Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Teen Jessica Chambers burned alive, flammable liquid forced down her throat. Will there be justice?

Episode Date: June 12, 2020

Teen Jessica Chambers strangled and set on fire face. Two mistrials in this case so far. Will there be a third trial.The suspect in this case, Quinton Tellis, facing murder charges in another state. Will this case ever see justice? Joining Nancy Grace today: Darryl Cohen - Former Assistant District Attorney, Fulton County, Georgia, Defense Attorney  Dr Bethany Marshall - Psychoanalyst, Beverly Hills, follow on instagram at DrBethanyMarshall Steven Lampley - Former Detective - Author “Outside Your Door” www.stevenlampley.com Dr. Kris Sperry - Retired Chief Medical Examiner State of Georgia Michael Clark - WIAT CBS 42, Birmingham, Al Reporter TIPLINE: [phone] Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. How does a 19-year-old girl, a beautiful, bubbly cheerleader, end up burned alive? You know, there are many ways to die, and I believe I prosecuted every single one of them, but to be burned alive? Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at Fox Nation and Series XM 111. Take a listen to Lisa Chambers. Jessica had left home, went to the store, come back about 12.30, 1 o'clock.

She got her pajama pants and piled up in a chair in the living room and went to sleep. Sometime between 4.45 and 5.15, she got a phone call, a text, whichever one it was, I'm not sure. And then she went out the door and said she'd be back to clean up her room. She was going to get her something to eat. I called her and she said, I'll be home in a little while, mama, bye, I love you. I told her I loved her too.

She said, see you in a little bit. And that's the last I heard from her. You could be talking about a 12-year-old daughter curled up in a favorite chair in her PJs and gets a phone call on her cell. But Jessica, 19 years old, then leaves to go to a 7-Eleven to pick up a snack, get something to eat. How does this bubbly and beautiful teen girl, a cheerleader, end up burned alive? With me, an all-star panel, former felony prosecutor, now defense attorney, Daryl Cohen. Joining me, Steve Lampley, detective, author of Outside Your Door at stevenlampley.com. Retired medical examiner for the state of Georgia, Dr. Chris Sperry, who has been a witness in more cases than I can count for the state and the defense as well. A renowned psychiatrist joining us from the Atlanta jurisdiction, Dr. Angela Arnold with us today.

But first, to WIAT CBS 42 Birmingham, Michael Clark. This is just a 19-year-old girl. The mom says she was curled up in PJs, got a phone call in and decided to go out and get something to eat. Where was she headed? According to her mother, years ago she wanted to go to the Taco Bell in Batesville, Mississippi, to get something to eat with some friends. And that was the last correspondence that she had with her. It was a normal thing for Jessica to want to leave the house and run an errand with friends. And she didn't think anything of it. It was suppertime.

The local Taco Bell. Okay. I am very big on nutrition, making sure my children get the right amounts of fruits and veggies, organic, the whole shebang. But my daughter has a weakness for Taco Bell. She loves Taco Bell. And long story short, she ends up dragging the whole family there. Because if Lucy's not happy, nobody's happy. So the mom thinks Jessica's heading out to the local Taco Bell but that's not at all what happens take a listen to this I got out and I got a blanket and

she had her arms out was coming towards me saying help me help me help me what was the condition of Jessica Chambers? Her hair was fried out like she was stuck in a light socket. She had black all over her face. Her body was very badly burned. And I wrapped a blanket around her for one to conceal her. I always knew that, learned that, you know, burned victims would be cold. And so that's why, you know, I placed a blanket around her. So 19-year-old Jessica leaves to go to Taco Bell,

and then suddenly the fire chief shows up, and Jessica is totally burned. And it strikes me that he says her hair was, quote, fried, like she had been shocked. And it makes me think of a movie that the twins watch over and over and over. Actually, their favorite Home Alone, Home Alone 3. And there are spies,

and one gets electrocuted from, you know, a plug-in, and his hair sticks straight out. That's what he's talking about. I thought that was just in the movies. But apparently it's not just in the movies. I didn't know that was real. Joining me, Dr. Chris Sperry, former chief medical examiner for the entire state of Georgia. Why would her hair be sticking straight out like she had been shocked?

Well, much of it at that point had probably been, was burned, was burned away. It was burning from the ends of the hairs towards the scalp. And the gases from the burning hair, I mean, it causes everything to separate. But really what I think the man was describing was the effect of the hair burning away from her scalp. What do you mean? Well, that means it's on fire. It's being incinerated. And what he's really seeing is what's left that still hasn't completely become incinerated up next to the scalp. So the flames, well, the heat will tend to separate the hairs as well.

It's sort of similar to the way you might conceive of hair standing up in the electrical sort of thing, electrical shocks as you're describing or that people think of. But at the point where this man saw her, I would say much of her hair had already been incinerated. And what was left was in the process of burning, but just sticking out. You know, I tried a lot of arsons, which is a real specialty. Daryl Cohen, because with arsons, it's a whole not other mindset. You have to first prove a crime even occurred. Because fires can be accidental for any host of reasons. So you really have to work on an arson to show that there was even a crime. But then you have to prove who, what, where, why, when to prove an arson case.

But in all the arsons I have ever handled, Daryl, I don't know if you had an arson case. But in all the arsons I have ever handled, Daryl, I don't know if you had an arson case because there are few and far between, actually. I've never had a victim die of burning. They typically die of smoke inhalation before they can be burned to death, Daryl Cohen. Well, Nancy, unless the arson was instant and aimed directly at the person that they're trying to death, Daryl Cohen. Well, Nancy, unless the arson was instant and aimed directly at the person that they're trying to kill, throwing, burning gasoline at a person,

dousing the person with gasoline, kerosene, and then lighting it. So yeah, I agree with you. Actually, you just reminded me of something, Daryl. I did have a case where the victims died of burning, and they were two babies in their laet. And there was gang warfare between the sect queens, the girlfriends of the gangs. And one of the gang members, to, I guess, uphold the honor of his girlfriend, throws a Molotov cocktail into the home of another gang member, and it ended up burning two sleeping babies alive. Yes, I have had one. I just remembered that one. Have you ever had a case, Daryl, where the victim was burned alive?

No, I have not. The only case I had was when a victim was shot and then burned. And we never knew if he was burned first or shot first. It was almost instantaneous. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. We pulled up, and Jessica was laid right here. And I remember the heat coming off the truck. We started rendering medical aid for Jessica. And I remember looking down and she was

laid on her side and they had this old army blanket covering I don't think she had on was a pair of panties. Just sitting there laying on that ground, that piece of skin. Every time she breathed go in and out of her nose. Ain't a damn thing you can do about it.

Okay, that takes a lot. Listen to what this volunteer fire person is saying. He arrives at the scene with the volunteer fire department. He sees by this time Jessica is lying on the ground, covered in the blanket you heard about. She only had on her underwear. I'm learning something right there. Why is she only had on her underwear. I'm learning something right there. Why is she still out on underwear? Were the rest of her clothes, were they burned off,

or had they already been removed from her body before she caught fire? Her skin looked blackened like charcoal. To Dr. Chris Sperry, former chief medical examiner for the state of Georgia. Dr. Sperry, is it true that burn victims feel cold? Yes, they do. Because with extensive burning like this, the normal insulation that the skin provides is lost. The outer layer of the skin is lost, the outer layer of the skin is lost, and the person, because of the horrendous nature of the burn, physiologically, they go into shock. So blood is really pooling in the center of the body, around the heart, especially in

the organs, you know, to keep us alive. But the result is that the extremities, the hands, the feet, the legs, the arms, will feel cold to the touch because the blood flow has been diverted really to the center of the body. That's what happens with someone in shock. I'm just thinking about what this young girl, this 19-year-old cheerleader, lived through, burning alive. Listen to more of the volunteer fireperson. The burn spots were red. Looked like, in some places, maybe looked like somebody had smeared charcoal on her. She wasn't complaining about pain or nothing.

You know, she was shaking. Somebody asked her was she cold or something. And I seemed like she nodded her head. You know, she wasn't real talkative. And then a firefighter, Brandy Davis, was kind of back over toward her feet. And he said, well, hon, who done this to you? Kind of just looked up, turned her head just a little bit.

And plain as day, she said, Eric did this. She didn't call no last name. You know, she said, Eric did this. She didn't call no last name. You know, she said Eric did this. We was all kind of stunned. I thought whoever did this may still be out there. Seeing her the way she was and then still alive, I don't wish this on my worst enemy. And here is the Cortland County Fire Chief Cole Haley.

The tone dropped, and it was for a vehicle fire, and we was expecting it to be just any normal vehicle fire, get it extinguished and be back home, you know. And we made scene, we saw the vehicle was fully involved, then we noticed a young female, and we knew we had something bigger on our hands. My guys, they started extinguishing the fire, trying to preserve any evidence that might have been left behind. And I started tending to the victim. And she did speak with me, which I can't disclose any of that information at this time. But, you know, she did talk with me. It's a small town.

Everybody knows everybody in a small town. But I know the family real well, and I just, I hate it happen. You know, I feel sorry for the family. I feel I know the family, too. Listen to what Ben Chambers, Jessica's dad, tells me. Do you remember the moment when you heard your daughter was a fire victim? Oh, yes, ma'am. I mean, it's just like it was yesterday.

You know, it was, I just didn't want to believe it at first when they called me. You know, I thought maybe, you know, she was just burnt just a little bit. You know, I couldn't imagine the scale it was, you know, and I asked Barry, was she okay? And, you know, and he got real silent. And he said, no, man, she's not. And that's when my whole world fell, you know. Where were you, Mr. Chambers, when you learned? We had just come home from Memphis.

We had been Christmas shopping or whatever that day. We hadn't been home maybe 10 minutes when he called. And what did you do? He told me he wouldn't tell me exactly where it was at. He wanted me to stay there at the house, and the sheriff and him come to my house, and about five minutes they was at the house and the sheriff and him come to my house in about five minutes they was at the house and uh he told me you know how bad she was burnt and they was flying her to memphis you are

hearing jessica's dad talking to me to dr angela arnold uh renowned psychiatrist joining us today dr arnold thank you so much for being with us. You know, I've dealt with so many murder victims, tangential victims of murder, and uniformly, they remember, and it's a defining moment in their life when they learn their loved one has been murdered or is dead. They never forget it, Dr. Angela. Well, how could you forget it? It's so shocking. This is not something that anyone goes through in their regular life. So I'm sure they have some sort of post-traumatic stress disorder that arises from this, wouldn't you think, Nancy? Well, Dr. Angela, I remember when my dad passed away and when my fiance was murdered. A lot of things are a blur. When I've been asked questions about certain

aspects, I don't have an answer. But how can you blur or block out other things, but that moment is something you always remember. That's just seared in your, well, like I said, Nancy, it's not something that typically people go through. And I think it just ignites in our brains something, and it does cause a post-traumatic stress reaction because it is so unlikely. It's not a normal thing to experience. I can't even imagine who could experience their fiance being murdered. I imagine to this day, you remember how you feel about that, don't you? How you feel. Yeah, I'm feeling it inside right now, even talking about it. I hate even talking about it. Take a listen to more of what Jessica's dad tells me. We were standing out in the yard. the helicopter come over to pick her up.

And so I took off to Memphis. We beat the helicopter to Memphis, which is only about 50 something miles from my house. We beat the helicopter there, you know. Let me ask you something. I just went through that flying, driving as fast as I could to get to my father before he passed away what do you remember about that drive to try to get to your daughter uh it was just you know I was just steady praying to the Lord that she'd be okay, you know, and just begging her to not take her, you know, because I just lost my son a year before she got killed, you know, in a car wreck, and just, you know, my whole world just shut down, you know. Guys, we are talking about the murder by fire of a teen girl cheerleader who just goes to a Del Taco at Taco Bell for a snack.

And next thing you know, she is burned alive. Listen to what her father, Ben, tells me. I mean, just hearing you talk, I remember that, that crazy attempt to get there before he passed away. When you got there, when you got to the hospital, what happened? Well, when I got to the hospital, I didn't even know how to park my vehicle. You have to, you know, pay to get in and park. I just parked in the middle of the street street took off running in the hospital or whatever and of course when i got in there nobody know nothing about it or anything you got to get a badge and and finally i asked i said where's the burn center

or whatever where is the part of the burn center and you know they said well it says uh upstairs down the hall wherever i just took off running you you know. As a matter of fact, I went in places I wasn't even supposed to be, you know, trying to find her. And did you find her? They didn't even know nothing about it. And, of course, then they started calling around, and they said, well, wait a minute. The helicopter's landing right now, you know. And we had to wait, wait, wait, you know, wait on the doctor. It seemed like it was eternity, you know.

And the doctor come out and said he couldn't do nothing for her, you know. She was too bad. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. To Michael Clark, WIAT, CBS 42, Birmingham. Where did the incident take place as it relates to the hospital? She had to be airlifted to a Memphis hospital. The incident actually took place, like Ben said, about 50 miles south of the city of Memphis in a small town of Cortland. And it required quite a transport to get her to Memphis to find a place for the helicopter to land to light her up there. So for the Chambers family to beat the helicopter there was quite a bit of distance

for both of those groups to have to travel to get to the hospital. What happened to Jessica? Now that's the question. Listen to her dad. What the doctor told us in Memphis or whatever that, you know, they had squirted stuff in her mouth, you know, because she was burnt so bad and so far deep down. District Attorney John Champion has confirmed that some kind of flammable liquid was used in the fiery killing of Jessica Chambers. I mean, it's bad. I mean, there's no way around it. I mean, I've been doing this 21 years now, and as far as the manner of death, this is certainly one of the worst I've ever dealt with. Nobody has been arrested. Investigators have interviewed many people. The investigation is complicated because the site of the murder is on a desolate road. Investigators may have caught a break.

Jessica was captured on this camera at a gas station late Saturday. They also have phone evidence. I don't know. I know they went and got all our records and everything. You know, they won't tell me really nothing right now, you know, but I know they got some good leads and everything. That's all I know. I know they're working hard. Ben Chambers says that he's getting calls of support from all around the country. Like Saturday night, they all gonna light a candle for my daughter. You're hearing Fox News reporter speaking to our friend Ben Chambers, Jessica's dad. So we're learning, based on what the dad believes, what he's told at the hospital,

someone actually squirts a flammable accelerant down her mouth. I want to go now to our guest joining us, a reporter with WIAT-CBS 42 Birmingham, Michael Clark. Michael, tell me about the site of the murder that Ben's talking about, that it is so desolate. I understand the site. She was, the fire started in her car. The site itself is not very far from Jessica Chambers' home. It literally is just a couple of miles down the road. You turn off of the main highway there in the small town of Cortland, and it's a very small, secluded neighborhood. They go over some train tracks, and then all of a sudden you're just in the middle of this tree farm.

And there's a gate that leads to private property where the tree farm is beyond that gate, and right in that location is where first responders found Jessica's car on fire and her struggling to stay alive. Now, tell me, how were authorities alerted to the fire if it was in such a remote area, Tree Farm? How was it spotted? It was reported that a neighbor in that area, like I said, it was a very small neighborhood. So kind of one of those situations where, you know, everybody's looking out for each other. And, you know, when anything is amiss, you know, they are concerned, kind of a neighborhood watch, if you will. And someone called this in at the sheriff's office and called that employee directly. When they saw a fire? When they saw a fire?

Yes. Now, is it true that a driver or someone along the road saw Jessica walking on fire? It was reported from the first responders that they came across Jessica walking on fire? It was reported from the first responders that they came across Jessica walking on fire. I believe that the firefighter, the chief that you heard from earlier in your broadcast, did come across Jessica walking on fire along that secluded road. So how can that be to Dr. Chris Sperry, former chief medical examiner for the entire state? Dr. Sperry, if she was burned to that extent, how could she be up walking around? Well, actually, that's pretty standard in people who are severely burned

but yet able to get out of the location where the fire is. I've seen it myself, actually. I was a doctor in the Indian Health Service in the late 70s, and we actually had a case where a man poured gasoline over himself, set himself on fire, rolled around to his house and called for the ambulance. And when he got to the hospital, the only thing that wasn't third-degree burn were the bottoms of his feet. So as long as they're able to get away from the source of the fire and also not inhale superheated burning gases, which will, you know, that will incapacitate someone very rapidly.

But otherwise, they can walk quite a ways on their own until shock develops. And, you know, also they will start to stiffen up. You know, the skin, the burnt skin will start to get very stiff within about 30 minutes or so. But it's really remarkable that this can happen. You know, since your organs are still working, like your heart, your stomach, your liver, all your internal organs, your brain still working, why is it that when your skin is burning, she was burned over 92% of her body, why do you die, Dr. Sperry? You die from the fact that your skin protects

your inner, it protects your body from the outside world. And when the skin is, the outer layers of the skin are burned like this, you actually start to lose fluid dramatically through the burned skin. The insulating character of the skin that keeps our body temperature normal, that is lost. And then finally, it's just a severe traumatic injury that involves eventually the whole entire body. And most patients like this, if they're in a burn center and kept alive long enough, infection is astounding.

That usually is what will cause the death because the skin keeps the bugs away from our inside body. And once the skin is damaged like this, bacteria will take advantage very rapidly. What happened to a teen girl, Jessica Chambers? She heads out just to go to Taco Bell and ends up burned over 92% of her body, wearing nothing but her underwear, walking along the side of the road trying to get help. You heard her father, Ben Chambers, tell me it looked as if someone had squirted accelerant

down her mouth. When first responders get there, it sounds like she's saying Eric, but with the inside of her mouth totally burnt black. As a matter of fact, the inside of her mouth and throat, who knows what she's really saying. But then phone records emerge. Joining me right now, Steve Lampley, detective and author of Outside Your Door. Explain to me how phones are triangulated. What happens is you have different cell towers throughout the country. There's an immense system of cell phone towers. And when a signal is sent from a cell phone, it pings off a triangulation of the closest three towers. So that gives them usually a location within three, I think three feet, actually, a yard of where that cell phone pinged from.

So not only do police use triangulation methods to pinpoint where you are, where you've been in the last however many days or hours or minutes they want to look back, back timing from your death location. They can also see who's calling you, who you are texting, and vice versa. Yes, Nancy, it can. Yes. And, you know, I guess criminals just don't get it. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Cell phone records don't lie. And you can physically get rid of your cell phone, but those records live in the cloud forever. Take a listen to the Department of Justice Intelligence analyst, Paul Rowlett.

That brings us back to one of the first people that was talked to four days after her death. It does. And one of the last people she was in contact with. Yes. And who was that? It was Quentin Tells. And earlier, you had looked at some tolls from Quentin Tells' phone. I had. And you looked at a dump that was retrieved from Quentin Tellis' phone. I had.

Had you looked at a dump that was retrieved from Quentin Tellis' phone? I did. When you originally analyzed Quentin Tellis, did you have that information? I didn't. And so, you know, again, we had taken that piece of puzzle, moved it toward the edge of the table and moved on to other things. But between the dates he was interviewed and that October 2015 meeting, at some point in there, we had received that location data back. So when you started going back through all the original contacts. Yes. Did you have another piece of information on Quentin Tellis?

I did. I had his location data on his phone. And did you analyze the location data on Quentin Tellis' phone? I did. And this leads you to contact investigators. It did. You know, I don't know if you heard at the trial, we always refer this back to the aha moment in the case, but it did. And when I saw

what I saw on his location data, it led me to, and I think I was doing that at a very late at night, I contacted the five members of the team and told you all that I needed you immediately in my office the next morning. Can you imagine that moment when this DOJ, Department of Justice Intelligence Analyst, Paul Roulette, is just digging through what they call a dump, a data dump is what it is, like pages and pages and pages, more than you'd ever need, about cell phone usage and patterns and locations. And it's in the middle of the night, and he gets what he calls an aha moment and calls the team and says, be here in the morning. I got something.

Straight out to our friend joining us, Michael Clark, WIAT CBS 42. Who is Quentin Tellis, and what was the aha moment? Well, Quentin Tellis is a local from the Cortland community where Jessica grew up and spent her time. They were friends. They hung out several times together. They knew each other. that they have put the pieces of the puzzle together with that data dump that you just referenced to know that they did have contact very close to the time that she was found burned, to know that there certainly was contact between those two individuals very, very close to the time that this crime was committed. And true. It's leading him right up to the time of the murder and a horrible, horrible death by burning.

But that's not enough. So you got to have more than that. But what about the content of the text messages? Isn't it true that he repeatedly was pestering her for sex and she at the time was saying, no, no, no, no. Does that mean anything to you, Daryl Cohen? It means a lot to me. It means that he's spurned. It means that he is mad. It means don't get mad, get even. And when his get even, what happened? Nothing good. So it means a lot to me, Nancy. It tells me there's a motive and there's a scheme and then there is what he did. Michael Clark, WIAT, CBS 42, Birmingham.

There are women all over that would probably love to date Quentin Tellis. Apparently, he's very charismatic. But the fact that he's pestering her for sex, she's saying, no, no, no. They're going back and forth. And then she is found burned alive wearing nothing but her underwear. And he is texting her up until the point of the fire. That suggests to me, with a lot of circumstantial evidence, that he attacked her for sex and ends up killing her by fire. And that certainly is what the theory and the thought behind that is, is that he had been chasing her for such a long period of time and had desire for her.

And the spurning of advances culminated with the opportunity that presented itself on that horrible night ended in the tragic outcome that we're talking about here today. But it has been clear that from the text messages and the evidence that came out in court that he did pursue Jessica Chambers unsuccessfully for quite some time. I don't get it, Dr. Angela Arnold. You're the shrink. I'm just a JD. You're the MD. With all the people out there, why do you have to focus on the one person that says, no, I don't want you. No, go away. Don't touch me. Why? Why does it have to be that one? I always wonder this about, I think I wonder it about men, but I guess it applies to women, too. When you have a happy home, why do you want somebody else?

Why? I think that that's very hard to understand for anybody to understand. I deal with that a lot in my practice. And I deal with it an awful lot. And you can't even talk sense into people. I'd certainly like to know more about this guy and their relationship. But some people also are very excited by the actual chase, aren't they? And then it sounds like it may have crossed a line.

Oh, Dr. Angela, I don't know what I was thinking you were going to say to me, but you're right. When somebody gets that in their head, you can't talk them out of it. Take a listen to ATF agent Scott Meadows. Initially, his story at the beginning of November 2nd was what he told the agents previously. Went riding around Big Mike, saw Jessica, threw some money. So that part matched. The November 2nd testimony matched what he had

previously told law enforcement. So he himself confirmed what the agents had written in their reports? Accurate. Yes, sir. Very accurate. And in this particular case, do you believe that Quentin was being deceptive purposely? I do indeed, yes, sir. And when would Quentin change the deception that he was putting on y'all in the videos? When confronted with the evidence. And once you confronted him with the evidence, did he agree with what you confronted him with?

His story changed to match what he was just showing. And through the years of dealing with interviews, do people have a reason to lie or be deceptive? They do. And what would that reason be? Because they're guilty. So, Tells' story changes repeatedly, but believe it or not, after two jury trials, it ends in a mistrial. To Michael Clark, WIAT-CBS, where does the case stand now? Well, the district attorney for that area, John Champion, has not publicly released plans to try Mr. Tellis a third time, Mr. Tellis is also a suspect in an entirely different case out of a different state that resulted in the...

A murder. A murder, absolutely. In New Orleans. Yes. Of a young exchange student, a female, correct? That's correct. Found in disturbing conditions in an apartment, and Mr. Tellis was found guilty. Certainly, putting perfume on the pig.

Mr. Tellis was found guilty of using that deceased woman's credit card at an area store. Michael Clark, WIAT CBS 42. That's not the answer I wanted, but that's the answer I got, and that's the truth. The murder of Jessica Chambers still goes unavenged. We wait as justice, God willing, unfolds. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend.