Original subtitles

- Jessica Chambers was found walking on the side of the road

near her burning car.

- According to investigators,

Chambers may have been doused in gasoline

and then set on fire.

- Her hair was fried...

out like she had stuck it in a light socket.

- What could a 19-year-old girl do to somebody

to make you do that?

- The first responders begin asking her,

"Who did this to you?"

- What she said was that, "Eric did this to me."

- I held her hand as she took her last breath.

- Less than 24 hours after Jessica was killed,

this social media firestorm began.

- The white people was sayin' the black people did it,

or black people was sayin' that a white people did it,

and it started bein' a race war.

- She's on the cover of "People" magazine,

and I dang sure don't want it on there as a murder victim.

- After 14 months, investigators in Panola County

have charged 27-year-old Quinton Tellis

with capital murder.

- I know my son didn't do this.

They're just lookin' for someone to put this murder on.

- I absolutely believe he did it, 100%.

- We want justice for Jessica but for whoever did it!

- Ladies and gentlemen, this investigation

was flawed from the very beginning.

- You had to be a real dumb black man

to burn up a white girl

in the state of Mississippi.

Courtland, pretty small town,

population of around 500, in Panola County.

The mix would be probably more African American

than Caucasian.

Being in the Mississippi Delta, farming is a huge thing.

We do have lower wage earning,

the blue collar, hardworking people here.

- Most of everybody knows everybody.

Drive down a road, and the stranger on the street

was wavin' at you as he mowed the yard.

- You went to the football games on Saturday,

you had your fun,

and then on Sunday morning, you were in church.

- A frightening mystery in North Mississippi.

- Officials say they got a call last night.

The caller saw a burning vehicle

and a person standing badly burned

on the side of the road.

- The volunteer fire department shows up on the scene.

She staggers towards them, collapses.

- Jessica Chambers is described by friends

as a popular former cheerleader.

She was found barely alive.

- The brutality of it,

what I call cold and calculated,

kinda grabbed me on the inside, and said,

okay, this is-- this is way abnormal.

- Her whole life was just taken from her in a blink of an eye.

- The picture of Jessica in my mind is blue eyes,

always smilin', the biggest dimples,

the littlest body,

and probably her little sign thrown up,

which is the "I love you."

I love you.

- Jessica was a blonde-haired, cotton top little girl.

Jessica's smile would just light up a room

when she came in.

- Jessica loved to cheer at the football games.

- She was a flier.

They'd throw her up in the air.

God, I was so afraid they was gonna drop her.

- Jessica was full of life.

Jessica was stubborn as a mule.

Jessica was just a joy.

At one time, she wanted to be a teacher.

At one time, she wanted to be a book writer.

And the major thing she always said was,

she wanted to be an RN.

- I knew Jessica Chambers from high school.

If you needed a laugh or smile, she was the one to go to.

- She was that type of person where you would love to be around her

because she would do the craziest things.

- Jessica and I were neighbors,

and then when I heard about it,

I was just-- I was really shocked.

No one deserves, you know, being burned alive.

She was just such a good person.

Everybody wanted to know, like,

who did this to her and why?

- When that happened, on the 6th,

it did not seem out of the ordinary at all.

Jessica had left home, went to the store,

come back about 12:30-1:00.

She got her pajama pants and piled up in the chair

in the living room and went to sleep.

Sometime between 4:45 and 5:15,

she got a phone call, a text,

whichever one it was. I'm not sure.

And then she went out the door

and said she'd be back to clean up her room.

She was goin' to get her somethin' to eat.

I called her, and she said,

"I'll be home in a little while, mama.

"Bye. I love you."

I told her I loved her, too.

She said, "See ya in a little bit",

and that's the last I heard from her.

- We pulled up, and Jessica was layin' right here,

and I remember the heat comin' off the truck.

We started rendering medical aid for Jessica,

and-and, um,

I remember looking down, and she was laid on her side,

and they had this old Army blanket coverin',

and the only thing she had on was a pair of panties.

Just seeing her layin' on that ground,

that piece of skin,

every time she breathed, go in and out her nose.

Ain't a damn thing you can do about it.

The burn spots were red.

Looked like, in some places,

maybe a little like somebody had smeared charcoal on her.

She wasn't complainin' about pain or nothin'.

You know, she was shakin'.

Somebody asked her was she cold or somethin',

and it-it seemed like she nodded her head.

You know, she wasn't real talkative.

And then a firefighter, Randy Davis,

was kinda back over toward her feet, and, he said,

"Well, hon, who-who done this to you?"

Kinda just looked up,

turned her head just a little bit,

and plain as day, she said, "Eric did this."

She didn't call no last name.

You know, she just-- she said, "Eric did this."

We was all kinda stunned.

I thought whoever did this may still be out there.

Seeing her the way she was and then still alive,

and I don't wish this on my worst enemy.

Here, the ambulance had pulled up over here.

They unloaded a stretcher, and they loaded her up on it,

and that was the last I seen of her.

- The Sheriff's Department, he said,

"There's been an accident.

"Jessica has been burned."

You know, and I couldn't fathom

what he was really talkin' about, you know?

I sent my wife, Debbie, down there to get Lisa right then.

- Debbie, Ben's wife, had come down

and pulled in the driveway,

screaming, "They set her on fire."

And I'm like, "They set who on fire?"

And she said, "They set Jessica on fire."

And I said, "-I just got off the phone with her."

I was panicked, angry, scared.

If there was an emotion, I felt it.

- Doctor come out there

and told us there wasn't nothin'

they could do to Jessica,

and it just broke my heart, man.

You know, I begged him, "Please," you know?

- They told us it was 93% of her body.

I just hit my knees.

I wanted to go to her.

I was scared to go back there.

I peeped in the room.

I don't know what they saw, but I saw my child.

Maybe a rosy cheek...

but I saw my baby.

I held her hand as she took her last breath

and told her it was okay.

She could go.

The pain and guilt I feel for telling her she can go,

but I know I couldn't a kept her here.

There was no way.

- Authorities are trying to track down the person

who lit a teenager on fire in Panola County.

Investigators are reviewing cell phone records

and talking to witnesses.

- You had a group of the best investigators in the world

sittin' around this table to help get this case solved.

- The FBI, and the DEA, and ATF.

- We probably interviewed 30 or 40 different suspects

that night.

You had several of the firemen initially that said

they heard her say--

- Derrick. - Eric or Derrick.

So, man, we interviewed everybody in the town

of Courtland and the surrounding area

by the name of Eric or Derrick.

- We did. We did.

- Everybody, I mean-- - Yeah.

- Every Eric and Derrick in Panola County.

- Yeah. - Yeah.

- One of the people investigators questioned

is Eric Bibbs.

- They came by here about 9:30.

He said, "There was a-a accident, I think,

"down the road, and, your name was mentioned."

And I was like, "Well, no, I've been here."

- I was just called in to, you know, in--

for a interview about a situation I didn't know

nothin' about.

They was just askin' me, you know, did I know her?

Was I sleeping with her?

So, I seen her around at the stores and everything,

but I don't just know her like that.

- Everybody was on edge.

I mean, we-we all were-were totin' guns.

- And people just was scared to even talk about it.

They didn't wanna say anything about the murder,

or who it could be, or who it couldn't be

because you might be next.

- She was terrified there for a while

'cause he threatened to kill her.

- She didn't want nobody tellin' her what she could

or could not do.

- One step closer to justice for Jessica Chambers.

A man is now charged with killing her.

- This is a post that I had made.

"Today is your birthday, again, 22 years. Wow."

Jessica is my little sister.

We are six years apart,

but, growin' up, that was my shadow.

She was my best friend.

I have a voicemail on my phone.

She wanted to know what my three daughters

wanted for Christmas.

She wanted me to know that the "Frozen" movie

had just came out.

I replay that voicemail over and over.

My husband is in the military, and we were stationed

about 1,200 miles away,

and my mom called and told me

that Jessica had been set on fire.

There was absolutely no words.

I had set up a Justice for Jessica page on Facebook

so that anyone that wanted to follow Jessica's story could,

and within 24 hours,

Justice for Jessica had 150,000 followers.

Justice for Jessica means that this person

will get what they deserve,

but I still have to live the rest of my life

without Jessica,

and, for me, there's no justice for that.

- I'm Katie Baker, and I am an investigative reporter

for BuzzFeed news.

I came across Jessica's story really randomly

just looking online.

It struck me immediately because being burned alive

is such a horrific and personal way to die.

And because she was this young, beautiful, blonde cheerleader,

that's why her story took off.

After Jessica was killed,

this social media firestorm began.

There was the Jessica Chambers Mystery Facebook page.

There were five or six others.

It was almost as if people wanted to binge watch

Jessica's murder investigation.

Jessica was a teenager from a tiny town in Mississippi

that most Americans haven't even heard of,

but somehow these people from all over the country,

these wannabe detectives,

thought that they could investigate Jessica's murder

more thoroughly than local law enforcement,

even though they were just sitting on their couch

in Canada or on a houseboat in Florida.

They thought they could do it better.

It wasn't just this horrific murder mystery.

It was more a story to me about a small town

and what happens when the Internet descends

on this town and causes problems.

- We're hearing much about some of the rumors

that have been on social media,

very disturbing things.

- There were rumors that it was a gang thing

or it had something to do with drugs.

- Jessica was not labeled a gang member.

She was just what you call

the girlfriend of a gang member.

- Gang activity was really a focus of social media.

It was a focus that we looked at.

We actually had gang members helping us find out who it was

because of the increased police presence

that was in the community.

Did she know kids that were in the gang? Yeah.

But when we looked at her activities

and everything that was going on,

it just didn't point that way at all.

- While the crime itself probably wasn't racially motivated,

these commenters out on social media

turned it into a race thing.

- Because she had black friends and she dated black guys,

it started bein' a race war.

- The social media situation,

it made me mad.

Jessica loved everybody.

She'd never seen a color in a person.

She would probably be really mad

about the fact of how people became so separated.

- Tonight, the mother of another young man

who's been accused on the Internet

says it's time for the focus to go off of her son

and onto the effort to find the real killer.

- There were lots of Internet rumors

that Jessica had been murdered by one of her ex-boyfriends.

For example, Bryan Rudd.

- They put Bryan's picture on the web all over the world.

- I know she started datin' Bryan Rudd her senior year.

Jessica was crazy over Bryan.

She thought Bryan hung the moon.

They did have a volatile relationship.

- We alibied Bryan Rudd out very early.

We knew he was in lowa.

- Bryan Rudd says he has nothing to do with Jessica's murder

and is heartbroken to hear about what happened

to his old girlfriend.

- Soon as her and Bryan were over and everything,

she started datin' Travis Sanford.

- She was in love with that boy.

I don't know what it was about Travis.

She was in love with him.

- Early on, there were speculations

that it could be a hit

because her boyfriend was in prison at that time,

and because he had found out

that she might have been seeing other people.

- Obviously, Travis Sanford had a good alibi.

He was behind bars.

If he had been out,

I would imagine that would've been a big problem for him.

- She was dating Travis, to my knowledge,

the day she passed.

- It looked like everyone in Courtland was a suspect.

It was such a small town.

Even Jessica Chambers' father was a suspect.

Ben Chambers does have some issues.

He has a drug conviction in his past.

- The Internet commenters decided

that-that he must be involved in Jessica's murder.

- Yeah, they questioned me.

I had to prove where I was or whatever, you know?

They knew I didn't do that.

I mean, you know, they know me.

I mean, I wouldn't harm a hair on one of my child's heads

for no reason.

- People said that her daddy did it

because he didn't want her to be

with a black guy.

- It bothered me a lot, you know,

but they don't say it to my face.

I know, in my heart, I didn't hurt nobody.

I'm not a racist.

I got just as many black friends and Mexican friends

I do white.

I don't believe in mixed relationship.

There ain't nothin' wrong with 'em.

Don't get me wrong.

They're more than welcome to come to my house anytime,

but that's just the way I feel.

That's the way I was growed up.

I don't believe in that.

- People make some awful comments.

I'm always on here lookin' to see what I can take off.

It's like I can feel Jessica over my shoulder,

"Delete that. Delete that."

- They said my mom was a drug addict,

and Jessica wouldn't get her drugs.

- I'm very upset about that, very, very.

I don't even take pills.

- These two parents just buried their child.

These are all people that don't know us.

They've never met Ben.

They've never met my mom.

It was disgusting.

- Nobody knew who did this, and with people on social media

accusing everybody, it tore this town apart.

- A heinous crime has been committed in Panola County,

where I'm sheriff, where I put my heart and soul into

to protect people.

I'm Dennis Darby.

I was the sheriff during the murder of Jessica Chambers.

This one, it was personal because Ben Chambers,

the father of Jessica,

was an employee here at the sheriff's office,

workin' as a mechanic.

- We just left the Batesville area.

This is Courtland.

Courtland is a-a lot smaller town.

Jessica was from Courtland.

We have gang affiliations here like everywhere else.

A lotta killings, crack cocaine, and meth,

and heroin-- we have our fair share of it.

I hear so many negative comments about Mississippi.

We're illiterate.

We can't read and write.

We don't even have running water down here,

and we eat fried chicken every day.

People don't like to hear the good.

They wanna hear the bad.

We've got a lotta good going on around here, too.

We do have really good fried chicken, though.

- My name is Ben Chambers.

I am Jessica's father.

Jessica was probably about three years old

when me and her mother split up

when, moved down here.

We're right down the road.

We don't live, you know, an eighth of a mile apart.

I've been livin' here on this road,

probably 25 years.

Real hard livin' here.

I-- when I first moved here, this was a good neighborhood.

Really, the last four or five years,

it's so much crime and gangs that moved in here

and took over.

Just things done got so bad.

Like that right there. Hear that?

That was a-- that was a pistol.

They shoot all the time.

I know they wouldn't, shoot me intentionally,

but, you know,

y'all, a bullet don't have no eyes, you know?

I just don't trust people no more.

I see people, and I think, well, you know,

are you the person that did that to my daughter?

You know, are you the person that did that to my daughter,

you know?

How somebody could burn a-a-a-a beautiful young girl

like that for no reason--

nobody deserve what he did to Jessica

for no reason.

Any color, any nation-- anything,

no animal deserves that.

And, whoever done that, I don't even wish that on him,

but I wish he could feel the pain he's caused me,

you know? I really do.

- When you look at it, the car was up on an embankment.

It's like, was it an accident?

It was an older car.

But investigators kept saying, no, it wasn't.

- There were no markings on the fence.

There were no markings on the car.

Everyone out there, that was part of the investigation

said absolutely not.

There's no way this was an accident.

- Now, right down here is-is the scene of the murder,

you know, of Jessica Chambers.

- Sheriff, do you remember the car took a-a hard left

comin' up this hill?

- It's grown up a lot.

- Car was nose just-just as tight in here as it could--

where her driver's door would've been lodged.

- This was kind of a muddy slope at the time.

The firemen gave a statement that,

"Do you know who did this?"

And it sounded like she said, "Eric," or, "Derrick."

The first responders kept sayin' they heard

"Eric" or "Derrick."

- Her cell phone was found right about here.

I mean, the car, it was completely burned.

The only thing that was left was solid metal.

We came back and brought a team back the-the following day,

so we could check the immediate area for any more evidence.

- We was adamant about finding who did this.

But when you get on a trail, when you get to information,

you go to numerous states, you go to numerous interviews,

and you come to a dead end,

you gotta turn around and come back,

and you have to follow another lead.

- This was a bizarre case because we had several

what we thought to be really, really, really good leads.

We interviewed both black and white suspects,

who, persons of interest.

A reporter who had actually gotten a call from a lady

in lowa telling us that there was a guy up there

talking about killing Jessica.

So, officers immediately went up there,

and we realized that this had absolutely nothing to do

with Jessica.

And we had a young man supposedly confess

to a family member in another part of the state

that he had killed her.

He was alibied out.

- I honestly thought Roger Lynn had did it, 100%...

'cause I knew Roger was mad at my daughter.

She was terrified there for a while

because he threatened to kill her.

I know she smoked weed some. Yeah.

- Roger Lynn is dead now.

He was a drug addict that's been around here forever

that people suspected.

He was one we interviewed and had no evidence.

- We were taking DNA samples from just about everybody

we interviewed.

Quinton Tellis was interviewed very early on

in the investigation.

We had witnesses confirm he was with,

Jessica in the mornin'

on the day that she was murdered.

So, Quinton was brought in.

He was talked to about where he was

and what he did that day.

You know, seemed very believable.

He was interviewed a second time about three weeks later.

He even gave us an alibi of where he was

some 30 minutes after the fire was set,

and officers went to where he said he was

and confirmed that he was down there.

So, at that time, he kinda went off of our radar.

- Our business is to find out who the killer is.

There was over 150 people interviewed in this case,

and, that takes a while.

- We followed up every possible lead that we could follow up,

and it just did not lead us anywhere.

- Jessica was a loving child, you know?

I mean, she-- Jessica had her faults as anybody does.

She could be stubborn when she wanted to be.

- Probably six-- 15, 16,

that's-that's when things

sorta started goin' downhill.

- She stopped wantin' to be a cheerleader, you know?

I knew somethin' was wrong then.

- She was a rebellious teenager.

She didn't want nobody tellin' her

what she could or could not do.

- Allen's passing was horrible on Jessica.

It was probably the breaking point of her.

- It was like she lost part of herself.

- She started hanging with a totally different group

of friends, and school wasn't the first priority to them,

you know?

Hanging out and, you know, smokin' weed

was first priority to them.

- Jessica went to South Panola High School her freshman,

sophomore, junior, and part of her senior year.

It was after Christmas that she dropped out.

- I took her car away from her

to try to stop her from runnin' around

with the people she was runnin' around with.

When I tried to do somethin' with Jessica, you know,

I was the bad guy, you know?

Now, you deal with her now.

- She kept goin' deeper and deeper,

but my family loved Jessica no matter what she did.

- This is Jessica's room.

Um, those are stuffed animals people had sent

on her bed, and that was hers.

That's hers.

That's her makeup, whatever.

That's hers.

This is one of her cheerleader outfits.

I believe this--

junior high...

high school...

and this was her letterman jacket.

I keep all that.

Nobody is to ever remove it.

I don't think I could handle that.

Everything in this room is special to me.

She's everywhere, and as long as I'm here,

I feel she's here with me.

Jessica was my best friend.

We would fight like best friends.

We would make up the same way.

I can just sit here, and I feel here.

Nothin' has been taken out.

When I die, they can remove it.

Until then, they better not touch it.

I don't care who likes it or don't.

I'll only be happy when I'm with her again,

and I apologize to both my other kids,

but that's how I feel.

- Still, no word on who lit the Panola County teenager

on fire and left her to die on a county road.

- It's baffling to us that we're not getting more information.

Nobody wants to solve this case any more than we do.

- I kept thinkin' at first

that they would find whoever done it quickly,

but, as time went on, I started losin' hope.

- The reward for information in the Jessica Chambers case

is now at $16,000.

- Thirty thousand dollars.

- Forty-three thousand dollars.

- The streets were quiet.

Could've been because all you hear outta people

is snitches end up in ditches.

- There is a $54,000 reward if you can help solve the case.

- Who wouldn't speak for $54,000?

I prayed morning, noon, and night for an arrest.

- A lotta people around here, you know, it's hush-hush.

If you think that somebody is out to get you,

you're not gonna say nothin' at all.

- I don't think that law enforcement was prepared

for the spotlight that was put on them.

- She's on the cover of "People" magazine,

and I dang sure don't want it on there as a murder victim.

- None of the informants that the officers had

could get us any information.

The reward got us absolutely nowhere.

- One year after the Mississippi girl's murder,

the Chambers family is still waiting for her killer

to be caught.

- I'm not pleased that I wasn't informed of things

all through this.

I've been upset since day one.

- I wasn't happy with the investigation--

not happy at all.

- If you can help us, please help us find justice

for my sister.

Please?

the final hour of Jessica Chambers' life.

WMC Action News 5 has uncovered new surveillance video

that could help provide clues in her killing.

- A gas station clerk showed me video

of what appears to be Jessica Chambers'

last few moments alive.

- The clerk at the store, Ali Alsani,

said that he released surveillance footage

to the police in an attempt to be helpful

to the investigation,

but by putting himself out there like that,

the wannabe internet sleuths

were convinced he had something

to do with her death.

- He had posted some pictures on Facebook

that kind of made it look like thug life.

So, are you a member of a gang?

- No, I'm-I'm sure not.

You can-- I never had a problem with no police.

- The information that people were putting out on social media

did have some serious consequences for Ali Alsani,

and he finally ended up having to leave town.

- I was just trying to help, and, at the end,

everything turns against me.

It's really sad 'cause I really don't feel--

I don't feel free no more.

- It's been almost two weeks.

Mystery still surrounds the 19-year-old's death.

George Mister and Rachel Tutor say they're the latest

to be questioned in Jessica Chambers' murder.

- I took a lie detector test.

I took a-a swab test.

- Jessica into any trouble?

- We don't know, you know?

We don't know what the problem was that got her killed.

- My name is George Mister, and people call me "Boone".

I did 21 years in prison.

I paid for them mistakes.

Jessica, she was a cool girl, man.

She just-- she was lookin' for love.

She ran to us.

We embraced-ed her.

Jessica and her daddy,

they didn't have no good relationship

because he didn't agree with it,

you know, her datin' black guys,

and he feel like they had her-- I had her on the drugs

and stuff, but it wasn't like that.

When she was a cheerleader, she got addicted to drugs.

It's my friend, really.

Yeah, I-- we messed off, but, I mean, she was my friend.

I seen her that morning.

I didn't have no cocaine, so she left,

which I think we seen her again

on the back road later on.

That's the last time we seen her.

That's the last time we seen her.

We pull up at the store.

All kinda police jump out on us.

Throw the guns on us.

Slam us on the ground.

The police told me, he was like, "Man,

"they think you killed that girl, man."

I'm like, "Who? Jessica?"

He's like, "Yeah."

I said, "Man, you're crazy."

I ain't did nothin', you know?

It was just-- they wanted to pin it on somebody

to get it off them, you know?

The black community, if they knew who killed her,

they would have told you.

I'm telling you.

We knew her.

We knew the real Jessica Chambers.

She was a cheerleader, true enough,

but she wasn't no saint, man.

I'm gonna get away from here one day, one of the years,

if they don't kill me first.

- This was a lengthy investigation.

It went on for months, and months, and months.

When it gets quiet, they think there's not anything going on.

Well, that's when we do our best work.

- One step closer to justice for Jessica Chambers--

14 months after she was burned to death,

a man is now charged with killing her.

- I would like to announce the indictment

of Quinton Verdell Tellis,

in the death of Jessica Chambers.

He's 27 years old.

He is from Courtland.

The best I can classify it is, they knew each other,

and they were friends.

We tried to retrace Jessica's steps

on the day that she was burned.

We knew that she was with Quinton Tellis that morning.

He was adamant that the last time he saw her

was roughly 11 o'clock that morning.

He popped back up in September when we were rerunning

a lot of the cell phone data,

and his cell phone was on the exact same spot

that Jessica's cell phone was pinging the night

that she died,

and we realized that Quinton had not been honest with us.

- Who-who is Quinton Tellis?

I don't know.

I was just in shock.

I mean, I'd never heard of him.

- I didn't know Quinton Tellis from Barney Fife.

I mean, never heard of Quinton Tellis.

- She never really commented about him.

Only thing that she's ever said about him

is, he's real cool, and he's quiet.

- I have never known him to do nothin' like this all my life,

and for people to go around

and just say he did somethin' like this,

kinda hard to believe.

- The State of Mississippi versus Quinton Verdell Tellis.

What says the state?

- The State of Mississippi present

that Quinton Verdell Tellis

did willfully and unlawfully kill and murder

Jessica Lane Chambers.

- All right. how does Mr. Tellis plead?

- Mr. Tellis enters a plea of not guilty, Your Honor.

- They had questioned him-- gave him a lie detector test.

He cleared.

He ain't got nothin' to do with it.

Folks just wanna judge him, but I don't understand it.

My brother is not a killer.

- But being a mother,

you know what your child are capable of doin'

and what they are not capable of doin',

and I know my son didn't do this.

- Did his hand like this.

And his mom, he love us.

He can't take a fall for it because he didn't commit it,

and I understand that, and I'm gonna be behind him 100%.

- The only gratifying thing of this is,

this is the first step toward the resolution of the case.

Yeah, we'll be ready to go when it's time for, trial.

- Say the blessing, Anabelle.

- God, thank you for this day.

Thank you for Jessica being safe

and everyone is having a great time.

The way that we pray, amen.

- Amen.

- I didn't wanna take nobody's.

- Shoo, fly, shoo.

- I'm gonna go get some ranch.

- Okay.

- What time does the trial start?

- It's supposed to be, like, 9 to 5 every day,

even on Saturdays.

- Ben, me and mama was talkin', and I'm sure there's gonna be

a lotta pictures and stuff.

If you don't think you can stand seein' pictures,

just close your eyes.

- 'Cause that memory will stick in your mind.

- The hurt's there.

I mean, can't nothin' take that hurt away.

He took somethin' that God gave me

and can't nobody replace, you know? And it just--

the longer it goes, the worse it gets on me.

- You got a lotta anger built up,

and you gotta let go of it.

- Hard to believe, you know, they live that close.

If you go straight to the end of the road,

you'd dead-end to the house.

- I mean, it gets hard knowin' they live right there.

- Yeah, it-- yeah, I know. You--

- 'Cause it's a constant reminder.

- It sure is.

So many people, you know, they think, man, damn, Ben,

why ain't you killed that guy yet, you know?

- Yeah.

- How can I get to him to kill him?

I ain't gonna say I wouldn't kill him

if I get my hands on him, you know?

If you kill my dog, I'm gonna kill your dog and cat.

You do somethin' to me--

I'm gonna do somethin' back to you.

- First time I heard of Quinton Tellis,

he was in a gang called Gangster Disciples.

- Investigators think he's tied to a murder right here

in Northeast Louisiana.

- The answer we've all been waiting to hear

for the last three years-- the explosive allegations

from the state on what happened to 19-year-old

Jessica Chambers the night she was burned alive.

- All rise.

- I think he suffocated her and thought he had killed her.

He wanted sex.

- She said, "Eric set me on fire."

- Cannot find the guilty person by convicting a innocent one.

- Quinton?

- Yes, ma'am.

- Did you kill Jessica Chambers?

- Well, this investigation is stepping up considerably.

A 19-year-old girl trying to get her life together

ends up burned almost to death

on the side of a rural road,

and it took 14 months just to find a suspect.

- Quinton Tellis is a resident of Courtland,

and Jessica was a resident of the Courtland area.

They were introduced through friends.

We will not have any other charges

against any other suspect.

- Quinton and Jessica had a relationship prior to this.

It was only about two weeks,

but they were involved in some way or another.

- When I got the first phone call about Jessica,

we had just come in from our day.

My mom called, and I thought, "Let me relax,

"and I'm gonna call her right back."

And then she called, again.

Before I could even listen to the voicemail,

she was callin' a third time,

and I thought,

"Let me just answer this phone."

"Hello."

And it was a sound that just...

goes straight through you.

She told me that Jessica had been set on fire.

I thought she burnt her arm.

What do you mean she's been set on fire?

She told me Jessica was being flown to the hospital.

That's when I knew it was more than just her arm.

I just-- I fell...

I fell to my knees...

and I remember just silence.

She'd finally choked up enough to say,

"They don't think she'll make it."

- Hundreds of friends and family showed up

for the visitation for Jessica Chambers.

- There's really no words to describe how I feel right now

for somebody that you never woulda thought would be gone.

- Following Jessica Chambers' funeral,

a candlelight vigil as people signed banners

and released balloons in her memory.

- East Coast to West Coast,

people I've never even heard or dreamed called me,

you know, and light a candle for my daughter.

- Never in a million years would I have ever thought

that I couldn't come out of my door and see Jessica

walking down the street to my house.

- I could see her smile, right now.

- Yeah.

- We were best friends.

We'd go to the movies together.

We'd drink together.

- When Jessica died,

I felt like there was a huge hole inside of me.

I was heartbroken.

- They just kept sayin' a boyfriend did it, at first.

- Yeah.

Whether it's Quinton Tellis or not, we want that person,

whoever did it, or people,

to be caught and get what they deserve.

- What got me was the Jessica Chambers Mystery page.

Everybody was tryin' to be little detectives.

She had a boyfriend that was in a gang.

She had another boyfriend that was in a gang.

Jessica was what you call a wild child.

She had her little rebel streak,

but she had gotten out of that.

She had gotten a job. Talked about college.

She was done with the gangs.

- I'm Jimmy Anthony.

Here at Panola County, I document gang intelligence,

who the gang members are, which organizations.

First time I heard of Quinton Tellis,

he was in A gang called Gangster Disciples.

He got caught breaking into things.

Gangs organize burglaries.

All of 'em dabble in narcotics,

and when you've got drugs, you're gonna have violence.

You got a Gangster Disciples symbol down there.

You got your six-point star over here, here, here.

Each point represents a meaning to them.

This is somethin' about strike again.

Vice Lords strike again.

The gang culture is nothing but violent.

These kids is throwin' their life away doin' this.

- Unfortunately, we have violent crime everywhere,

but the nature of how Jessica died was very brutal.

It just kinda grabbed me on the inside.

- As an attorney and a former prosecutor,

I was drawn to the case

not just because of the horrific nature of the crime.

It's a murder mystery in a small town.

There are all these racial overtones,

a social media explosion,

and they couldn't find a suspect

for more than a year.

I also wondered if they had the right guy.

- I was very surprised when they said Quinton was the one

who did this to Jessica.

I mean, I never got any weird vibes from him.

- Knowing Quinton's family,

I wouldn't think that he would be capable

of murder.

He was just another little boy runnin' around there playin'.

- This is a family picture.

This is me.

This is my sister, Shaneeka, right here,

and this is Quint.

I think he's about eight.

As you see, he's just smilin'.

This is me and him at church.

This is me, and this is him.

We were always together.

He was protector of me.

I'm older than him,

but he always acted like he was the oldest.

He was like a daddy to me.

We would always go to the park and to the beach,

and play foosball, and wrestle.

We were always close, always.

- Hello.

All right. How you doin'?

- Quint.

My brother, he's more than a brother to me.

he's my best friend.

He's that shoulder to lean on.

All right, love you. - Love you, too.

- But when he gets mad, he can be a bulldog.

- Quinton Tellis spent most of his life from that point on

in and out of prison.

- He also wasn't a model inmate.

He had lots of infractions--

contraband and not obeying the rules.

- Jessica were cool.

She had a problem with her family,

she'd talk to my brother.

So, why would he wanna hurt her?

- Plenty of nights she'd come over here cryin',

and he was that shoulder to lean on.

- Quinton. - Hey.

- Hey, my name is Beth Karas.

What was your relationship with Jessica like?

Did you like her more than-- romantically,

or did she like you romantically,

but you weren't both on the same page?

NO.

- His name is Quinton Tellis, and investigators think

he's tied to another murder

right here in Northeast Louisiana.

- The tragic death of Meing-Chen Hsiao.

Her friends knew her as Mandy.

- All rise.

- Who killed Jessica Chambers?

It's the answer we've all been waiting to hear.

- If you want justice for Jessica,

first you gotta do justice for Quinton.

- Very nervous about testifying.

I actually hope just to make it through it.

- Jessica was last seen at the end of this road.

I used to come here a lot.

It just felt like you could feel her here.

I know that sounds crazy.

Okay.

All this was burnt.

I don't even know how the car was parked in here.

I've heard so many different stories,

that gas was put on top of the car and all over her,

and I've heard that gas was poured all over the car

and not her.

What actually happened, I have no clue.

This would have to be done by a heartless,

soulless person.

Demonic in my opinion.

I hope, in the trial,

that they can shed some light

as to what actually took place here

because, right now, my heart hurts.

It's just a sick feelin'.

I need to know.

I need to know what was done.

- The praise and the satisfaction we get

is when we hear a jury say, "Guilty,"

knowing that the family sitting there behind us

is getting justice for their loved one.

I'm John Champion.

I've been the D.A. since I was appointed in 2001.

I've been preparing for this case

since the day Jessica died,

so I'm ready to go forward on it, and so is Jay.

- We have been workin' on this for three years.

I'm talkin' about every day, all day,

just on this one case,

which is-is unusual.

This has probably been the most trying,

most difficult case we've ever had to work with.

Just the process involved given all the data we have,

the cell phone records.

- Our break in the case came when we began looking

at Jessica's cell phone data

and realized that Jessica and Quinton,

the two of them, were right on top of each other.

Once we had this cell phone data

confirming Quinton was with Jessica

on the day that she was murdered,

we went to look for Quinton,

and we didn't know where he was.

We learned that Quinton was in jail in Louisiana.

- His name is Quinton Tellis,

and investigators think he's tied to a murder

right here in Northeast Louisiana.

- The death is currently being investigated as a homicide.

- Her name is Meing-Chen Hsiao,

but her friends knew her as Mandy.

- Her body was discovered after neighbors called

the landlord for this complex

and reported that they were smelling a foul odor.

- There were superficial puncture wounds,

about her neck and-and chest area,

which seemed to suggest that she was being tortured.

- This was the street Mandy would ride her bike down.

This is also where she would meet Quinton Tellis.

- Police said that the neighbor was coming downstairs one day

and met Quinton Tellis at the bottom of the stairs.

He asked several questions about Mandy, where she was at,

when the woman had saw her last, and the questions

kind of creeped the woman out

and raised her-her attention.

- He was quick to come up with alibis,

and it never panned out.

After her death,

Mr. Tellis was seen on a ATM camera

using her card to make a withdrawal from an ATM.

- They arrested Quinton Tellis...

...and he was booked on the unauthorized use

of a debit card.

- There was no DNA or physical evidence

anywhere in that apartment

linking Quinton Tellis to this homicide.

Soon as he was arrested,

that's when Panola County got in touch with us

and let us know that he was a suspect

in that case, also.

- It really piqued our interest.

We felt like we needed to get on down there

as quick as we could to talk to Quinton.

- Quinton, did you kill Jessica Chambers?

And what about the woman in Louisiana?

Did you kill Mandy?

- The D.A. eventually takes the death penalty off the table,

but all that Quinton knew during the interrogation that day

was that he was in big trouble for a murder

he insisted he did not commit.

- This is my wedding day.

Jessica was my maid of honor.

We were really close.

She was always who I talked to about my boy problems.

Even though there was six years difference,

I still told her so-and-so broke my heart,

and we would always go eat a big tub of frosting.

That was our thing.

Now, I live about 1,000 miles from home.

With the trial right around the corner,

I don't wanna not be there,

so I came up with a way to earn money to get home.

When everything first happened,

there was a lot of people that wanted to show support

by wearing T-shirts or car decals.

So, I started my own business.

These are some of the things I've made.

This one was a car decal.

Pink is Jessica's favorite color.

The keychains, they say justice for Jessica.

And this is Jessica's actual handwriting from a letter

that she had written me,

so it's almost like

I'm actually touching what she wrote.

It's about as close as I can get.

This is just a "for me" piece.

- What we need to do,

is get all of our lay witnesses together.

- All the subpoenas were issued yesterday.

- So, we're gonna serve 'em individually.

- We're gonna serve 'em individually,

but this-this letter is actually going out

with each individual subpoena.

- All right.

Two weeks from Monday, we go to trial,

and I think we've got a really good game plan in place.

When we do the field trip,

they're gonna be able to see Quinton's residence,

and then we come on down on Main Street,

and we show 'em where the keys were found.

We found a set of keys that belonged to Jessica

that were down the road from where the car was found.

- It's two-tenths of a mile from where they found her keys

on the side of the road to the crime scene.

- The keys came back with a-a mixture, of DNA,

but it had our suspect, Quinton Tellis',

DNA in the keys.

What I suspect happened, is somethin' occurred

at Quinton's house when they were in the car together

that he felt like he probably had killed her

and had to get her away from his house.

He drives the car down the road.

He takes the keys and throws the keys down

along the way back to his house.

I believe that's Quinton getting the gasoline.

He drives back to the scene,

douses the car and Jessica with gas,

sets it on fire.

- I like this. It all makes sense.

- Well, we've got all the prep work done.

- We just need to finalize our game plan.

- We got our weeks cut out for us.

- We ain't done this much work in years.

- It's gonna be complicated,

but I think the trial is gonna flow very well.

The only problems that I foresee there could be

would be between the victim's family

and the suspect's family,

and I'm gonna request that they sit on opposite sides

of the courtroom.

I will have a plain clothes officer

within six or eight feet of both of 'em.

If somethin' was to break out,

at least two people stay with Quinton Tellis all the time.

- If you have to eject somebody from the courtroom,

don't hesitate to get them out.

- No.

- Well, you know, we're gonna prepare for the worst-case scenario

not only in the courtroom but outside the premise

of the courthouse.

- If you see somebody gangin' up, they need to move on.

- Move 'em. - That's right.

- If you come in here and start causin' problems,

we're not gonna tolerate it.

We're zero tolerant for any nonsense.

It's gonna be a really, really strong case.

We know it's him.

I think the evidence will prove that.

- I don't believe John Champion would prosecute it

if he didn't know 100%

that he could get a conviction on it.

- Sure, but it takes one juror to hang it up,

one person, and people do it for various reasons.

They'll say, "Well, I think that, yeah, he's guilty,

"but I just think the penalty is too strong,

"so I find him not guilty."

A jury will always be a concern.

You know, different people perceive information differently,

and you don't have to give a reason for votin' not guilty.

- But, now if you sit on that jury,

and you follow the evidence--

- Yeah, we're not gonna have any problems, zero.

- No problem. - It's a wrapped up case.

- That's right.

- Darla Palmer is the lead attorney.

She's not court appointed.

Some of her work is public defender work,

but not in this case.

My understanding is, she was retained by the Tellis family

for Quinton's defense.

- In talking to Quinton, you know,

when we started the case out,

he told us, "Well, I took a polygraph,

"and the guy told me that I passed."

And so, I thought, okay, here we have a person

who's passed a polygraph.

From day one, he has proclaimed his innocence.

- Even though this case is not a case

where he is looking at the death penalty,

he's looking at a life without parole,

and this young man is 29 years old.

Their case against Quinton was flawed from the very beginning,

and I don't believe he killed Jessica Chambers.

- I think he shoulda still been in jail,

then he wouldn't have been able to kill my daughter.

I will never forgive him.

I mean, I-I will never.

- He don't know how bad that-- that I wanna take his life.

All I wanna do, is hurt him.

I want him to feel the pain I feel,

and I don't want somebody else to do it.

I wanna do it.

- The sheriff knows where I lived?

I have never had the sheriff's department

at my house.

How are you?

Pretty good.

I sure will.

- I appreciate it.

- Thank you. - Okay.

- "State of Mississippi versus Quinton Tellis.

"You are hereby commanded to summon Lisa Chambers

"on the 10th day of October 2017 at 8:00 a.m."

My heart is beatin' so fast.

It's doin' its own stress test, right now.

I'm passin', so far.

It's not really a surprise to get the subpoena,

but it's still crazy because...

it's my daughter.

It makes it real...

and I don't know if I can handle that.

- This is the longest investigation

I've ever been involved with.

- Well, you better enjoy today 'cause it's gonna be a while

before you can come back down here because of the trial.

- A lot of people don't understand the magnitude

of a case like this.

The evidence in the vehicle was burnt,

so we had to have some other lead.

- We found the keys on the side of the road.

- But you can't walk in there and say, "You did it."

You've got to have the evidence.

Yeah, you know, it's kinda like organizing a football game.

You know, you have to coach.

- And make sure all the witnesses are prepared

for a conviction on a person who did such a heinous crime.

We worked 24-7 to get this thing solved,

and it finally come together.

- It's 8:45 on Monday mornin'.

We're beginning jury selection.

Tellis has been transported to the courthouse here

at Pike County.

- They wanted to get away from Panola County,

as far as they could, to make it more fair,

as fair as possible.

- We're going to have to bring some folks about four hours

away from their homes for up to two weeks

and house them, you know,

in a hotel with people they probably don't know.

I mean, that's always a challenge when we do that.

- In the local paper, they had advertised that the jury

was being selected from Pike County on Monday,

and I had received a juror summons.

I did not know very much about it.

The only thing that I had seen was on the local news

and just thought, wow, how horrific,

but that's about it.

- Myself and Investigator Mills are headed back to Panola County

to get our courthouse set up.

Everything here is going as planned.

Hopefully, we'll have a jury shortly after lunch.

- The prosecuting attorney,

as well as the defense attorneys,

asked several questions about your background.

Did you think you could be fair?

Of course, I did think that I could be fair.

I just didn't expect 'em to choose me

because my husband works for the local police department now.

Even went back to the office

and told the ladies at the office,

I said, "No, I'll be back after a while.

"They're not gonna choose me."

But, well, I was chosen.

- At around 3:30, the jury was selected.

Of the 12, 7 are men, 5 women, 6 black, and 6 white.

Some jurors said they could not pass judgment on Tellis.

Others said they had followed the case closely.

Only one person said they had any connection

to Jessica's family, and no one knew Tellis.

- Once they'd chosen us and told us that they were

gonna give us an hour, we were to go home,

pack your clothes for at least seven to ten days.

That was a little bit scary.

- Step one is done.

Everything we prepared for, for three years,

is ready to go, now.

So, we'll start showin' everything we got tomorrow.

- It's goin' to be very hard to sit in trial

with Quinton Tellis.

I'm pretty sure I'll have to prepare myself for that.

For the jury to find him guilty,

that would be great.

Do I think he's responsible, with what I know?

Yes.

- I'm here to support my mom

'cause I know she needs it,

and I need it.

So...

- These have to go on my car tomorrow.

- Then I made this one, and I actually made one,

her signature.

Then...

- This is not an experience that anybody wants to go through,

but since I have to go through it,

I need her here by me.

I don't think I could do it without her.

- That's the one I did last night at, like,

3 o'clock in the mornin' 'cause I couldn't go to sleep.

Yeah, I can imagine.

- I need to be here for my mom.

I need to be here for me.

And I need to be here for Jessica.

It's important that I see justice for my sister.

- There's no way they can vote him not guilty.

I couldn't even sleep a wink night before last

and last night, either.

- I was up, I think, every hour.

- Took me a while to go to sleep, and once I did woke,

I couldn't go back to sleep.

- Said a prayer.

We all got together and prayed.

- I can't breathe.

- Anxiety-- there's not been no closure yet, Ben,

not until after the trial.

- But we can't just sit around and be sick over all this stuff.

We got little Annabelle,

and we got all these grandchildren.

If justice is served, we all got to look forward.

- No, justice won't never be served for what he done to me.

And I pray, you know, God give me strength.

- I feel like God's got it in his hand.

He, you know, and He's got our backs.

We got to be strong.

- Three, two-- the answer we've all been waiting to hear

for the last three years--

the explosive allegations from the state

on what happened to 19-year-old Jessica Chambers

the night she was burned alive.

- Expected to take the stand, Lisa Chambers.

Every time that I've talked to her,

extremely emotional about the death of her daughter.

- Jessica's family is finally seeing justice for Jessica

play out.

I hope that they are starting to feel some sense of closure.

I hope it's cathartic for them.

- We don't really know what happened before Jessica Chambers

was found burning on that rural road.

So, this trial will reveal a lot of things.

- Our coverage will have to be played by ear

as each day unfolds.

We'll try to look for what are people asking about

that hasn't been answered.

- I'm a nervous wreck.

I don't even wanna go to the trial.

My God, I don't even wanna go.

- The state is expected to call at least 35 witnesses

to testify.

- Apparently, Quinton Tellis said that he was with her,

but he said he didn't murder her.

So, there's a lot that needs to be put together.

It's an incredibly unusual case and a horrible death.

Everyone is interested in this.

- We prayed.

You know, we know he innocent.

You know, I try not to worry 'cause I know the truth.

- If you want justice for Jessica,

first, you gotta do justice for Quinton

because you cannot find the guilty person

by convictin' a innocent one.

- Stay seated.

The courtroom will come to order.

All rise.

The courtroom will come to order.

Please be seated.

- The court will recognize the State of Mississippi

for opening statement.

Mr. Champion.

- Thank you, Your Honor.

Good afternoon.

On December the 6th of 2014,

Jessica Chambers was a beautiful

blonde-haired 19-year-old.

About two weeks prior,

Jessica met a man that would eventually end her life,

and that man is Quinton Tellis.

I'll tell you what I think happened.

I think he suffocated her and thought he had killed her

and that he had to get her away from his house.

He wanted sex.

You'll see the text messages where he wanted her.

Jessica was burned over 93% of her body.

I would guess that if all of us sitting here

were to know we're gonna die,

that the very last way we would wanna die would be by fire,

but Jessica was set on fire.

And the first responders begin asking her,

"Who did this to you?"

And it sounded like she said, "Eric," or, "Derrick,"

okay?

That's not his name.

His name is Quinton.

The great weakness about this case is what she said

on the scene as far as the name Eric or Derrick,

but I think we can overcome that.

Please do not make a judgment at this point

until you've heard every bit of this evidence

because it will change your mind.

I can promise you that.

If you've got a problem, face it head on.

Don't let a defense lawyer bring it out

'cause it makes it look like you're hiding something.

- Ms. Palmer for opening statement by the defense.

- But I think that it's certainly something

that a skilled attorney will use to their advantage.

- This indeed was a horrible crime,

a terrible thing that happened to Jessica Chambers that day.

And what happened was,

Miss Chambers came walking down Heron Road.

She was alert.

She was able to speak,

and many of the first responders completed reports

where she said, "Eric set me on fire."

A multiple amount of individuals sayin'

this is what she said.

You have recorded information,

at least eight people

who personally heard her say, "Eric."

- Their statements were clear,

and a lot of times they were in quotes.

"Eric set me on fire."

End quotes.

"Eric did this to me."

Eric is not on trial here today.

He should be.

And for this reason,

we will ask that you find Quinton Tellis not guilty

as a result.

- Mr. Champion, you may now call your first witness.

- Raise your right hand.

Please solemnly swear or affirm that the testimony

you're about to give on this case

is the truth, the whole truth,

and nothing but the truth, so help you God.

- I do.

I'm very nervous about testifying.

I'm not a public speaker.

I actually hope just to make it through it.

- Would you state your name for me, please?

- Lisa Chambers.

- And, Miss Chambers, I'm gonna ask you to speak up.

Speak into the microphone, okay?

- Okay.

- How are you related to Jessica Lane Chambers?

- That's my baby girl.

- And how old was Jessica at the time of her death?

- Nineteen.

- Can you describe the person pictured in this photograph?

- That's my baby, Jessica Chambers.

- This is Jessica Lane Chambers?

- Yes, it is.

- Growing up, did Jessica always live around Courtland?

- Always.

- And did she play some sports when she was growing up?

- She played softball a lot, and she was a cheerleader.

- Ms. Chambers, I'm gonna take you back to December the 6th

of 2014.

That is a day you'll always remember.

Is that correct?

- That's correct.

- Who did Jessica live with at that time?

- She lived with me.

- What did she do when she returned home that day?

- She either received a phone call or a text.

- Did you know who she was talkin' to?

- I had no idea.

- After she got off the phone, what did she do?

- She said she was fixing to go get her somethin' to eat

and clean out her car,

and she'd be back in a little bit.

- Is that the last time you saw your daughter?

- Yes, it was.

Did I think that would be the last time

that I talked to Jessica?

No.

- Her hair was fried out

like she had stuck it in a light socket.

- I said, "Honey, who did this to you?"

And all I heard was, "Eric."

- Wasn't there a strange man on the scene?

I would venture to say that that's probably Eric.

- The police, they knew that Jessica dealt with drugs.

- Jessica was threatened.

Her words were, "Mama, these bitches think I'm snitchin'."

- We have been gettin' threats, phone calls

and through Facebook.

- Their case against Quentin was flawed

from the very beginning.

- Who's gonna stand up for Quinton?

They wanna pin it to this young man.

- He said, "I've got a five-gallon jug of gasoline

"back in the back of the shed."

- Jury has reached a verdict.

- Give us strength, dear God.

- Amen.

Amen.

- That's when the chaos started.

- My heart stopped.

What is happening?

- The 120 somethin' years of law experience

had never in their life seen anything like that.

- For more information, go to Oxygen.com.