Second suspect arrested in hanging murder

Police in Mississippi have arrested a second man in the death of a black woman found hanging from a tree and have issued an arrest warrant for a third suspect.

Jackson police said that they arrested 25-year-old Earnest Lloyd Jr in the death of 29-year-old Tasia Fortune, whose body was found hanging behind an abandoned home in the city on August 3. Like Fortune and the first man who was arrested, 51-year-old Jarques Ratliff, Lloyd is black. He appeared at a brief hearing on Wednesday in Jackson, the state’s capital.

Fortune’s mother Christy Spivey, who attended the hearing, said afterward that she was ecstatic to see arrests made in her daughter’s death. She said that neither she nor several of her daughter’s friends knew Lloyd, and she cautioned that everyone is innocent until proven guilty.