Detective says Tasia Fortune’s hanging was a staged lynching tied to a drug dispute

At Friday’s preliminary hearing, Detective Samuel Dukes said investigators believe Tasia Fortune was killed before her body was hung from a tree in Jackson, citing the medical examiner’s findings. Two men face murder charges; a third suspect is being sought.

Dukes described the killing as a “staged” lynching tied to a drug dispute. The case drew national attention because the scene evoked Mississippi’s history of racial violence, although authorities have said it was not a hate crime.