Jessica Chambers trial: Cop testifies in trial over woman who was burned alive
BATESVILLE, Miss. -- No one named Eric or Derek was tested for DNA evidence in the case of a Mississippi woman who was fatally burned, even though she mentioned those names to firefighters who treated her before she died, an investigator said Saturday.
Mississippi Bureau of Investigation agent Tim Douglas testified in the trial of Quinton Tellis, who has pleaded not guilty to capital murder in the death of 19-year-old Jessica Chambers.
Prosecutors theorize that Tellis had sex with Chambers before he set her and her car on fire and left her to die along a back road on the night of Dec. 6, 2014, in Courtland, Mississippi. She died at a hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, about 50 miles north of Courtland.
Tellis' DNA was found on Chambers' keys, which were discovered a short distance from where she was seen walking on the road with severe burns, a forensic analyst has testified.
Firefighters have testified Chambers told them someone named Eric or Derek set her on fire. Tellis' defense attorneys contend he is falsely accused because she was not heard saying his first or last name.
Douglas testified that he thinks the first responders' state of mind could have affected their ability to hear Chambers clearly, CBS affiliate WREG-TV reports.
Douglas said about 10 men named Eric or Derek were identified from a list of men with that name who live in the area, and from Chambers' cellphone contacts and social media. All of them were interviewed, but none were asked to provide DNA evidence to investigators for lab testing.
Douglas said none of them were tested because they were not believed to be suspects, and all of them were cleared of wrongdoing.
"There was no need to test them," Douglas said, answering questions from defense attorney Alton Peterson.
Dr. William Hickerson, who oversaw Chambers' treatment at the hospital, testified earlier that she suffered so much damage to her mouth, throat and chest that she could not speak clearly or properly enunciate words at the crime scene or the hospital.
Tellis, 29, faces up to life in prison without parole if convicted at trial in Batesville.
