Mother says family in ‘shock’ as investigation continues
Jackson police said Saturday they were continuing their investigation into Fortune’s death, one day after officers arrested Ratliff on a homicide charge when they encountered him walking on the street. Police had sought and located Ratliff, who is Black, according to authorities. Brackney said at Friday’s announcement that Ratliff had an “association” with Fortune but declined to elaborate on the nature of their relationship.
Police arrested Ratliff on a homicide charge, which Brackney called “an important development” in the investigation. “But it is not the conclusion. This case remains active, and additional arrests will be pending as our investigators continue to follow the evidence wherever it leads,” Brackney said Friday. “We understand that this case has received media attention from across the globe, and across this community.”
The Mississippi state medical examiner’s office determined on Thursday evening that Fortune’s death was a homicide, Brackney said, allowing police to execute warrants they already had on hand. The ruling opened the path for the homicide charge against Ratliff.
Ratliff did not appear in Hinds County jail records on Saturday, and it could not immediately be determined if he had a lawyer. André de Gruy, Mississippi’s state defender, said Ratliff should appear in Jackson municipal court no later than Monday morning. If represented by a public defender, it would be the Hinds County public defender, de Gruy said. Police did not respond to calls and messages from the Associated Press on Saturday about potential updates to the investigation beyond confirming it was still going on.
Fortune’s mother, Christy Spivey, said Friday after police notified her of the arrest that she responded by telling officers: “I just started crying and told them, ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you.’” Spivey said police did not share a motive or whether DNA led them to the arrest. She said she did not know the man who had been arrested but was asking her daughter’s friends if they knew him. She described the family as “in disbelief” and “shock.”
“We still don’t have a lot of answers,” Spivey said.
Police discovered Fortune’s body hanging in the backyard of an abandoned home in Jackson on August 3. Spivey said she was certain her daughter would not have killed herself. “Absolutely not. Even if she could climb that tree, no, no, she would never, ever, ever,” Spivey said.
An obituary about Fortune posted on the website of Tucker funeral home in Central City, Kentucky, in August stated that her “path was not always easy, and there were highs and lows.” It said she skipped her junior year of high school, was a star cross-country runner, and had a strong faith in God. Services were held in Kentucky last month. “She leaves behind a powerful legacy of resilience, rooted deeply in her unwavering faith. Even in her darkest hours, she never stopped believing in her Savior,” the obituary stated.
Fortune was the mother of four children, but she rarely saw two of them, Spivey said. The last time Spivey saw her daughter was in late July for a planned family reunion in Kentucky that was canceled; Fortune came to see her mother anyway. “When she was there, there was this pull, like a spiritual pull to her. I needed her. I guess God knew that was going to be it,” Spivey said.
Spivey said she and Fortune’s father faced racism and violence as a mixed-race couple in Crittenden County, Kentucky, before Fortune was born. Spivey said Fortune was taken from her parents and placed in foster care as a child. During her high school years she moved among group homes and eventually ran away to Mississippi, Spivey said. The obituary stated that Fortune had lived in Jackson for 10 years.
Spivey said she was not sure where her daughter was living at the time of her death but that Fortune had been struggling with homelessness in recent years. Fortune had two sisters and was close with them, Spivey said. The father of one of her children was verbally and physically abusive to Fortune, Spivey said.
Before her death, Fortune had talked about starting a cleaning business and was trying to get her life in order, her mother said. “Say her name. Keep it going,” Spivey said. “Because I’m not going to stop until I get answers.”