Third Murder Charge in Death of Tasia Fortune in Jackson
Eric Clark, 45, surrendered to Jackson police on Friday and was charged with murder in the death of Tasia Fortune, according to the Jackson Police Department. The Guardian
The department announced the charge on Sept. 25. Clark is the third suspect arrested in the case. He was scheduled to make a court appearance on Monday. NBC News
Fortune was 29 and a mother of four. She was found on Aug. 3 hanging from a tree behind a vacant home on the 500 block of Road of Remembrance in western Jackson. Investigators said she had been dead for two to three days before she was found.
Investigators said Fortune was not killed where her body was found. Police disclosed Friday that an autopsy concluded "the scene and the hanging were staged." JPD detective Samuel Dukes said investigators believe she was killed elsewhere and then placed in a hanging position in the tree. The Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide, a term that means death caused by another person. The staged-hanging finding was shared at a preliminary hearing, an early court session to review evidence, hours before Clark's charge was announced. WLBT
Earnest Lloyd Jr., 25, and Jarques Ratliff, 51, were previously charged with murder in connection with Fortune's death. WAPT Both have pleaded not guilty and have been denied bond. Detectives have interviewed as many as 15 people, according to a police news release. Clark, Lloyd and Ratliff are Black, as was Fortune.
The broader context here is a prosecution that must account for movement, time and numbers. Police describe a killing elsewhere, a body kept for days, then positioned to resemble a hanging. If that account is presented in court, it will require forensic testimony on cause of death, time of death and handling of the body, along with evidence tying each of the three defendants to those stages, much as a timeline must link each step in order.
Looking at what may come next, the immediate questions are procedural. Clark's initial appearance will set counsel, detention and scheduling. The earlier defendants have entered not-guilty pleas and remain held without bond, and the disclosure of the autopsy finding at a preliminary hearing suggests prosecutors are starting to put the staged-scene evidence on the record. With up to 15 interviews conducted, further hearings should clarify how police allege the three men were involved and whether additional arrests are expected.
