On December 6th, 2014, a teenage cheerleader was brutally murdered without a definitive suspect, shaking the rural town of Panola County, Mississippi. There were many rumors swirling around town, all circling around the same question: Who killed Jessica Chambers?
Jessica was a native of Mississippi and grew up to hold a reputation for ‘loving everybody’. She was a cheerleader, and friends described her as funny and easy to get along with. Although she sometimes got caught up in tough crowds, Jessica maintained good grades in school, worked a full-time job, and started going to church regularly. Jessica’s mother, Lisa Daughtery, described her daughter as a “normal teenager.”
That would all change on that December evening in 2014. Jessica was found engulfed in flames on the side of a road, moving away from her burning car. When police arrived to ask who did this to her, she responded with either “Eric” or “Derek”. She was airlifted to a Memphis hospital where she later died, having sustained burns on 98% of her body.
Police began pursuing all leads for anyone named Eric or Derek with connections to Jessica. They were not able to find anyone who fit the description. They turned to all recent boyfriends of Jessica, which led them to question Travis Sanford. Sanford had a solid alibi and was dismissed of having any involvement in the case. He was later murdered over a dice game in 2019, unrelated to the Jessica Chambers case.
Several other ex-boyfriends were cleared of any involvement, except for one more recent acquaintance of Jessica’s. The Clarion Ledger reported that Jessica met Quinton Tellis on November 29th, 2014. He gave her his phone number, and records show that she called him back afterward so that he would receive her phone number.
The two would begin to exchange text messages shortly after their first encounter. On December 3rd, just 4 days after they met, Quinton would ask Jessica to have sex with him. She declined, but the two would continue to see each other for the next several days. On the evening of her murder, Jessica and Quinton discussed getting food together. Around that time, Quinton was also receiving text messages from then-girlfriend, Chakita Jackson, asking for money so that she could come see him.
At 5:30pm on December 6th, Jessica enters a local gas station and pays for gas. She calls Quinton but gets no response. Several minutes later, he calls her back and asks her to come pick him up. Jessica agrees, and they head to a nearby Taco Bell to have dinner. Afterward, Jessica and Quinton head to his mother’s house, where they proceed to have sex behind the house. Around 7:26pm, a car leaves the driveway but it is too dark for police to confirm whose car it was.
At 7:30pm, Jessica’s phone pings a cell tower on the road where she would last be found. Quinton leaves her a voicemail at 7:42pm, stating, “Bae my friend is coming over tonight, I’ll call you tomorrow. Good night, sweet dreams.”
When questioned by authorities, Quinton said that Chikita Jackson was the one visiting him. He later told Jackson that he was walking to his sister’s house to borrow her car, and Jessica’s keys were found on a road along the same route.
At 8:07pm, police get a call that there is a car burning on the side of the road. They arrive shortly afterward and discover Jessica, clinging to life. Investigators later confirm Quniton’s trip to Piggly Wiggly to purchase a cash card for Jackson. He later returned to the M&M gas station where Jessica was seen earlier, and there was a man there who was vividly explaining the scene of a car engulfed in flames. Quinton does not participate in this conversation. He later admitted to investigators that, sometime in the days that followed, he deleted all of Jessica’s texts, calls, and contact information from his phone. Is Quinton Tellis the person who killed Jessica Chambers?
Quinton Tellis was named the primary suspect in the Jessica Chambers case. He was tried twice, both resulting in mistrials. In the first trial during October 2017, the jury could not unanimously decide that Quinton was guilty, thus declaring him not guilty. In October 2018, there was a hung jury again, deciding that there was not enough evidence to convict Quinton.
On July 29, 2015, Ming-Chen Hsiao, a recent graduate of the University of Louisiana Monroe was found stabbed to death in her apartment. The day prior, she was seen with Quinton Tellis on Walmart security footage. On the day of her death, her phone was used to call her bank twice but immediately hung up both times. Minutes later, calls to the same bank were made from Quinton’s phone. He entered Ming-Chen’s debit card and pin numbers on the call. Quinton was caught making withdrawals at local ATMs days later with the same debit card. He has also been named the primary suspect in the death of Ming-Chen Hsiao. He plead guilty to unauthorized use of Ming-Chen’s debit card and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He remains in a Louisiana prison and will face trial for the murder of Ming-Chen Hsiao.
Two young lives were likely cut short by the same person. Although the trial for the death of Ming-Chen will move forward, it is unlikely that Quinton will be tried again after two mistrials in the Jessica Chambers case. This still begs the question: Who killed Jessica Chambers? What led a jury to be unable to convict after two trials? Let us know your thoughts in the comments, or tweet us here to continue the discussion.