The woman whose body was found hanging from a tree behind a vacant Jackson, Mississippi, home is 29-year-old Tasia Fortune, the Hinds County Coroner\u2019s Office said on Thursday. Authorities have not said whether or not they suspect foul play.<\/p>\n
The Jackson Police Department first announced in a statement on Monday evening<\/a> that officers \u201clocated the body of an unidentified Black female\u201d at the 500 block of Road of Remembrance, a mostly Black neighborhood, at 9:05 that night. Neighbors in the mostly Black Jackson neighborhood contacted police after finding her body, though it is not clear how long it had been there.<\/p>\n Hinds County Coroner Jeremiah Howard, who publicly identified the body as Tasia Fortune on Thursday, said earlier this week that the body would be transported to the Mississippi State Medical Examiner\u2019s Office to perform an autopsy to determine the cause and manner of death.<\/p>\n Fortune\u2019s aunt, Etta Avolio, started a GoFundMe<\/a> to help raise funds to cover burial expenses and final arrangements. The GoFundMe, which has a $3,000 goal, had raised over $1,600 as of Thursday evening. Avolio confirmed the fundraiser\u2019s legitimacy to the Mississippi Free Press.<\/p>\n \u201cTasia Fortune was a beloved daughter, sister, and friend whose passing has left her family devastated and heartbroken,\u201d Avolio\u2019s fundraiser says. \u201cDuring this lifetime, families go through ups and downs, and right now Tasia\u2019s loved ones are facing one of the hardest moments they have ever known. Tasia was a strong-minded, big-hearted, vibrant young woman whose life was taken at just twenty-nine years old. Her loss has deeply shaken everyone who knew and loved her, and her family is now trying to begin healing while also facing the painful responsibility of saying their final farewells.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe family also wants others to know that justice will be served, and they hold firmly to their faith, believing that God is on their side as they walk through this heartbreaking loss,\u201d Fortune\u2019s aunt adds.<\/p>\n Ward 3 Jackson City Councilman Kenneth Stokes sent a letter<\/a> to U.S. Attorney Baxter Kruger\u2019s office on Wednesday asking for assistance, WLBT reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mississippi authorities have investigated other high-profile cases involving tree-hanging deaths in the past year.<\/p>\n In September 2025, a group of student athletes found 18-year-old Delta State University student Trey Reed<\/a>, who was Black, hanging from a tree on the campus in Cleveland, Mississippi. His death raised fears of a racially motivated murder, considering the history of hundreds of lynchings of Black men<\/a> that occurred in Mississippi in the late 1800s and early 1900s.<\/p>\n Ben Crump, the attorney who represented Reed\u2019s family, cast doubt on the official ruling that Reed\u2019s death was a suicide<\/a> and helped obtain an independent autopsy. Last week, the Mississippi Free Press reported for the first time that Reed\u2019s family said his girlfriend had received text messages from his phone the night before his body was found in which he threatened to hang himself<\/a>. The family still has questions, though. They said they are waiting on the final independent autopsy results, but have not been able to reach Crump since January<\/a>. Crump also represents the family of Nolan Wells<\/a>.<\/p>\n On the same day that Trey Reed was found last year, police in Vicksburg, Mississippi, found the body of Cory Zukatis<\/a> hanging in a tree. Misinformation spread connecting that case to Reed\u2019s, with some falsely claiming that Zukatis, a homeless white man whose dog had recently been taken from him<\/a>, was also Black. Authorities later ruled his death a suicide, too.<\/p>\n Follow the Mississippi Free Press\u2019 coverage of Tasia Fortune and read past stories here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mississippi Free Press stories are always free because we believe everyone should have access to quality journalism. Donations from readers like you make that possible. Please click here to give to help sustain and grow vital, people-over-power journalism for Mississippians<\/a>.<\/p>\n