Arrest rips apart media narrative on death of Black woman found hanging from Mississippi tree

Mississippi authorities have arrested a 51-year-old local man on a murder charge following an official homicide ruling in the death of Tasia Fortune, a 29-year-old Black mother of four who was found hanging from a tree behind an abandoned home last month.

The arrest follows weeks of intense media attention and widespread online discussion regarding the circumstances surrounding Fortune’s death in a state with a historic legacy of racialized violence. But law enforcement officials confirmed...