, police believe Ratliff used a black cable cord to hang Fortune.
Police said the investigation remains active, with the possibility of additional arrests.
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