Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / BONUS EPISODE: Inside the Series: Oxygen's ‘Unspeakable Crime: The Killing of Jessica Chambers’

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BONUS EPISODE: Inside the Series: Oxygen's ‘Unspeakable Crime: The Killing of Jessica Chambers’ · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A picture of Jessica in
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: my mind is blue eyes, always smiling, the biggest temples,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: the littlest body, and probably her little sign thrown up,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: which is I love you, I love you. Jessica was
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: a blondhaired, cotton top little girl. Jessica's smile would just
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: light up a room when she came in. Jessica loved
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  Speaker 1: to chair the football games. She was a flower that
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: there were up into Eric. Oh God, I'm so afraid
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: it's gonna drop her. Jessica was full alive. Jessica was
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: suffering as a mule. Jessica was just a joy. At
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  Speaker 1: one time, she wanted to be a teacher. At one
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  Speaker 1: time she wanted to be a book writer. And the
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  Speaker 1: major thing she always said, she wanted to be an
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  Speaker 1: r And who are hearing a description of a beautiful
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  Speaker 1: young teen cheerleader, Jessica Chambers, Jessica burned alive. That's her
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  Speaker 1: family speaking out lovingly, describing what Jessica was like, what
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  Speaker 1: she wanted to be when she grew up. Her mom Lisa,
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  Speaker 1: her aunt Sherry, her father Been Chambers. We're hearing their voices.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: The closest thing left to Jessica. Joining me right now
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  Speaker 1: is BuzzFeed reporter Katie Baker. Katie, thank you so much
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  Speaker 1: for being with us. I am really looking forward to
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  Speaker 1: everything as it unfolds. On Oxygen's new series Unspeakable Crime,
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  Speaker 1: The Killing of Jessica Chambers. Now it premiered September seven,
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  Speaker 1: six Central, but there are new episodes every Saturday on Oxygen,
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  Speaker 1: the new network for crime. Katie, I want to talk
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  Speaker 1: about several things regarding Jessica. First of all, how was
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  Speaker 1: Jessica Chambers found? Thanks so much for having me. Jessica
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  Speaker 1: was found in a really horrific way. She was soaked
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: in fuel in her car on a rural country road.
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  Speaker 1: She had been basically set on fire, but she was
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  Speaker 1: still alive and left to stumble through um a ditch
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  Speaker 1: and she was spotted by a passing UM driver who
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  Speaker 1: called nine one one, and she was flown to the
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  Speaker 1: hospital about an hour away. But she had burned over
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  Speaker 1: an i d percent of her body and um the
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  Speaker 1: fire was so powerful that it turned her black car
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  Speaker 1: white and it just totally burned her and her responders
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  Speaker 1: said that they thought that Jessica and Ricarba burning for
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  Speaker 1: about thirty minutes. Oh my stars, just the thought of
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: what this team girl endured before she passed away. I
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: spoke with her father, Ben, and he described racing to
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  Speaker 1: try to get to her in the hospital. You know,
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  Speaker 1: no one saw this coming. The day Jessica Chambers was
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  Speaker 1: burned alive, listen to her mom, Lisa, describing her last
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  Speaker 1: day on earth. Jessica had left home and went to
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  Speaker 1: the store, come back about thirty one o'clock. She got
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: her pajama pants and piled up in a chair in
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  Speaker 1: the living room and went to sleep. Sometime between four
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  Speaker 1: five and five fift she got a phone call, a text,
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  Speaker 1: whichever one it was, I'm not sure. And then she
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  Speaker 1: went out the door and said she'd be back to
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  Speaker 1: clean up her room. She was going to get her
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  Speaker 1: something to eat. I called her and she said, I'll
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  Speaker 1: be home in a little while. Mama, but I love you.
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  Speaker 1: I told her I loved her too. She said, seeing
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  Speaker 1: a little bit, and that's the last I heard from her.
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  Speaker 1: Jessica Chambers is miss to be cheerleader, dead, found by
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  Speaker 1: a passer by staggering along the road. Some of the
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  Speaker 1: only parts of her unburned, the souls of her feet.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: Back to Special guests joining me, Katie Baker from BuzzFeed,
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  Speaker 1: who was intimately familiar with the story, did you tell
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  Speaker 1: me what you know about the crime itself. We don't
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  Speaker 1: have a definitive story yet since there was a mischild,
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  Speaker 1: but I can tell you what the prosecutor argued happened
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  Speaker 1: in court, which is that they alleged that a recent
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  Speaker 1: local acquaintance of hers, Quentin Ellis, who was twenty seven
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  Speaker 1: to her nineteen, um that they had been hanging out
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  Speaker 1: for a few weeks and that he had been bothering
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  Speaker 1: Jessica to have sex with him, and she had been
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: repeatedly rebuffing his advances. And the prosecution argued at the
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: trial last year that he had smothered her in the
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  Speaker 1: passenger seat of her car before the events that led
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  Speaker 1: to her death. M Champion John Champion, the district attorney,
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  Speaker 1: said that he thought that Tellis had subvocated her and
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  Speaker 1: thought he had killed her and wanted to hide her body,
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  Speaker 1: so he set the car on fire. But again, since
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  Speaker 1: there was a mistrial, none of this, um, you know,
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  Speaker 1: he was not found guilty. Well, a mistrial, I don't
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  Speaker 1: believe is it not guilty? Katie? I believe it means
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  Speaker 1: that the jury hangs up, and it's my understanding that
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  Speaker 1: they're going forward with a second jury trial. Is that correct?
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  Speaker 1: That is correct, and the next trial starts soon. What
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  Speaker 1: I mean is that he has not been found healthy
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  Speaker 1: and or innocent. It was a hung jury, like you said,
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  Speaker 1: So this is what was argued in court, but he
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  Speaker 1: got another chance to prove his innocence. Now, what do
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  Speaker 1: we know about Jessica herself? Tell me about her. So
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  Speaker 1: when I first reported the story three years ago, I
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  Speaker 1: went to Courtland, and what everyone told me is that,
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  Speaker 1: by all accounts, Jessica was a normal Courtland teenager. She
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  Speaker 1: was rebellious, but not much more so than other kids
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  Speaker 1: who lived in the area. They said she was dramatic
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  Speaker 1: and feisty, and that she was also a sweetheart. She
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  Speaker 1: was very bubbly, loyal and generous, and I remember someone
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  Speaker 1: said she was the kind of girl who would give
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  Speaker 1: you her last dollar if you needed cheering up. So
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  Speaker 1: like many teenage girls, she you know, she had graduated
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  Speaker 1: from high school with all a's and b's, and she
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  Speaker 1: had a job. So I really think that she was
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  Speaker 1: your normal teenage girl, and that is partially why this
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  Speaker 1: crime was so shocking to the people in her small town.
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  Speaker 1: With me from buzz Fade is investigative journalist Katie Baker. Katie,
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  Speaker 1: what can you tell me about how the investigation progressed
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  Speaker 1: and the aftermath of Jessica's death? Police questioned not only
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  Speaker 1: Jessica's former boyfriends and friends, but the most interesting clue
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  Speaker 1: that everybody was really obsessed with was that several first
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  Speaker 1: responders reported hearing Jessica say a name that sounded like
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  Speaker 1: Eric or Derek Um, obviously making people think that someone
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  Speaker 1: named Eric or Derek had killed her. But ultimately investigators
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  Speaker 1: could not find anybody named Eric or Derek that was
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  Speaker 1: a suspect, and in fact, they said in court that
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  Speaker 1: there was nobody named Eric or Derek that she had
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  Speaker 1: used her phone to talk to in the thirty days priory.
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  Speaker 1: Regarding when first responders came to the scene and asked
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  Speaker 1: her who had done this to her and they thought
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  Speaker 1: she said Eric, the person on trial's name is tell
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  Speaker 1: Us Quentin tell Us. Is it true, Katie, that the
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  Speaker 1: inside of her mouth and throat her airway was also burned? Yes,
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  Speaker 1: When Jessica went to the hospital, the inside of her
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  Speaker 1: mouth was charred black. It seems to make me very
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  Speaker 1: very difficult for her to speak. Uh, Katie Baker, listen.
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  Speaker 1: We pull it up and he Jessica was lady right here,
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  Speaker 1: and I remember the heat coming off of the troupe.
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  Speaker 1: We started rendering nod glade for Jessica And remember looking
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  Speaker 1: down and she was laid on her side and they
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  Speaker 1: had this old army blanket covering. I don't think she
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  Speaker 1: had on was a pair of panties. Just seeing our
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  Speaker 1: land on the ground, a piece of skin. Time, she burthed,
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  Speaker 1: go in and out or no, you and damn think
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: you do it? M h. The burn spots from red
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  Speaker 1: like in some places. Maybe it's like somebody who's some
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  Speaker 1: near charcoal on. She wasn't complaining about pain or nothing. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: she was shaking. Somebody asked what she cold or something,
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  Speaker 1: and I seem like she nodded her head, you know,
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  Speaker 1: she wouldn't really talking. And then h firefighter Brandy Davis
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  Speaker 1: was kind of back over toward her feet and he said, well, man,
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  Speaker 1: who who've done this to you? Kind of just looked up,
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  Speaker 1: turned her head just a little bit and playing day
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  Speaker 1: she said, Eric did this. She didn't call her last name,
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  Speaker 1: you know, she just she said Eric did this. We
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  Speaker 1: was all kind of stunned. I thought, whoever did this
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  Speaker 1: or may still be out there seeing her the way
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  Speaker 1: she was and then still alive. I don't wish it
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  Speaker 1: on my worst end. Here the amlets had pulled up
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  Speaker 1: over here, unloaded the stretcher, and they loaded the re opponent.
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  Speaker 1: And that was why I st saying her airing on
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  Speaker 1: Oxygen every Saturday is unspeakable crime, The Killing of Jessica Chambers.
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  Speaker 1: It premiered September fifteen, seven six Central new episodes every
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  Speaker 1: Saturday night on Oxygen, the new network for crime. The
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  Speaker 1: retrial is set to begin to Katie Baker joining us
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  Speaker 1: from BuzzFeed. Katie, why was there a mistrial? The first
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  Speaker 1: time I was there, and from my perspective, I walked
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  Speaker 1: in there thinking that the prosecution was going to make
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  Speaker 1: a really strong case. They took about a year and
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  Speaker 1: a half to arrest somebody, and everyone assumed that they
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  Speaker 1: must have really good evidence to prove that he Quentin
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  Speaker 1: tell Us had killed Jessica. But the key issue I
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  Speaker 1: think was that first responder after first responder took the
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: stand and said that before Jessica Chambers died, she went
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  Speaker 1: asked who burned her, she said it was somebody named
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  Speaker 1: Eric or possibly Derek. And so you heard some person
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  Speaker 1: after others say she said it was Eric. Eric did
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  Speaker 1: this to me. And the person on trial for killing
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  Speaker 1: her was named Quentin tell Us, which doesn't sound like
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  Speaker 1: Eric or Derek. And while the prosecution did try its
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  Speaker 1: best to argue that, um, you know, she had had
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  Speaker 1: burns over her body, her throat was burned, she could
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  Speaker 1: have sounded like she said something else. I think hearing
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  Speaker 1: so many different people say, you know, she said Eric
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  Speaker 1: made the jury confused. A man has been charged with
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  Speaker 1: the murder of a Mississippi teen cheerleader, Jessica Chambers. She
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  Speaker 1: was doused in gasolene and burned to death. The suspect,
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  Speaker 1: twenty seven year old Quentin tell Us, is George, was
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  Speaker 1: setting fire to tang Jessica in a car in Courtland, Mississippi,
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  Speaker 1: and leaving her there to die. December seven was in
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  Speaker 1: fourteen now earlier, Katie Baker from Buzzfade reported it tell
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  Speaker 1: Us had been pestering Jessica for sex, but that she
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  Speaker 1: continued to say no. Katie, wasn't that proven in text
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  Speaker 1: messages from tell Us, yes and I thought that was
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  Speaker 1: very strong. I thought that it was clear from the
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  Speaker 1: tax messages in court that the day that she died,
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  Speaker 1: he asked her repeatedly to come over and have sex,
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  Speaker 1: and Jessica said no, She his mom and sister were
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: over and they would freak out if she was there,
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  Speaker 1: and she said that she didn't want to come over,
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  Speaker 1: and so I thought that that part of the prosecution's
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  Speaker 1: argument was very strong. Again, I think that the reason
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  Speaker 1: there was a mistrial was because of the Eric or
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  Speaker 1: Derek problem, and I've heard that when the second trial
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  Speaker 1: starts soon, the defense is going to use the argument again,
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  Speaker 1: saying that the person who killed her has to be
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  Speaker 1: named Eric or Derreth. Katie Baker do you know the
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  Speaker 1: criminal history, if any, of Quentin tell Us. Um. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: he had a lengthy criminal record, Katie Baker from BuzzFeed,
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: joining us you know Quentin tell Us no stranger to
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  Speaker 1: the inside of a jail house. Two thousand and ten,
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  Speaker 1: he was sentenced to five years from burglary and being
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: a felon fleeing authority. That means he had to be
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: a felon before that charge. Two thousand twelve, shortly after
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  Speaker 1: he got out of prison, back in trouble, charged with
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: another burglary since to eight years, but not long after that,
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: just two more years, he was being questioned about the
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: murder of this cheerleader, Jessica Chambers. Tell Us is actually
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: facing murder charges in two separate state Katie Bay Current.
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  Speaker 1: He had another murder charge pending in another jurisdiction. Quentin
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  Speaker 1: tell Us was charged with a Louisiana murder in addition
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  Speaker 1: to Jessica Chambers, He's charged with the first stream. He
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  Speaker 1: was charged with the first strea murder of an international
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: student at the University of Louisiana and Monroe. Jessica was
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  Speaker 1: murdered in December of two thousand and fourteen and in
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  Speaker 1: August two thousand and fourteen, so just a few months
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  Speaker 1: before a U l um student was found stabbed to
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: death in her apartment and tell Us was found. Tell
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  Speaker 1: Us did plead guilty to using credit cards that belonged
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: to that student, so he was sentenced to five years
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: for unauthorized use of a credit card. Because he was
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: a habitual offender, his sentence was doubled to ten years
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: and he is also facing murder charges as well. Katie
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: Baker from Buzzface what can you tell me about rumors
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: circulating regarding Jessica's murder. Jessica's murder caused international intrigue, with
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: people all over the world trying to solve her case.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: And because local authorities took so long to solve it,
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: and because there were only about five people in her
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: tiny town, it seemed like everybody was a suspect, and
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: everybody from her you know, her family members and friends,
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: to her exes to um just strangers that she had
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: never met, everyone was under suspicion and the town really
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: came to blows against each other, with people accusing each
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: other based on um internet rumors that people from all
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: over the world. We're bringing up, Katie, what role do
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: phone records play in the investigation? Police were able to
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: use phone records to prove that Quentin Talas was the
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: last person um with Jessica. They were able to place
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: them at the scene of the crime together, and they
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: could also show that about an hour after Jessica was
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: um set on fire, Quentin deleted all of the texts
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: between them, so a few you know, in both ways,
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: they were both able to use cell phone data um
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  Speaker 1: to place Jessica with Quentin and They were also able
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: to show that they were texting their resiting time together
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: and that he deleted texts immediately after her murder. You know,
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: it's really amazing, Katie Baker joined me from BuzzFeed the
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: role that these phone records do play because at the
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: very beginning, when Quentin tell Us was interviewed, he didn't
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: mention that he had seen Jessica earlier that day around lunchtime.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: But then his story, according to prosecutors, changed saying he
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: met her in Batesville. The next story he said was
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: he had written with her to Batesville, and then he
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: admitted that they were together at or near his house
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: that night. Now we know he has pled not guilty
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: to capital murder. We know that. But what I find
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: interesting about these phone records is cell phone and video data.
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  Speaker 1: They tell a completely different story than what he said. Um,
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: we learned that in analyzing the data, which is like
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: putting together a puzzle, the timeline really changed because it
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: shows tell Us and Chambers together that evening, the evening
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: of her death, and they were using multiple types of
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: cell phone data. R T t S which is ranged
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: to tower that shows a general location. Another data shows
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: where a user is when his or her phone is
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: actually active, and that is when we learn they could
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: tract Chambers and tell Us that Saturday. Also that data
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: places him, according to the state, with her at the
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: time of the murder. Isn't Their video Katie Baker from
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: the Eminem gas station showing tell Us visiting the store
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: multiple times during the day, pulling in and out of
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: his driveway as well, including one time prosecutors say tell
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: Us was driving his sister's car to a storage shed
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: on his property where he tells the FBI he kept
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: a five gallon gas can. Does the video show that? Yes?
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: And all of this evidence was presented in court, and
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: it will be interesting to see what happens during the
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: next trial because again, ultimately the jury members um in
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: the first trial, we're just really really fixated on the
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: Eric Derek problem. But there is a lot of other
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: evidence and cell phone data and video footage, like you said,
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: that tells a strong story to say that Quentin tell
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: Us as a suspect. Interesting about the cell phone data
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: and Quentin tell Us the defendant story that he did
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: not see Jessica the afternoon or the night she died,
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: which clearly was shown to be untrue according to the state.
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: That defense has a different story. Of course, in the end,
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: Katie Baker, do you believe it will be a battle
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: between the cell phone records and the E M T
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: s based on Chambers tried to say as she was dying.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: I do. I do think that it's going to be
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: hard for the prosecution to get over that challenge of
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: explaining to the jury why they're saying that someone named
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: Quentin tell Us killed Jessica when she herself told so
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: many people that Erica Derek killed her, and everybody who
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: testified that she said that said that she said it
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: for clearly. So I think that is a real, really
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: big challenge and it will be interesting to see how
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: they hand at this time with me buzz Fade investigative
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: reporter Katie Baker on the case of the cheerleader Jessica
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: Chambers burned alive. See Unspeakable Crime, The Killing of Jessica Chambers.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: It premiered September fIF seven, six Central, but new episodes
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: every Saturday on Oxygen, the new network for crime. Nancy
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: Grace signing off Goodbye Friend,