Sword and Scale Nightmares - No Justice

Episode Date: September 25, 2024

In December of 2014, 19-year-old Jessica Chambers was set on fire in her car on an old country road in her rural Mississippi town. Jessica survived long enough to give a few clues as to who committed this unspeakable crime, but it would prove near impossible to apprehend her killer.

It's December of 2014. Christmas is just around the corner. Lisa Chambers sits in the burn unit of the Regional Medical Center in Memphis, Tennessee. She's an hour from her home in Mississippi. She's been here since late last night. The white noises of the hospital fill her head. The beeps, the fast clicking of shoes in the hallway, the chitchat, the random coughs and buzzing of machines. Lisa sits in a chair next to her 19 year old daughter Jessica. She clutches her hand.

Jessica is dying. She's burned on 98% of her body. Practically every inch of her dainty teenage frame is wrapped in white gauze. Her organs are shutting down one by one. The soot inhalation she suffered is so severe that Jessica can't speak. She can't write. She can't do anything but feel the warmth of Lisa's touch and take little shallow breaths. Lisa knows this is it. The once beautiful blonde daughter she raised for two decades is at the end of her time

on Earth. Lisa looks at her child. Jessica. It's okay, baby. Mom is here. And Daddy's in the waiting room. You know your daddy. He's a big old baby, and he can't come in here, but he's here and we love you she says

Lisa pushes her glasses up to her nose and looks at her daughter She touches her neck The last part of Jessica that isn't burned. I know you're in pain, baby If you want to go, you can go. Lisa's head pulses. It's 2.37am. Jessica is still. Lisa watches as her child takes her last shallow breath.

And then, she's gone. The monitor flatlines. Lisa buries her head into her hands and sobs. Welcome to Sword and Scale Nightmares. True crime for bedtime. Where nightmare begins now. 19-year-old Jessica Chambers was born and raised in Cortland, a small town of about 500 people near Batesville, Mississippi. It was the kind of place where everyone knew everyone, and there was no business that wasn't

also your neighbors. The town was an even mix of black and white residents, but everyone had two things in common, faith and football. It was an even mix of black and white residents, but everyone had two things in common. Faith and football. That's America for you. Jessica's parents, Lisa and Ben, were divorced, but they remained close friends and even lived down the street from one another. Lisa was a nurse and Ben worked as a mechanic for the sheriff's department. Jessica had a happy life filled with five loving siblings, extended family, and lots of friends.

By the time she hit high school, she had a reputation for being an outgoing cheerleader. She was the flyer, the girl on the squad who got tossed into the air. In late 2014, Jessica was 19 years old and talked about wanting to be a nurse, just like her mother. She also dreamed of writing for a living, or maybe she'd be a teacher. As she figured out which direction to take her future, Jessica lived with Lisa and worked at a local clothing store to earn money. But on December 6th, 2014, everything changed.

At about 4 30 p.m., Jessica received a call on her cell phone. She told Lisa that she was going to go out to the store and that she'd be back soon. The store was a local gas station called the M&M that served as a hub in this sleepy rural town. Jessica waved goodbye to her mother and sauntered out the door. Lisa wouldn't see her daughter again until she was holding her hand in the burn unit. Three hours after Jessica left her mother's house, the streets had grown dark. Two young men were driving down a desolate road on the outskirts of town. Their car speeds through the darkness when suddenly the driver notices something

up ahead. Out of the black, there's a ball of fire, a glowing yellow lump in the distance. As they get closer, they realize it's a car completely engulfed in flames. They call 911. When firemen and police arrive on the scene two minutes later, they prepare for protocol. Then they notice something. Amongst the thick smoke and crackling flames, a figure emerges. It's a woman in her underwear, so severely burned that she looks subhuman. Her arms are stretched out in front of her as she takes short, tender, broken steps towards the fireman. Her hair is gone. Her skin is tight, black and melting onto itself. The fireman rush towards her in disbelief. Someone wraps a blanket around the girl when she falls to the ground.

Who are you? They ask. What's your name? The girl can barely speak. Her tongue is thick with sores and burns, but she manages to get out her name. Jessica Chambers, she mutters. Everyone on the scene knows the Chambers family. The Chambers' pretty blonde daughter had been burned alive. Who did this to you? They press on. But Jessica's throat is closing in. She can't swallow.

She can't speak. She tries again. She mutters a name. It sounds like Eric or Derek, but her tongue can't make the words anymore. The burns are too severe and her body is shutting down. Meanwhile, Jessica's father, Ben, is alerted of the incident and his wife runs down the street to find Lisa. She bursts in her front door breathless and screams,

"'They set Jessica on fire!' Lisa gets in the car and the three of them rush off to the regional medical center in Memphis. The disbelief hangs in the speeding car like an odor. Who would do this to Jessica? How did this happen? In less than 24 hours, Lisa would be by her daughter's side, staring at her unrecognizable body

and saying her final goodbye. Police were astounded as to how or why this happened to Jessica Chambers. It was obvious that her car had not been in an accident. It had been intentionally set on fire. When the doctor at the burn unit examined her body, he noticed a splash pattern across her chest indicating that some kind of accelerant had been dumped on her. He also thought the same accelerant had been poured down her throat. A very personal and vile way to burn someone alive. Jessica had been found wearing only charred underwear.

But there was a scrap of her bra amongst the wreckage, and when that was tested, it was positive for gasoline. Whoever did this had stripped her down to her underwear, then doused her in gasoline before lighting a match. Who in the world would hate Jessica enough to do this to her? The police didn't have much to work with. Before Jessica died, the only clue that she managed to get out was that her assailant's name was Eric or Derek.

But the first responders on the scene weren't so sure if that's exactly what she said. And this whole issue has been a huge debate in her case. It sounded like Eric or Derek. Remember, Jessica's throat had been burned. Her tongue was so swollen with sores that when she told the first responders her name, it barely came out, sounding like Jessica Chambers. Try to say her name it barely came out, sounding like Jessica Chambers. Try to say her name while holding your tongue. That's kind of what it sounded like. The Eric Derrick thing was all the police had to work with,

so they held onto it. Meanwhile, they interviewed Jessica's best friend, Keisha, who had been with her earlier that day. Keisha said that she and Jessica had gone driving that morning and picked up a guy named Quinton Tellis. Keisha didn't know him well and Jessica had only been friends with him for a few weeks. He lived across from the M&M grocer with his mom. He had been in and out of jail on some burglary charges.

When the police got a hold of Quinton Tellis, he voluntarily came to the station. Yes, he'd been with Jessica and Keisha that day, but after they dropped him off at around lunch, he never saw Jessica again. Then Quinton said he knew a guy named Derek Holmes, who had been after Jessica for a while. Derek. Bingo. Like Quinton, Derek also had a criminal past, but his involved sex acts with a minor. Derek had been crushing on Jessica, but apparently nothing had happened between them. Plus, he had an alibi that could be corroborated by multiple people. He was home the evening of Jessica's murder

giving his diabetic mother a foot rub. Yep, you heard me correctly. Moms, do not make your sons rub your feet for you. It's weird and cringy. Plus, it's gotta leave some kind of psychological scar, I'm sure. Probably explains furries. Police decided to hit the Eric and Derek quest as hard as possible, and they interviewed 496 men with the name Eric or Derek, and even one Jerick in the country, if you can believe

that. It was a guy actually named Jerrick. This expressing your creativity and naming your child has gotta stop. Go down to Michael's, get a hobby. None of them had ties to Jessica though. So that was a problem. Then two small breaks happened.

First, someone found Jessica's car on the side of the road a little ways from the fire, and second, despite the burn damage, Jessica's cell phone data was able to be retrieved. Mind you, it's now been months since she was killed. This investigation was long and arduous. There was a number in Jessica's phone that hadn't been saved in her contacts yet, but she'd been talking to this person on and off for a few weeks before her murder, and the texts in the four days leading up to the fire had become increasingly aggressive and sexual. The person kept telling Jessica how horny he was and that he wanted to

sleep with her. She just tried to brush him off by texting back things like, Oh Lordy. This same number was the one who called her before she left her mother's house the evening she died. In fact, cell phone towers put Jessica and this mystery person together up to 30 minutes before she was found. When the police traced this number, they found out it belonged to Quintin Tellis. So the police brought Quintin back in. But there was even more disturbing information on Quinton's cell phone.

The last message he sent to Jessica was just after she died and it was somewhat of a sweet, cute goodnight message. I'm paraphrasing here but it was something like, too bad I can't see you tonight babe. My girlfriend is coming up. Sweet dreams. That kind of thing. babe, my girlfriend is coming up. Sweet dreams." That kind of thing. Then he deleted all messages with Jessica from his phone and erased her number. When the police asked why he did that, he said that when he found out she passed away, he deleted her number and messages because it seemed pointless to have a dead girl's information on his phone. That's some efficient thinking. Soon as someone dies, I go delete them from my contact list too. That was sarcasm.

Just wait, because this gets even better. Quinton says that he did actually see Jessica that night, but it was only for a second at Taco Bell to give her some weed. He'd been riding around with his friend Big Mike, no relation, then he went home. He swears on his mother's life that he did not leave the house again until he went out that evening to buy a prepaid debit card for his girlfriend who lived in Louisiana. What a weird thing to go out to purchase. Randomly. On this particular day. Police had time stamps and footage of Quinton buying the prepaid debit card, but this was

after the car had been set on fire. He technically had time to do both. Plus, when they went to go talk to Big Mike, he told them that it was impossible that he and Quinton were together that evening. He'd been in Nashville at a Tennessee Titans game. So Quinton was just a fucking liar. But still, the police went back again to talk to him, and when confronted with the evidence refuting his claims, he finally broke down and admitted that yes,

he had been with Jessica that night. They had sex together in her car in the lot behind his mother's house. And then she left and he never saw her again. After all, he had to go buy that prepaid debit card for his girlfriend. See how this is all starting to make sense? But according to the cell phone data,

Quinton and Jessica's phones were together from 5.30 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. that night. And her car keys had Quinton's DNA on them. Still, Quinton insisted that he did not murder Jessica Chambers. Months went by, but finally, the police were able to indict Quinton Tellis for Jessica's murder. But when it came time to do that, he couldn't be found. Turns out Quinton was in Monroe, Louisiana, in jail on a whole new slew of murder charges. In the summer of 2015, about six months into the investigation of Jessica's murder, Quinton Telles traveled down to Monroe, Louisiana to visit his girlfriend.

They got married and began a life together. But on August 8th, 2015, just a few months later, a 34-year-old exchange student named Ming-Chen Cao was found brutally stabbed in her apartment. No one had seen Ming-Ching, or Mandy as she was known by her American friends, for about 10 days. Finally her landlord went to check on her in the apartment. Mandy's home had been ransacked. Clothes were thrown everywhere, drawers had been opened, furniture kicked over. The place was a disaster and in the middle of the wreckage lay Mandy. Her slight body was flung across the couch and decomposing. The smell of rotten flesh overwhelmed her landlord as he ran out the door to call 911.

Mandy had been stabbed over 30 times. When police searched the apartment, they found a Walmart prescription receipt from the day they suspected that Mandy had been murdered. So they pulled footage from the Walmart. In the grainy black and white video, they see Mandy wearing a flowy sundress and sandals. She strolls out of the Walmart with a white pharmacy

bag clutched in her hand. She flicks her long black hair and slides into the passenger seat of a Chevy Impala. The driver is a black male. He takes the pills from Mandy. The exchange is complete. When the police ran the plates, they discovered that the Chevy Impala belonged to Quinton Telles. It turns out that Quinton's new wife lived not too far from Mandy.

When they went to talk to Quinton, he had Mandy's debit card. In fact, he'd been using it all over town. This wasn't enough to arrest Quinton for murder, but they could get him on theft. Then the Monroe police received a Crimestoppers tip from a young man who said that his friend Quinton Tellis admitted to him that he tortured and stabbed a woman to steal her debit card. These details were never released to the public. How else would this friend know unless he had been confided in by Quinton? So he was arrested and thrown into the county jail, and that's where he sat until he was brought back up to Mississippi in handcuffs to face his role in the brutal death of Jessica

Chambers. Of course, no one on the jury knew about Quinton's second conviction. Maybe if they had, things would have turned out differently. It took nearly four years of preparation and investigation, but in the fall of 2017, Quintin Tellis was put on trial for the murder of Jessica Chambers. Through fundraising, his family was able to hire a prominent defense attorney named Darla Palmer. The prosecution vowed to get Jessica justice, but the town of Cortland was divided. You see, Quinton was black. Jessica was white.

That's the end of the story. I mean, it might as well be in this day and age. Almost every male suspect the police looked at, including many of those random Ericks and Derricksicks were also black. Half the county saw the prosecution as racist, pinpointing and profiling men for their skin color. The other half saw it as a coincidence and just wanted justice for Jessica. You know, the people that are not fucking crazy.

Tension hung in the air as the court date drew closer. Quinton's family huddled on one side of the courtroom while the chambers stuck together on the other. The trial was detailed and emotional. The prosecution wove a strong story for Quinton's guilt, but without a weapon, a confession, or firm DNA evidence, Quinton's defense lawyer Darla Palmer was able to poke holes in their story. Darla held on hard to the Eric Derrick story and cast shadows over doubt in the jurors'

minds. Quinton shouldn't be in the jurors minds. Quinton shouldn't be in court, she argued. It should be Eric or Derek. When it came time for the jury to deliberate, they came back not guilty. A wave of shock rushed over the courtroom. Then one juror blurted out of turn that he didn't agree with the verdict. The judge had no choice but to send the jurors back. He read the instructions again because clearly they weren't getting it.

After another painstaking 30 minutes, they returned and agreed to disagree. They could not reach a verdict. The judge declared a mistrial. What happens when common, everyday folk in a civilization can agree on objective facts, truth or justice? I guess we will soon find out. Almost a year later everyone was back in court to go over the evidence. This time the prosecution knew they had to fight the Eric Derrick doubt with some serious gusto. So they brought in the doctor who had examined Jessica at the burn unit after her death.

His testimony was unforgettable. He showed graphic photos of Jessica's charred, disfigured body, and the doctor explained how badly her lungs and throat were burned. Her speech was not credible, so it didn't matter if responders thought they heard Eric or Derek or if they heard Mickey Mouse. She wasn't a reliable witness. She couldn't speak. Then he explained that there was evidence of sexual assault and the prosecution showed

for the first time the bruises under Jessica's horrific burns. This time deliberations lasted longer. The jury understood the assignment, but still when they returned to the courtroom they shocked everyone again. These people, sworn to seek justice and truth truth could not reach a verdict. It was another mistrial, another L, deadlocked again. But Quinton did not walk free. He pleaded guilty to stealing Mandy Sough's debit card and is still serving 10 years in

Louisiana as a habitual offender. Chances are his own poor decisions will continue to keep him in a place like this. He was scheduled to go on trial for Mandy's murder, but the judge dismissed the case as part of a deal to make Quinton serve five years in Mississippi related to Jessica's death. It's all a bunch of confusing legal bullshit, but there's still a chance he could go to trial for Mandy's murder. Only time will tell and only the public will allow it or not allow it, based on the culture of the day.

If we as a society decide that murder is okay and we're going to forgive it and let you out on the street and do whatever you want, then I suppose we won't have much of a civilization left to complain about. Again, only time will tell. And as of now, Quintin Tellis will be released in 2027. A free man. This is one of the most infuriating cases of the last decade. Really, close your eyes and try to imagine the unbelievable pain Jessica must have felt. You ever burn your hand on a hot stove? You remember that feeling? That instant reaction

to pull away because the pain is so intense and so unbelievably overwhelming? Imagine that all over your body, inside and out. And then you can start to begin to imagine the hell that was the last few moments of Jessica's life. She was burned alive. She came to in a car that was on fire and dragged herself out of the wreckage. She was burned on 98% of her body. The pain that she must have endured is unthinkable. And yet, she held on long enough to let her family say goodbye.

Jessica's mother, Lisa Chambers, spoke openly and emotionally about her daughter's murder openly and emotionally about her daughter's murder up until her own death in October of 2021. She never gave up hope that one day Jessica and Mandy would get the justice they deserved. I can't imagine the pain that Jessica's mother went through that day in the hospital. Nobody should have to see their own daughter that way, ever. Nobody should have to sit through two trials only to watch the man, and I hesitate to call him a man, responsible for the pain to your child and your family and you. Walk away practically unscathed, unpunished,

able to live his best life, and have a jury of peers say that that's okay. I can't imagine, I can't imagine. Laws and justice are important. I know you wanna be a good person and you want to make people in prison better and rehabilitate and all that shit. Some people cannot be rehabilitated. Period.

They walk among us and are capable of the most unspeakable horrors. Quintin Tellis is one of them. If you enjoyed the show, please consider joining PLUS at swordandscale.com slash PLUS. But if you can't, consider leaving us a positive review on your preferred listening platform. Sweet dreams and good night.