'She did not do this to herself': Mother says family 'devastated' after woman found hanging in Mississippi
The mother of Tasia Fortune, a 29-year-old woman whose body was found hanging from a tree on Aug. 3 in Jackson, Mississippi, told ABC News on Sunday afternoon that her daughter’s death has “just devastated" her family.
“This has just devastated us,” Fortune's mother Christy Spivey said. “Tasia was strong-minded, she was full of laughs and love, she had faith in God … She had so little and gave so much.”
Spivey said that she last saw her daughter, who is a mother of four, on July 26 after she traveled from Mississippi, where she has lived for over a decade, to Kentucky for a family reunion.
When asked about Fortune’s state of mind the last time she saw her, Spivey said, “She was better than I had seen her in a long time. She was at peace.” Asked if her daughter could have died by suicide, Spivey said, “She did not do this to herself. I know my daughter and she did not do this to herself.”
A spokesperson for the Jackson Police Department (JPD) confirmed to ABC News on Saturday night that police are investigating Fortune’s death and confirmed that the Hinds County Coroner’s Office identified Fortune.
Asked about the status of the investigation and if any persons of interest have been interviewed, the spokesperson did not provide further comment.
The Mississippi State Medical Examiner's Office is conducting an autopsy to determine Fortune’s cause and manner of death, a spokesperson confirmed to ABC News.
Jackson City Council member Kenneth Stokes sent a letter to the U.S. Attorney Baxter Kruger, asking for help in investigating this case, according to a letter obtained by ABC News.
“We are in dire need of the assistance of the U.S. Attorney's Office with the death of an unidentified female discovered hanging in the backyard of an abandoned house on the Road of Remembrance in Jackson, Mississippi,” the letter says.
The woman has since been identified as Fortune.
ABC News reached out to Stokes for further comment. Asked if his office is investigating this case, Kruger did not immediately respond to ABC News' request for comment.
Police are asking anyone with information about the case to call Crime Stoppers at 601-355-TIPS.
