Story perspectives

Councilman Calls for Federal Investigation into Tasia Fortune Murder

8/11/2026

Summary

Stokes Demands Probe

Police identified the Aug. 3 body as 29-year-old Tasia Fortune and coroner Jeremiah Howard sent it for autopsy.
Councilman Kenneth Stokes wrote to U.S. Attorney Baxter Kruger requesting federal help and called the death a murder.
A GoFundMe set a $3,000 goal, raised over $1,600, and later collected more than $83,000 as community leaders urged an investigation because of Mississippi’s lynching history.

Summary

Tasia Fortune Found

Tasia Fortune’s body was found on the 500 block of Road of Remembrance, Terence Anderson’s block.
Tasia Fortune was a 29-year-old mother of four, with a 5-year-old son by 65-year-old Terence Anderson.
Antonio Fortune, Christy Spivey and sister said Tasia Fortune was full of laughs, love, not suicidal.
Tony Anderson said his brother, a convicted felon painter, cares for the son and denies involvement.
Police note Tasia Fortune’s substance-abuse history.

History

Historical Context

The 1955 lynching of Emmett Till in Money, Mississippi—an event that helped launch the civil-rights movement and occurred in a state where more than 500 African Americans were lynched since 1882—remains a touchstone for confronting racial violence. The discovery of Tasia Fortune’s body on the Road of Remembrance has led Councilman Kenneth Stokes and U.S. Attorney Baxter Kruger to demand a probe, echoing Till’s legacy.

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Stokes Demands Probe

Police identified the Aug. 3 body as 29-year-old Tasia Fortune and coroner Jeremiah Howard sent it for autopsy.
Councilman Kenneth Stokes wrote to U.S. Attorney Baxter Kruger requesting federal help and called the death a murder.
A GoFundMe set a $3,000 goal, raised over $1,600, and later collected more than $83,000 as community leaders urged an investigation because of Mississippi’s lynching history.

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