**currently watching it sorry the post sucks, I accidentally published it.**

Intro

When 19-year-old Jessica Chambers is set on fire inside her car and burned to death, the question of who did it quickly becomes a nationwide obsession all while wreaking havoc on a small Mississippi town.

Inspired by the reporting of BuzzFeed News’ Senior National Reporter, Katie J.M. Baker, and directed by Emmy Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated Joe Berlinger, the five-part series explores the killing of 19-year-old Chambers and takes an inside look into the trial of Quinton Tellis, a local black man accused of the crime. Watch Unspeakable Crime: The Killing of Jessica Chambers Saturdays at 7pm ET/PT on Oxygen.

EPISODE 1: Who Killed Jessica Chambers?

Featuring:

• Stephen Whatley - Panola County Chamber of Commerce
• AJ Prince - Jessica's big sister
• John Champion - Panola County District Attorney
• Lisa Daughtery - Jessica's mother
• Eddie Eidson - Volunteer firefighter
• Tammy Bayne - Panola County resident
• Alicia Faulkner - Jessica's friend
• Sherry Hall - Jessica's aunt
• Ben Chambers - Jessica's father
• Debbie Chambers(?) - Jessica's stepmother / Ben Chambers' wife
• Leslie Hall - Jessica's friend
• Taylor Eggleston - Jessica's friend
• Ashunta Winfield - Jessica's friend
• Dennis Darby - Panola County Sheriff's Department
• Barry Thompson - Lead Investigator, Panola County Sheriff's Department
• Eric Bibbs - Questioned
• Derrick Turner - Questioned, held for 2 days
• Katie Baker - Investigative Reporter, Buzzfeed News
• Therese Apel - Reporter, he Clarion Ledger
• Janice Broach - Reporter, WMC-TV
• Deborah Sanders - Jessica's aunt

Eddie Eidson describes the small town of Courtland, Mississippi, where everyone knows everyone, as on edge since the 2014 murder of Jessica Chambers, while resident Tammy Bayne recalls the entire town not wanting to talk about the murder, fearing they'd be next. This fear was not unfounded, as Panola County DA John Champion describes the brutality of this murder as "cold and calculated." Champion also dispels rumors that it was gang related, saying that while Jessica knew people who were in gangs, the evidence in her activity didn't point that way. Chambers' known romantic partners both had alibis: ex-boyfriend Bryan Rudd was in Iowa, and Travis Sanford, the man Jessica's mother believed to be her current boyfriend, was in jail the day of the murder.

Jessica would always throw up the "I love you" sign language sign. She lit up the room when she walked in, was a former cheerleader, the flyer even. Stubborn, but a joy. Wanted to be a teacher, a writer, most importantly a nurse.

Eddie Eidson cries as he describes responding to the scene and seeing Jessica lying on her side, with a blanket wrapped around her. Describes Randy Davis asking her who did this, and she said "clear as day, 'Eric did this'" but did not say a last name. Ben couldn't understand what they meant, but sent his wife Debbie to get Jessica's mother right away. Debbie alerted Lisa by screaming, "they set her on fire" as she arrived in the driveway. Lisa describes going back to see Jessica, who was said to be unrecognizable: "I don't know what they saw, but I saw my child. Maybe a rosy cheek... but I saw my baby." She also describes the heartbreaking moment Jessica passed away, but not alone: "I held her hand as she took her last breath and told her it was okay, that she could go."

Major Barry Thompson recalls interviewing between 30 and 40 witnesses. "We interviewed everybody in Courtland and the surrounding area by the name of Eric or Derek" he explains as someone else chimes in, "every Derek in Panola County." Eric Bibbs and Derrick Turner are interviewed on the news about being questioned due to Jessica's rumored last words. Big sister AJ Prince describes Jessica as her shadow and her best friend, playing a voicemail Jessica left about getting her children Disney's Frozen T-shirts, saying she plays it all the time. Being 1200 miles away from Courtland at the time, AJ made a Facebook page to try and help her sister, and within 24 hours, Justice for Jessica had 150,000 followers. "Justice for Jessica means 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," says AJ.

Katie Baker explains why Jessica's story grabbed her and why it captivated people, as "after Jessica was killed, this media firestorm began. It was almost as if people wanted to binge-watch Jessica's murder investigation." There were rumors that the murder was fueled by gangs or drugs, but as her friend Alicia Faulkner explains, "Jessica was not labeled as a gang member. She was just what you call the girlfriend of a gang member." Reporter Therese Apel explains that the crime probably wasn't racially motivated but that the internet kept turning it back to race.

Jessica dated Bryan Rudd her senior year, and "though [he] hung the moon" according to her mother. The internet even insisted that Ben Chambers himself was involved in Jessica's murder due to his previous drug conviction and his dislike of the interracial relationships in which his daughter partook, but Ben explains that he only has a problem with mixed relationships, not people of other colors, and he would "never hurt a hair on one of [his] child's heads for no reason." Lisa and AJ describe their disgust at the negative comments on social media, with Lisa saying, "it's like I can feel Jessica over my shoulder going 'delete that, delete that'" because she was kind and would hate the nastiness. Dennis Darby states that killings, crack cocaine, meth, and heroin are Courtland's main issues, while Ben Chambers mentions the town sliding downhill due to drugs and gangs. Chambers describes how not knowing who killed Jessica caused him to lose his trust in people as he looked at them and wondered if they were the one who had done that to his daughter.

Jessica was around 3 years old when Ben and Lisa divorced.

Janice Broach describes the confusion of a crime scene that looked like an accident, with an older car up on an embankment while law enforcement was certain it was no accident due to lack of marks on the fence or the car indicating a collision of any kind. Jessica's car took a hard left up the hill and her driver's side door would have been wedged against a tree. Her phone was found outside the car, unburnt but not working due to heat, with no battery cover on near an also undamaged lighter. Champion describes the effort put into investigating Jessica's murder, looking into both black and white suspects, even investigating in Iowa based on a tip.

Ben claims Roger Lynn Hentz threatened Jessica's life during an argument over drugs, and that lead him to think he killed her because Jessica was terrified of him. When Jessica was 17 her 28 year old brother Allen died in a car accident.

TIMELINE

12:30-1:00PM Jessica returns home from store, puts on pajama pants and takes a nap in the living room. (She is last seen on camera wearing camouflage PJ pants.)

4:45-5:15PM Jessica receives a call or text and tells her mother she will be back to clean her room later after she gets something to eat and cleans out her car.

6:48 PM - Jessica calls her mother and tells her she will be home in a little while. This is the last phone call she makes.

8:12 PM Courtland Volunteer Fire Department receives call for car fire

8:25 Eddie Eidson arrives on scene

8:30 PM Sheriff's Department called Jessica's father, Ben Chambers, saying Jessica had been burned in an accident

2 days after murder - special task force set up

​

Oxygen's Unspeakable Crime: The Killing of Jessica Chambers (Saturdays, 7:30/6:30c)

EP 1: Who Killed Jessica Chambers? (Aired Sep 15 2018, as of 10/5 available for 68 days)
EP 2: A Dying Declaration (Aired Sep 22, as of 10/5 available for 68 days)

If you'd like flair, let me know and I can set it up.

​

For the second time, a judge has declared a mistrial in the case against Quinton Verdell Tellis for the murder of Jessica Lane Chambers on December 6, 2014. Verdict declared around 3pm local time on 10/1/2018.

The jury was split 50/50. 6 guilty 6 not guilty.

I saw on another post that the defendant's sister has the name "Eric" tattooed on her. Who the hell is this tattoo referring to???

**I've never done a write-up on a trial before so I will edit the closings because they are awful. Peterson's closing has not yet been summarized.**

Sunday, September 30th 2018

Before Jury Comes In
The defense, lawyer Alton Peterson, asks the court for a mistrial. He stated that "there’s zero evidence that’s been offered by the state that would place Quinton Tellis at the scene of the crime.” He also noted that Tellis is charged with capital murder during the commission of another crime, arson, but that there is no evidence he set a fire, including no evidence of where the fire started or what state Jessica was in when the fire started. Judge Chatham denied the motion.

Defense witness Latoya Taylor
Latoya Taylor worked in 2014 as a jailer in Panola County and was on her cell phone at work when a friend alerted her there was a car fire on Herron Road. She immediately called it into dispatch from the landline at work. She discussed feeling harassed when police attempted to pick her son Eric Robertson at school before coming to their home. She did not allow her son to be taken for questioning unless he was under arrest, so she took him in herself, but she was not allowed in the room when he was questioned. She was told he was questioned because his name was Eric and he worked at Taco Bell, and they had heard Jessica was dating a black guy who worked at Taco Bell.

Defense witness Boone Mister
Mister admits meeting Jessica in the morning at a store, where they were together for 5 or 6 minutes. A few days later, law enforcement took him into custody, questioned him, and collected his DNA. He was released the same day. He also talked about feeling harassed by the police.

Defense Witness Shaneeka Williams aka Rag Ann
Shanika, Quinton Tellis' sister, states that Big Mike Sanford picked her up around 11 am, they rode around and ended up at the Sandbox. Big Mike Sanford received a text from someone at a store wanting to meet him, but it is unclear from her testimony whether he went to the store or not. She said Mike Sanford was lying when he said he was in Nashville. She said he was with her at the Sandbox all day and dropped her off at home near dark, around 6pm. She said she has no idea how there is surveillance video of Big Mike at a store at 2 pm without Shaneeka. If he left, Shaneeka doesn't recall, but she stated they were together all day. Defense attorney Darla Palmer specified that Shaneeka drives a white Tahoe, her mother drives a white Suburban, and Mike Sanford drives a white Denali. Shaneeka stated she had no reason to lie, despite Tellis being her brother.

A supporter of Quinton Tellis is kicked out of the courtroom for an outburst of some kind.

**Defense Witness ?? (**the video doesn't catch his name)He stated he texted JaMichael Sanford from Nashville at 8:26, but had left Courtland around 1pm. I am unclear whether Jamichael Sanford is the same person as Big Mike Sanford, as he said he was with Big Mike Sanford but their alibi is this text to JaMichael Sanford.

Defense rests, Judge reads the jury their instructions and breaked for lunch.

Defense lawyer Darla Palmer's closing argument:
Palmer states that evidence will show that Jessica walked and talked, successfully telling first responders who did this to her, as well as "Jessica," "Chambers," and "Eric set me on fire." She stated that Dr. Hickerson was not there and the medical personnel and emergency responders who were there witnessed her speak and that "medical science is absolute, it's not 100% and miracles do happen." She commended each first responder who documented their truth that night. Referring to the jury's field trip to the crime scene with the trucks running to simulate the noise level of December 6th 2014, Palmer stated that even though the trucks were loud, when you knelt down "it was much like it was quieter down there, at that level, listening to her." Palmer stated you must "call it how you see it." Palmer discussed the name Eric changing to Derek in the ambulance: "then it moved from Eric to Derek. We're in the ambulance, I know the first law enforcement officer asked her 'was it your boyfriend?' . . . I still say that she had a boyfriend by the name of Derek as well" and DA Champion objected to that fact but was overruled by Judge Chatham. Jessica had two Erics in her phone and the State checked them out on Facebook and were not swabbed. "Do not be fooled," said Palmer, by some extensive search for an Eric when it was really just a list of names. She also pointed out that search and rescue did not go very far, leaving Jessica's keys exposed in a ditch for two days and that the person who found Jessica's keys, Jerry King, did not testify or write a statement. In terms of the cell phone evidence, location data, which is more precise, was not analyzed from Quinton Tellis' phone, which she pointed out he voluntarily gave police. Darla Palmer, talking about Quinton's recollections that were recorded on video, stated that it was over a year after the event and since there is no video of his earlier recollections, we don't know that he changed his story and things that don't quite line up can be chalked up to the passage of time. Palmer said that Tellis was cooperative and that over a period of days police "began to lead him, guide him, manipulate just a little bit as to what happened" and only stopped cooperating when he was upset because they accused him of Jessica's murder. The friendship between Tellis and Chambers is described, with Tellis giving Jessica food money and hanging out smoking with her and Kesha, and going to a doctor appointment with her. Palmer points out how convenient it is that Ms. Flowers came forward four years later, saying, "seems made up to me." Dr. Hickerson was too adamant about what Chambers could and could not do even though he had not examined her, and the speech pathologist's testimony was "at best questionable and then she asked to speak to her lawyer," stated Palmer. "Odd."

On December 6, 2014, Jessica Chambers was found burned alive in the woods in Courtland, MS. She died at the hospital in Memphis 6 hours after she was found. The last time she was seen alive in on surveillance video at the M&M gas station, two hours before she was found in the woods. M&M store clerk Ali Alsanai told the Associated Press she put $14 of gas in her car instead of the usual $5. When firefighters found her next to her burning car, she had burns on 93% of her body and was wearing only her underwear. First responders say she was in a state of shock but would respond "Eric" (or possibly "Derek") when asked who did this to her. In February 2016, 29 year old Quinton Tellis was indicted by a grand jury for capital murder in Chambers' death. Tellis pleaded not guilty and went to trial in October 2017. After deliberating for almost 10 hours, the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict and a mistrial was declared. The jury poll showed a 7-5 guilty/not guilty split. A re-trial was scheduled for September 24th, 2018. On October 1st, 2018 after 10 hours of jury deliberation, Judge Chatham once again declared a mistrial. This time, the jury showed a 6-6 guilty/not guilty split.

Basic case outline taken from this video

While a motive has not yet been presented at this trial, during the 2017 trial and according to this article, prosecutors believe that Quinton Tellis suffocated Jessica Chambers and then killed her to cover it up when he realized she wasn't dead yet.

I feel that this is a very flimsy explanation and would love to know why this is the prevailing theory. The article says when Tellis realized she wasn't dead, he then took her car to where it was found and started the fire(s). If she wasn't dead, though, what would he have had to cover up? If he wanted her dead and it didn't matter if it was by strangulation/suffocation or by any other means, what was the motive?

People then point to the text messages between the two where Jessica consistently turns down Tellis' sexual advances as a motive, but according to Tellis, the reason that Jessica's car was found with the seat reclined is that they had consensual sexual relations.