Mississippi police say black woman was dead before being hanged in staged scene

Warning: This story contains distressing details

Police in the US state of Mississippi have said that they believe a black woman was already dead before her body was "staged" and placed hanging in a tree.

The disclosure was made in court by a detective on Friday, who also said they believed Tasia Fortune, a mother of four, had been killed in a dispute related to drugs.

The 29-year-old's body was found hanging from a tree on the grounds of an abandoned home in Jackson in August.

The discovery sparked widespread fears in the majority-black city, due to the state's deep history of racial violence and lynchings. After weeks of speculation and demands for information, police made multiple arrests.

In a news release, police said that the medical examiner had determined after an autopsy that Fortune's death was a homicide and that "the scene and the hanging were staged".

The BBC has contacted the court, the medical examiner's office and Fortune's mother, Christy Spivey.

Officials have not stated the exact cause of death or shared why they believe the hanging was staged.

The medical examiner confirmed earlier this month that Fortune's cause of death was homicide and said there would be a murder charge.

Fortune's mother told the BBC that she remembers the coroner telling her: "we're not treating this as [an] actual hanging."

Her daughter, they told her, was dead before being placed in the tree.

Spivey also recalled police telling her the incident was "drug related".

Speaking to reporters outside the Jackson Police Department on Friday, Spivey described how she knows her daughter fought for her life till the very end.

"I know she did. I know my daughter," Spivey told reporters. Fortune leaves behind four young children, ages 7, 5, 4 and 1, she added.

Dressed in a shirt that reads "Justice for Tasia Fortune", Spivey stressed that she does not want to see any innocent people going to jail.

"I just hope they have the right people," she said.

Three people have been arrested in relation to the case, all of whom are Black, including Jarques Ratliff, 51, who has pleaded not guilty. He remains in custody in without bond.

A second person, Earnest Lloyd Jr, 25, was arrested in the case this week.

A third, 45-year-old Eric Clark, turned himself in to authorities on Friday and was charged with murder. He is scheduled to appear in court on Monday.

The 29-year-old's death is one of several cases in recent years that has prompted lawmakers to call on the justice department and the FBI to investigate all hanging deaths of black people in the country.

Representative Ayanna Pressley, Democrat of Massachusetts, cites at least 10 documented incidents in her September letter to Congress, external, which contained over 50 signatures from US lawmakers.

The most recent incident happened in Prince George's County, a majority-black suburb near Washington DC, on Sunday. It has been ruled a suicide.