Black woman found hanging from tree was dead before body was 'staged', police say

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 at 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 that Fortune's death was a homicide and that "the scene and the hanging were staged".

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

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".