密西西比黑人女性被吊树上身亡案：警方逮捕一名谋杀嫌疑人Mississippi Police Arrest Suspect in Homicide of Black Woman Found Hanging From Tree

州法医办公室于周四晚间正式将塔西亚·福琼的死亡归类为他杀。杰克逊警察局长拉沙尔·布拉克尼表示，在法医作出该项正式裁决后，调查人员迅速申请并取得了针对51岁嫌疑人贾克斯·拉特利夫的两份搜查令和一份逮捕令。

The state medical examiner's office officially classified the death of Tasia Fortune as a homicide on Thursday evening. Following that ruling, Jackson investigators moved rapidly to obtain two search warrants and an arrest warrant for 51-year-old Jarques Ratliff, according to Jackson Police Chief RaShall Brackney.

警方在周五执行搜查令时并未在目标地点找到拉特利夫。随后，警员在返回警察总部的途中，于国会街（Capitol Street）街头发现正在行走的拉特利夫并将其当场拘留。拉特利夫面临谋杀罪名指控，警方透露其定于下周一首次出庭受审，目前尚不清楚其是否已聘请辩护律师。

Investigators served the search warrants on Friday afternoon but did not locate Ratliff at the specified location. Officers returning to police headquarters subsequently spotted him walking along Capitol Street and took him into custody without incident. Charged with murder, Ratliff is scheduled to make his initial court appearance on Monday, while it remains unclear whether he has secured legal representation.

杰克逊警察局长拉沙尔·布拉克尼表示，调查人员在该案中已问询了近15人，收集了相关法医证据并持续跟进线索。警方透露，同样身为黑人的拉特利夫与福琼之间存在某种“关联”，但拒绝进一步说明两人关系的具体性质，也未公开可能的作案动机或DNA检测细节。

Jackson Police Chief RaShall Brackney stated that investigators have interviewed nearly 15 people, gathered forensic evidence, and pursued investigative leads throughout the inquiry. Police disclosed that Ratliff, who is also Black, had an "association" with Fortune, but officials declined to elaborate on the specific nature of their relationship, potential motives, or whether DNA testing contributed to the arrest.

布拉克尼同时强调，除了法医作出的官方裁决外，警方不会对福琼遇害的具体方式或细节展开推测。她指出，案件调查目前仍处于活跃进行阶段，当天的抓捕只是侦办过程中的一步而非结案，随着调查人员继续顺应证据指引推进工作，未来可能还会执行更多逮捕令。

Brackney also emphasized that authorities will not speculate on the exact manner or circumstances surrounding Fortune's killing beyond what the state medical examiner officially determined. She noted that the active investigation is ongoing and that Friday's apprehension represents only a step forward rather than a conclusion, adding that detectives may serve additional arrest warrants as they continue to follow where the evidence leads.

在得知警方逮捕嫌疑人后，福琼的母亲克里斯蒂·斯皮维表示自己当场落泪并对办案人员连声道谢。斯皮维表示这带来了一丝释然与平静，但她并不认识拉特利夫，全家人仍处于难以置信的状态，且案件仍有许多疑问未得到解答，她只希望警方抓到了真正该负责的人。

Upon receiving the phone call from police regarding the arrest, Tasia Fortune's mother, Christy Spivey, said she began crying and repeatedly thanked investigators. Spivey noted that the news brought a small sigh of relief and a sense of peace, though she added that she does not know Ratliff, the family remains in disbelief, and many answers regarding motive and evidence have yet to be shared.

在此次抓捕之前，斯皮维与当地社区曾对有关部门数周以来的沉默与不作为表达强烈不满。斯皮维此前透露，在过去两周内曾多次致电杰克逊警方并留下语音留言，但始终未获回复。周二的一场市政公开会议上，现场宣读了斯皮维反映官方沟通受限与办案进度的信件，就在信件宣读后不久，警方宣布将福琼案定性为疑似他杀。针对家属的质疑，布拉克尼局长回应称，警方在办案期间始终与其母亲、继父及生父保持着持续接触。

The arrest followed weeks of frustration from Spivey and local residents over what they described as relative silence and inaction from local authorities. Spivey previously stated she had tried contacting Jackson police multiple times over a two-week span, leaving several voicemails without a response. On Tuesday, a letter Spivey wrote regarding limited official communication and the pace of the investigation was read aloud at a public city meeting, just moments before police announced they were treating the death as a homicide investigation. Addressing the family's concerns, Chief Brackney stated that investigators maintained constant contact with Fortune's mother, stepfather, and biological father throughout the case.

福琼案在密西西比州首府杰克逊引发了强烈的社区震动与恐慌，该市黑人居民占多数，而该州长期存在种族暴力与私刑的历史记忆。在此案发生前不到一年的时间里，密西西比州还发生了另外两起挂于树上的死亡事件，包括克利夫兰市达美州立大学21岁黑人学生特雷·里德（Trey Reed），以及维克斯堡市30多岁的无家可归白人男子科里·祖卡蒂斯（Cory Zukatis），官方最终均认定两人死于自杀。

Fortune's death caused deep alarm and fear across Jackson, a majority-Black city in a state marked by a history of racial violence and lynching. In the past year, two other individuals were found hanging from trees in Mississippi: 21-year-old Trey Reed, a Black student at Delta State University in Cleveland, and Cory Zukatis, an unhoused white man in his 30s in Vicksburg. Authorities ultimately determined that both of those earlier hanging deaths were suicides.

福琼的死亡在本月早些时候被一名美国国会议员形容为“疑似现代私刑”模式的一部分。本周，50多名国会议员联名致信美国联邦调查局（FBI）和司法部，对多州接连出现黑人被发现吊挂于树上的报告表达极度震惊，并要求对全美黑人吊亡事件展开独立调查。议员们指出，今年全美已报告至少10起黑人吊亡事件，而在2000年至2025年间记录在案的私刑事件超过70起，鉴于私刑在国家历史上扮演的角色，这一系列死亡事件引发了对存在谋杀犯罪的重大怀疑。

Earlier this month, a member of the U.S. Congress described Fortune's death as part of a pattern of "possible modern-day lynchings." More than 50 members of Congress sent a letter this week to the FBI and the Department of Justice, stating they were extremely alarmed by reports of Black individuals found hanging from trees across several states and demanding an independent federal investigation into such deaths. Lawmakers noted that at least 10 hangings of Black people have been reported in the United States this year, alongside more than 70 documented lynchings between 2000 and 2025, emphasizing that this sequence of deaths raises significant suspicion of foul play.