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Teen Cheerleader Burned Alive, Will There Ever Be Justice? · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, the man charged in the
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: brutal burning death of a gorgeous young girl, Jessica Chambers.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: She died from having her whole body set on fire.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: A murder charge against.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: This man in the murder of another young co ed
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: has been dropped.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: That's right.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: A judge dismisses the murder charge against Quentin Tellus, also
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: charged in the burning death of Jessica Chambers. The murder
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: charge dropped regards a twenty fifteen brutal stabbing of a
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: lovely young graduate student. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: Thank you for being with us. In the last weeks.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: It was decided by a judge that Quentin Tellus will
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: not face trial for the murder of a ULM grad student.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: A Fourth Judicial District Court Judge, Larry Jefferson dismissed the
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: endicament against tell Us.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: Instead, tell Us.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: Pleads guilty to three counts of unauthorized card use and
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: possession of marijuana. He was sent to tenures for stealing
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: the female student's debit card on the same night as
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: her murderer, ming Chen So, a ULM graduate, was murdered
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: in Monroe Louisiana on a July night. G he stole
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: her credit card and debit cards and use them around
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: the time she was killed the same night, but.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: A judge dismisses the murder charge.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: We know that, and tell Us was also accused in
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: the murder of Jessica Chambers in Mississippi the year before.
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: Chambers was burned alive.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: Tell Us put the trial twice, but the trials both
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: ended in a hung jury.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: So with one.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: Murder charge out the window, what about the murder of
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: Jessica Chambers?
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: Will he ever see justice in that case?
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: We know that Quentin tell Us charge in Jessica Chambers
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: murder has been extradited from Louisiana. What happened in the
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: Jessica Chambers.
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: Case, Well, no, they call me. You know, I thought maybe,
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: you know, she was just just a little bit, you know,
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: didn't didn't can't imagine the scale it was, you know,
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: And I asked Barry, was she okay? And you know,
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: and he got real solid he said, Noah, Ben, she's not.
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: And that's when my whole world fell, you know. He
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: told me he wouldn't tell me ex actually where it
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: was at. You want me to stay there? At the
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: house and the sheriff and him come to my house
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: in about five minutes. They was at the house and
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: he told me, you know, how bad she was burnt.
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: And they was flying her to Memphis. And matter of fact,
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: when we were standing out the yard, the helicopter come
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: over to pick her up, and so I took off
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: to Memphis. We beat the helicopter to Memphis, which is
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: only about fifty something miles from my house. Beat we
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: beat the helicopter there, you know, and I was just
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: steady praying the Lord it should be okay, you know what,
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: you know, just begging her. Well, when I got to
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: the hospital, I didn't even know park my vehic. Well
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: you have to, you know, pay to get in and park.
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: I just parked in the middle of the street, took
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: off running into the hospital. Whatever. Of course, when I
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: got in there and didn't nobody know nothing about it
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: or anything. You got to get a badge. And then
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: finally I asked, and I said, just where is the
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: burn center or whatever? Where is the part of the
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: burn center, And you know, they said, well, uh, upstairs,
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: down the hallway, and I just took off running, you know.
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: And as a matter of fact, I went in places
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: I wasn't even supposed to be, you know, uh, trying
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: to find her. And did you know they didn't even
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: know nothing about it. And of course then they started
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: calling around and uh they said, well, wait a minute,
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: the helicopters landing right now, you know. And uh, then
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: we had to wait, wait, wait, you know, wait on
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: the doctor. And seemed like it was eternity, you know. Uh,
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: and did swear did the doctor? The doctor come out.
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: He couldn't do it, not for you know, she was
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: too bad.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: In the face of overwhelming evidence of guilt against a man,
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: Quentin tell Us, who was accused in the horrific burning
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: death of a beautiful young Mississippi cheerleader, a second mistrial
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: declared after that Mississippi jury failed to reach a verdict.
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: We want justice. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: Thank you for being with us. You are hearing me
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: speak to Jessica's dad, ben On hln In joining me
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: right now is a very critical piece of the puzzle.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: This is Jessica's mother joining us. Lisa Chambers, Miss Chambers,
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: thank you for being with us. Yes, miss Chambers, you
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: have no idea how many thoughts and prayers have been
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: lifted up for you and your family throughout this horrific ordeal.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: When you learned this jury had mistried, what was your reaction?
• 6:03
  Speaker 5: Unbelievable? How can you look and evidence and it's like
• 6:12
  Speaker 5: they are I mean, it was perfect, He's guilty. They're
• 6:20
  Speaker 5: filled out, you.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: Know, Miss Chambers. I recall all the cases I prosecuted,
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: many many more than I can even remember, and in
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: jury trials. I looked to the victim's family because if
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: they were convinced, in my mind, they were the people
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: of all the people in the world that want most
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: to have justice, to put the right guide behind bars.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: And the fact that you and your family firmly believe
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: Quentin tell Us killed your girl, Jessica convinces me even more.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: Even in addition to all the evidence, Ms Chambers, Where
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: were you when you learned this jury had hung.
• 7:09
  Speaker 5: We were in the room at the courthouse, in the
• 7:12
  Speaker 5: family room.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: What happened?
• 7:14
  Speaker 5: They just came and told us that the jury was home,
• 7:18
  Speaker 5: that we could leave or to beach. Draffic and the
• 7:24
  Speaker 5: all the media just we could go ahead and go,
• 7:27
  Speaker 5: and we did because this time, this go around was crazy.
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: I just.
• 7:35
  Speaker 5: This go around it was kind of crazy at the courthouse.
• 7:40
  Speaker 5: You have people following you. I had stuff like, you know,
• 7:43
  Speaker 5: kind of intimidations, and they wanted us to go ahead
• 7:47
  Speaker 5: and go before everybody got out.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: You mean people were following you around the courthouse for.
• 7:53
  Speaker 5: What, around town, just hollering out you know frequent that's
• 8:00
  Speaker 5: just gonna quit things like that.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: Oh, my stars, these chambers. I did not know that.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: I am so sorry those people did that. I remember
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: trying cases and I would leave the courthouse late in
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: the day during a jury trial. It already be dark,
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: and there would be I called it running the gauntlet,
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: walking down the courthouse steps, and there would be all
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: the defendants, family and friends, jeering, making comments. And at
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: the time, you know, I didn't realize how dangerous that was.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: It just more irritated me than anything else. But there
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: were many times I'd have to take a sheriff escort
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: to the car or various techniques. I cannot believe people
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: did that.
• 8:53
  Speaker 5: Yes'm it's intimidating, but I won't be intimidated. I want
• 8:58
  Speaker 5: my daughter to have just at any coss I don't care.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: Do you think this jury has any idea that Quentin
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: tell Us is awaiting another murder charge in Louisiana.
• 9:10
  Speaker 5: Probably I'm not sure, but I didn't know one of
• 9:14
  Speaker 5: them had watched the first two episodes of that Oxygen documentary.
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: How do you know that? So we were told, you know,
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: it's a shame that you have to wait for another
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: jurisdiction to put tell Us behind bars for life. But
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: I'm just stunned right now. To Terrest's April investigative reporter
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: with The Clarion Ledger, Terress, I had no idea that
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: people were haters were following Ms Chambers around the courthouse
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: and around town, yelling out jeers at her as she's
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: sitting in court every day trying to represent her daughter
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: who was murdered. I firmly believe by Quentin tell Us.
• 10:01
  Speaker 6: You know, one of the things that that happened this
• 10:04
  Speaker 6: time that didn't happen last year was that there were
• 10:08
  Speaker 6: people were using the term protesters.
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: There were people standing outside the courtroom.
• 10:12
  Speaker 6: With signs that said as she said, you know, said frequent.
• 10:16
  Speaker 6: You know, there are different things like that that we
• 10:18
  Speaker 6: didn't see before.
• 10:20
  Speaker 5: And I'm not.
• 10:21
  Speaker 6: Sure what the shift was except for that, probably just
• 10:24
  Speaker 6: the continued national attention on this case. But yeah. I
• 10:29
  Speaker 6: saw overall a lot more activity from the community this
• 10:34
  Speaker 6: time that was directed at at the Chambers family, and I.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: Just can't believe they would pick on the victims family.
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: It's appalling, Mss Chambers.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: When you say you will not be intimidated, What do
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: you mean by that.
• 10:49
  Speaker 5: I won't be intimidated. I just won't let anybody stop
• 10:54
  Speaker 5: me from trying to get justice from my daughter. I
• 10:58
  Speaker 5: won't let them intimidate me, no matter what they said.
• 11:02
  Speaker 5: I don't care. I know he's guilty and that's just
• 11:07
  Speaker 5: how it is. They're not going to make me back down.
• 11:12
  Speaker 5: I won't just for my daughter.
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: I didn't get to see her right then.
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: It was about two hours uh before we uh got
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: to go back there, you know, and the doctor come
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: out and he told me, he said, missus Tamers, she
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: don't want to see your door out to you, I
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: tell you, he said, no, she don't recognize well you know.
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: You know, she don't recognize him. And uh, you know,
• 11:44
  Speaker 4: he said he'd.
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: Never seen somebody it hurt that bad. It lived as
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: long as she did. She had a strong heart. I mean,
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: she had had no veins and nothing, uh where they
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: can even put the ibs in or or nothing.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: You know, mister Chambers.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: Did you get to speak to her before she went
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: to heaven?
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: No?
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: No, no, oh, ma'am, I did not.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: Did you get to see her?
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: I know she is If we got ready to go
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: into the room or whatever. My sister and her mother
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: Lisa walked in the rooms and to see they was
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: in there maybe about thirty seconds and she passed away.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: You were hearing me speaking with Jessica's father, Ben Chambers
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: on etchil and describing that horrible day. He gets the
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: call that his daughter had been burned badly and he
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: races so fast he actually beats the helicopter to the
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: hospital and never got to say goodbye to her.
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: Crime stories with Nancy Grace.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: Will there finally be justice for Jessica Chambers? A beautiful
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: nineteen year old girl burned dead according to prosecutors by
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: Quentin Tellus. In last weeks, he has been extradited from
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: Louisiana back to Mississippi. In Louisiana, he was facing another
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: charge of a young girl, but that murtyr charge was dropped.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: Will he ever meet up with Lady Justice? What happened
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: to Jessica joining me? Right now is a woman I've
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: wanted to speak to for so long, that has been
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: the focus of prayers, thoughts for so long. Now it
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: is Jessica Chambers other Lisa, who has endured a second
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: trial of the men she believes murdered her daughter, burned
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: her alive, and she vows she will seek justice on
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: Quentin tell Us regardless of what this jury did with me.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: Lisa Chambers, Miss Chambers, again, thank you for being with us,
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: Ms Chambers that day? What led up to the moment
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: that you discovered Jessica had been burned so badly?
• 14:33
  Speaker 5: Nothing? Really, she had been asleep. She left home around
• 14:40
  Speaker 5: five I fifteen. I talked to her again about six
• 14:44
  Speaker 5: forty eight, and then I got a call from well
• 14:49
  Speaker 5: no excuse me. My son went to leave the house
• 14:53
  Speaker 5: at like eight I think it was eight thirty two,
• 14:57
  Speaker 5: and Debbie Ben's wife was in the drive way hollering,
• 15:02
  Speaker 5: come on. They sent her old fire and I'm like, said,
• 15:05
  Speaker 5: oh o fire, and she said Jessica, And I said no,
• 15:09
  Speaker 5: I just got off the phone with her, and she said, yes,
• 15:12
  Speaker 5: come on the chairs at my house. So I rode
• 15:15
  Speaker 5: down to her house, which is just probably two hundred
• 15:20
  Speaker 5: feet for mine, and they told us that that's gout'
• 15:25
  Speaker 5: been set on fire, and we got in there. I
• 15:29
  Speaker 5: wanted to go to the country. They said no, So
• 15:33
  Speaker 5: we got in the vehicle.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: And went to the med Miss Chambers, did you get
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: to seat Jessica before she went to heaven? Yes, ma'am.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: Did you speak to her? Could she speak to you?
• 15:43
  Speaker 5: No, ma'am. I spoke to her, but she couldn't. She
• 15:46
  Speaker 5: couldn't speak to me.
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: What did you tell her? Do you remember?
• 15:51
  Speaker 5: I just told her that mom and Daddy were there,
• 15:55
  Speaker 5: that Daddy was in the waiting room, and that it
• 15:59
  Speaker 5: was okay if she needed to go, that she could go,
• 16:04
  Speaker 5: that Mom and lady would be okay if she went.
• 16:09
  Speaker 5: She was in social so shape that you know you
• 16:14
  Speaker 5: had to tell her she could go. I just felt
• 16:16
  Speaker 5: like she held on long enough to know we were there,
• 16:20
  Speaker 5: to hear our voice, and I went through It was
• 16:25
  Speaker 5: my stepfather, and there was no way she could make it.
• 16:32
  Speaker 5: I mean, I would take her play any day.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: I know you would.
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: I know you would miss change.
• 16:39
  Speaker 7: It just breaks my heart to hear you because I
• 16:42
  Speaker 7: know I don't know, I don't know the suffering you've
• 16:45
  Speaker 7: been through, because you know when my fiance was murdered,
• 16:48
  Speaker 7: I thought, oh, you know, I know about pain.
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: With my father, it was really my soulmate in this world.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: When I lost him, I just it was beside myself.
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: But I cannot even imagine losing a child. I just
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: can't imagine losing my John, David or Lucy ms Chambers.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: Do you feel that Jessica has tried to communicate with
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: you since she went to heaven?
• 17:16
  Speaker 5: Yes, ma'am. I always I think of Jessica as a butterfly,
• 17:23
  Speaker 5: and even in December, but when she was there, I
• 17:26
  Speaker 5: saw a blue butterfly, and I see blue butterflies a lot,
• 17:31
  Speaker 5: and it just feels comforting thing like she's here.
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: I want to go to doctor Daniel Bober, forensic psychiatrist
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: joining me, which means he's not only a medical doctor,
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: but he has studied psychiatry as well. Doctor Bober, I
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: know you educated and sophisticated and well read, but you
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: probably don't believe in messages from beyond.
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: I do.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: But my question do you is not about that. My
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: question to you is how does the human mind process
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: not just a loss, but a loss so horrific cause
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: by this man Quentin? Tell us how do you absorb that,
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: because I can remember after my fiance was murdered. It,
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: I mean months and months had passed and I would
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: hold my mother and not let her look away and
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: hold her by the shoulders of go mother, is Keith dead.
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: It's like I just couldn't take it in.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: Months had passed.
• 18:35
  Speaker 8: Nancy, this family has been through more pain and suffering
• 18:38
  Speaker 8: than I can even imagine. You know, very often when
• 18:40
  Speaker 8: you have a loss of this magnitude, you know, it
• 18:43
  Speaker 8: doesn't even really set in for several months, and you know,
• 18:47
  Speaker 8: and initially, you know there's a lot of support from
• 18:49
  Speaker 8: the community and family, but the hardest time is several
• 18:52
  Speaker 8: months later when everyone sort of goes back to their
• 18:55
  Speaker 8: own life and you're left with that emptiness and that loss.
• 18:58
  Speaker 8: So again, my thoughts and prayers go out to the family,
• 19:01
  Speaker 8: and I just can't even imagine the suffering they've gone through, you.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: Know, to Kenya Johnson joining me Atlanta veteran prosecutor. It's
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: not only does a family have to deal with the
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: loss in a case like this, and all of them,
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: then they can't grieve, they can't heal because then they've
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: got to go through a trial and the Chambers family
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: has now had to go through two trials and it's
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: still not over.
• 19:26
  Speaker 9: It's very touching because the family members have to hear
• 19:30
  Speaker 9: this testimony over and over again, every latest development, every comment.
• 19:36
  Speaker 9: Prosecutors are coming back and keeping them up to date,
• 19:39
  Speaker 9: and it's just very alive and real and repetitive and
• 19:44
  Speaker 9: hurtful and devastating. But it's necessary for the process of
• 19:49
  Speaker 9: seeking justice.
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: What about it?
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: To Wendy Patrick, veteran prosecutor out of California, how do
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: you help a family go through something like this when
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: they've got to relive it for trial?
• 19:59
  Speaker 10: Yeah, Nancy, it's very, very difficult, and our prayers are
• 20:02
  Speaker 10: with the Chambers family. This is one of the most
• 20:05
  Speaker 10: violent methods of execution. We'll call it what it is
• 20:08
  Speaker 10: one can imagine, which, by the way, is one of
• 20:11
  Speaker 10: the reasons it may have hung twice. There are some
• 20:14
  Speaker 10: jurors and I know Nancy and Kenya know this, that
• 20:17
  Speaker 10: cannot conceive of another human being being able to do this,
• 20:22
  Speaker 10: and it is that absolute doubt that is almost overwhelming
• 20:27
  Speaker 10: and causes them to not be able to convict even
• 20:29
  Speaker 10: when the evidence is equally overwhelming, so to be able
• 20:32
  Speaker 10: to explain and talk about that with the victim's family
• 20:35
  Speaker 10: sometimes provides at least some measure of comfort to really
• 20:40
  Speaker 10: fuel the bravery that the Chambers family. And my heart
• 20:43
  Speaker 10: goes out to you, missus Chambers. You are so brave
• 20:46
  Speaker 10: in going through this and explaining exactly what happened. And
• 20:49
  Speaker 10: we're also sorry you've had to be re traumatized not
• 20:52
  Speaker 10: just once, but now twice with this second retrial. But
• 20:55
  Speaker 10: that's the best that the prosecutors can do is really
• 20:57
  Speaker 10: explain to the family why, as part.
• 21:00
  Speaker 11: Of our system of justice which we all fight jealously
• 21:05
  Speaker 11: to protect and preserve, every defendant comes in this court
• 21:10
  Speaker 11: is entitled to a jury that's as conscientious as you
• 21:13
  Speaker 11: are about the juri'sh rights, and I respect your decisions.
• 21:17
  Speaker 5: Your inability to.
• 21:18
  Speaker 11: Reach a verdict does not mean that you've not done
• 21:21
  Speaker 11: an admirable job, because you have and this court appreciates it.
• 21:25
  Speaker 11: So with that, I'm going to send you. I'm going
• 21:28
  Speaker 11: to declare a mistrial in this case, and I want
• 21:30
  Speaker 11: to send you back to your jury room and we'll
• 21:32
  Speaker 11: be sending you home very shortly.
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: That was Panola County Circuit Court Judge Gerald Chatham, and
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: I'm sure he was just being polite. But I don't
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: think they did a good job at all. I really don't.
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: With overwhelming evidence against Quentin Tellus, who had been pestering
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: Jessica Chambers, a young teen cheerleader out of Mississippi, for sex,
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: all date long, and she had been saying no, no, no,
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: with cell phone evidence placing the two of them to
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: get out in a field, and then the cell phones
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: going both of them going to the spot where the.
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: Car and Jessica were set on fire.
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: Then video surveillance I guess from a neighbor's security camera,
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: spotting Quentin Tellis and his sister's car going into his
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: driveway where he kept a gas can full of gas
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: and a shed, coming right out in about two minutes,
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: and then heading in the direction of the fire. And
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: then after that a hitchhiker picking up a man who
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: says his aunt, who happens to be a relative of
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: Quentin Tellis's, who needs to go to her house because
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: her house had caught on fire, combined with the burn
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: marks on Quentin Tellis's arms and hands, combined with Quentin
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: Tellis changing his story time after time, caught in lies
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: about where he was that day, I mean what more
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: do you need to prove this case?
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: Is bad guy Quentin tell Us finally having a date
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: with Lady Justice.
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: He has just been extradited back to Mississippi.
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: What happened to Jessica with me? Is Lisa Chambers. This
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: is Jessica's mother.
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: Who is not giving up.
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: Miss Chambers. When you went to the hospital and you
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: stood by Jessica's bed in the hospital and you told
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: her that you were there, that her daddy was there
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: and that she could go, what was going through your mind?
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: Do you even remember?
• 23:51
  Speaker 5: Just that it wasn't real, but it was. How could
• 23:57
  Speaker 5: somebody have been this star that was my baby?
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: What she lived?
• 24:03
  Speaker 5: In pain? I didn't know what to do? So how
• 24:06
  Speaker 5: I fixed it? That I couldn't? You just want to
• 24:10
  Speaker 5: do whatever you can to help her feel better. There
• 24:14
  Speaker 5: was nothing I could do but to tell her that
• 24:17
  Speaker 5: it was okay she.
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: Could go, Miss Chambers. When you went in to the
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: hospital room, do you think that she could see you?
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: Do you think she knew that you were there?
• 24:29
  Speaker 5: I don't think she could see me, but yes, I
• 24:31
  Speaker 5: do think she knew I was there.
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: Why did you say that?
• 24:35
  Speaker 5: I think she held on till we got your family.
• 24:38
  Speaker 5: Was annoying because I was there when she passed, and
• 24:45
  Speaker 5: I hadn't been there just very shortly, just long enough
• 24:49
  Speaker 5: to tell her that we were there and that it
• 24:52
  Speaker 5: was okay, and then she she went right there with me.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: Send them aside her ms chambers during this trial? What
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: do you believe went wrong with this jury?
• 25:07
  Speaker 5: I believe they harped a lot from the erics when
• 25:10
  Speaker 5: I don't think that's what she said at all. I
• 25:12
  Speaker 5: think is in her state of month, if she was
• 25:16
  Speaker 5: unconscious at one point and driven to another point and
• 25:21
  Speaker 5: woke up on fire, up against a tree, that possibly
• 25:25
  Speaker 5: she thought she had had a wreck, and that maybe
• 25:29
  Speaker 5: when she got out and she was trying to tell
• 25:31
  Speaker 5: them her name, and they instead of asking what happened,
• 25:34
  Speaker 5: they asked who did this to you? And I think
• 25:38
  Speaker 5: she was trying to say, arect all right? And they
• 25:43
  Speaker 5: got errict from it. But that just sposing.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: You Take a listen to Sheriff's detective Barry.
• 25:48
  Speaker 12: Thompson, and I'm not going to gloss over the fact
• 25:51
  Speaker 12: you did you contact Daniicle by getting statements.
• 25:53
  Speaker 11: For first responders?
• 25:54
  Speaker 9: Yes?
• 25:55
  Speaker 12: And from those statements, was there a name that resonated.
• 25:58
  Speaker 7: Yes, and what was that?
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: From the statements, a lot of the firemen had heard
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: what they believed to be Eric or Derek.
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: It was Eric or Derek.
• 26:06
  Speaker 12: Initially the thought, yes, as an investigator, did you close
• 26:11
  Speaker 12: your investigation to only Eric ordreck enough?
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: But yes, at first they thought she was saying Eric,
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: But on the witness stand they clarified she was saying eh.
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: That was interpreted to mean Eric. But listen to this
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: speech pathologist, doctor Carolyn Hickton.
• 26:31
  Speaker 13: It would because you have to have the breath pressure first,
• 26:35
  Speaker 13: so if the lungs are damaged, they're not going to
• 26:37
  Speaker 13: be elastic enough to take in the amount of the
• 26:40
  Speaker 13: air to allow that to push on through the vocal folds.
• 26:44
  Speaker 14: And then the pharential area you said a minute ago,
• 26:48
  Speaker 14: exactly what is that?
• 26:49
  Speaker 13: The larentinal area is what we call our voice box.
• 26:52
  Speaker 13: It's where our vocal folds are, our larynx.
• 26:56
  Speaker 3: And if those are damaged by inhalation of smoke or fire,
• 27:02
  Speaker 3: would that affect the ability to make an articulate sound.
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: Yes, it would.
• 27:07
  Speaker 13: The vocal folds are very thin and they're very pliable,
• 27:11
  Speaker 13: and if there's anything that attaches to those cords, it's
• 27:15
  Speaker 13: going to keep them from moving.
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: The way they should.
• 27:18
  Speaker 13: I use my hands like this, but I tell students
• 27:21
  Speaker 13: all the time the cords are to look like this.
• 27:26
  Speaker 13: But if there's anything impinging, like a growth or something
• 27:29
  Speaker 13: hanging on the cord, they're not going to close and
• 27:31
  Speaker 13: open the way.
• 27:32
  Speaker 5: They're supposed to.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: Translation, there was no way Jessica Chambers was able to speak.
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, the night that we discovered
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: about Jessica's attack. At first people believed and it was
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: reported that it was a death by lighter fluid. The
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: inside of her mouth and her throat and her air
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: passages leading down to her lungs looked as if someone
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: had squirted lighter fluid down her mouth and set her
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: on fire. They were actually charred from smoke inhalation and
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: breathing in around a fire. There's no way she could
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: have said anything. Many people believe when she said she
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: was trying to tell us. We don't know what she
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: was trying to say. There is a mountain of evidence
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: indicating proving Quentin Tellis was guilty. Mss Chambers, Jessica's mother.
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: What do you think was the strongest evidence showing he
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: did this thing to Jessica, the cell.
• 28:36
  Speaker 5: Phone, Beata and all the video. I mean, he was
• 28:42
  Speaker 5: with her on the phones, they're together. It's just no
• 28:48
  Speaker 5: possibility way that it was in you one else but to.
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: Vincent Hill, cop turned private investigator, Vincent, I mean, it's unbelievable.
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: It's fantastical to believe that he's pestering her all all
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: day long, their cell phones are together, and then one
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: hour after they're together, she's dead. And what somebody else
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: snuck up in there in that forty five minute window
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: and killed her.
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: That's crazy talk, It's crazy.
• 29:13
  Speaker 14: Miss Chambers is right. The cell phone dated, Nancy suggests
• 29:17
  Speaker 14: without a doubt that.
• 29:18
  Speaker 5: This was Quintin.
• 29:19
  Speaker 14: And one of the things I found interesting at seven
• 29:21
  Speaker 14: forty six, tell Us calls his sister and says hey,
• 29:24
  Speaker 14: or he calls his girlfriend and says, I'm walking to
• 29:26
  Speaker 14: my sister's house. In that route where Jessica was found,
• 29:29
  Speaker 14: there's a cut through that would lead to exactly where
• 29:32
  Speaker 14: his sister lives. So, I mean, the evidence was right there. Nancy,
• 29:35
  Speaker 14: I still can't believe this jury could not come up
• 29:38
  Speaker 14: with a guilty verdict in this case.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: Ms Chambers, during the trial, did you make eye contact
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: with the jury.
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: How were they behaving?
• 29:45
  Speaker 5: They were paying attention. I mean, it seemed like they
• 29:48
  Speaker 5: were paying attention, taking notes. This jury was much more
• 29:53
  Speaker 5: a chance than the last. The first jury, he would
• 29:57
  Speaker 5: have thought that, Yeah, that would come back definitely. Gil.
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: What went through your mind when they told you the
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: jury hung.
• 30:03
  Speaker 5: Oh, I don't know if I can even say that.
• 30:05
  Speaker 5: I mean, what would they hang on? I don't you know.
• 30:08
  Speaker 5: I was just total shock. I mean, if it was
• 30:14
  Speaker 5: like a perfect picture, I don't have it.
• 30:17
  Speaker 6: I can't.
• 30:18
  Speaker 5: I'm feeling shocked that they do that.
• 30:20
  Speaker 10: I'm just.
• 30:22
  Speaker 5: It's unbelievable.
• 30:24
  Speaker 3: Why was he even on the streets. He should have
• 30:26
  Speaker 3: never been uti the jailor you know, the crabs. He
• 30:29
  Speaker 3: was committed in the things he'd done, Why he was
• 30:32
  Speaker 3: in for that, He should have never been out he was.
• 30:34
  Speaker 3: He only got out of prison in October, and he
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: killed my daughter, and he should have never been on
• 30:39
  Speaker 3: the street.
• 30:39
  Speaker 4: That's my problem.
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: You are hearing Jessica's father, Ben Chambers, just incredulous in
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: shock that Quentin tell us the man I believe murdered
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: his daughter Jessica was even walking the streets to start
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: with with me right now, reacting to the jury's mistrial
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: is Jessica's mother, and she is not giving up to terress.
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: April Clarion Ledger reporter, What exactly is the nature of
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: the evidence against this guy, Quinton tell us In the
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: case of Mandy So's murder, well.
• 31:12
  Speaker 6: Probably the biggest piece of evidence he had used her
• 31:15
  Speaker 6: credit cards and has been convicted of basically a credit
• 31:18
  Speaker 6: card fraud. They found a receipt for seven cents where
• 31:21
  Speaker 6: he went to check and see if it worked. I
• 31:23
  Speaker 6: think in addition, they have inline video, But I think
• 31:26
  Speaker 6: the biggest thing is that they have a witness that
• 31:29
  Speaker 6: I believe will testify. They were swapping stories of you know,
• 31:33
  Speaker 6: one time I don't know, robbed a gas station or
• 31:35
  Speaker 6: something things like that, and then Quinton one time allegedly
• 31:38
  Speaker 6: told him that he had tortured a woman to death
• 31:42
  Speaker 6: for her pen number and then taken her credit cards
• 31:44
  Speaker 6: to use them. And when you look at the evidence
• 31:47
  Speaker 6: in Mandy's case, she was stabbed over thirty times with
• 31:50
  Speaker 6: superficial stabs and then once with a fatal stab, and
• 31:54
  Speaker 6: authorities believed very much that that's what Quinton was talking about.
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: These two murders are separated by only about two hundred
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: and twenty five miles in eight months. The common link
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: is Quinton tell Us. Mandy So, a graduate student in Louisiana,
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: apparently had some relationship friend wise not romantic with Quentin Tellus.
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: She was there at University of Louisiana at Monroe and
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: cops say whoever killed her stabbed her about thirty seven
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: times inside her apartment. Neighbors identify Quentin tell Us around
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: her apartment that day. Not only that, but video footage
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: shows them together at a Walmart the day before. They
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: say that tell Us picked up So's prescription for a painkiller,
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: a common painkiller called it lor Tab.
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: And we also learn.
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: The neighbors say they saw tell Us coming in and
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: out of her apartment in the days leading up to
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: her death, that the neighbors felt quote creeped out by
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: tell Us. Then we find out he calls his family
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: and gets them to try to use Mandy's ATM card
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: at a Chase Bank, Okay tried to check the balance
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: in her account. Then two calls go to Chase Bank
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: from tell Us his phone with her pen. Kay entered
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: into the phone to find out the balance. The next day,
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: he asked his mother in law's neighbor to take a
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: quote blue Chase debit card with a Chinese name on it.
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: So hso to an ATM and get two thousand dollars.
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: Wow. I wonder who killed her?
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: So we see the common thread emerging, Miss Chambers, of
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: a young girl, a young woman who doesn't go along
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: with his plan. In Mandy So's case, it was give
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: me your money, give me all your money, let me
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: drain your ATM. Do it or I'll kill you. Or
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: with Jessica, he pestered her for sex all day long.
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: She said no, no, no, no, oh, so he killed
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: her same m o, Miss Chambers, exactly when you realize
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: that he is killed not one, but two young girls,
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: how does that affect you, Miss Chambers.
• 34:16
  Speaker 5: Mandy would be alive, Jessica would be alive had he
• 34:20
  Speaker 5: not ever gotten out early in the first place. If
• 34:27
  Speaker 5: they happened to call him with Mandy. I wonder if
• 34:29
  Speaker 5: they ever called him at all, how many more would
• 34:32
  Speaker 5: there be If somebody some Jerry doesn't pay attention. I
• 34:38
  Speaker 5: have to say there will be more. I think he
• 34:42
  Speaker 5: has no conscious, he doesn't care, and it's just I
• 34:47
  Speaker 5: can't believe that he's allowed to do this stuff. I
• 34:51
  Speaker 5: just don't understand.
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: I can't either.
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: I cannot either, Miss Chambers, how has this what he
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: did to Jessica? And I pray to God that the
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: Lord numbed her so she did not feel the pain
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: of what he did to her. Could you tell our
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: listeners how this horrific crime on your baby girl has
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: affected your life.
• 35:14
  Speaker 5: I can't do anything. I don't leave my house much anymore.
• 35:20
  Speaker 5: I mean, I live right here. We're all of them
• 35:23
  Speaker 5: like two mid of each other. You don't want to
• 35:27
  Speaker 5: leave home, you don't. It's hard to explain, is well
• 35:33
  Speaker 5: I leave. I know she's longer here, but as long
• 35:36
  Speaker 5: as i'm home office, she's here, So I try to
• 35:39
  Speaker 5: stay home. You don't want to go out in public
• 35:44
  Speaker 5: just because people have to say something and you don't
• 35:48
  Speaker 5: know how to answer, Like how are you today? Well,
• 35:52
  Speaker 5: how do you think I am? I'm lost, part of
• 35:57
  Speaker 5: my heart's gone. It's just it's just it's like part
• 36:05
  Speaker 5: of me dead. I can't really explain to you. You
• 36:09
  Speaker 5: just nola want to function. I can't start to be honest.
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: I can't, Miss Chambers, what is your most vivid memory
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: of Jessica?
• 36:24
  Speaker 5: Just all sitting here all the time, get some on
• 36:28
  Speaker 5: the phone, the cheering on how being a flyer, just
• 36:36
  Speaker 5: everything about it. I can remember everything, down to the
• 36:40
  Speaker 5: face as she made of a child, to the pictures
• 36:44
  Speaker 5: she would take sticking her tongue out. I can remember
• 36:47
  Speaker 5: everything about her. It's it's not a memory that I
• 36:53
  Speaker 5: don't have. I remember at all.
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: Miss Chambers. Right now, what is your message to Quentin
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: tell Us?
• 37:06
  Speaker 5: He will, he won't be away with it. I don't care.
• 37:10
  Speaker 5: What's the jury to us? He won't get away with it.
• 37:14
  Speaker 5: God has the final say. You can't. You can hide
• 37:18
  Speaker 5: and you can lie to all people you want to.
• 37:22
  Speaker 5: She can't lie to him. He already knows.
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: Quentin Tellas has somehow managed a snag a hung jury,
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: not once, but twice in the burning death of a
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: teen girl, Jessica Chambers.
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: Will he ever be sentenced for her murder?
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: We wait as justice and false, and we pray for
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: justice for Jessica.
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: Goodbye friend,