A Mississippi man who allegedly set a cheerleader ablaze after he had sex with her admitted that he wiped out their text thread after her death.
Quinton Tellis, 29, said he deleted messages he exchanged with Jessica Chambers, 19, days after she was horrifically murdered December 6, 2014, FBI Special Agent Dustin Blount told the jury Thursday on day three of the suspect's retrial.
Tellis also reportedly admitted that he had sex with Chambers - but not the same day she was killed.
Prosecutors, however, believe Tellis doused Chambers in gasoline and lit her on fire shortly after the two were intimate in the passenger's seat of her car.
Blount further said that Tellis admitted to driving around with the victim hours before her death.
The jury was pictured Thursday standing at the scene where the teen was found dead inside her vehicle just weeks before Christmas four years ago.
Quinton Tellis, 29, (left) is pictured in Mississippi court Wednesday. He is accused of killing 19-year-old Jessica Chambers (right) by setting her on fire in 2014
Tellis is seen center during a court field trip on the third day of his retrial on Thursday. Tellis admitted he had a sexual relationship with Chambers and deleted their text thread after she was murdered in December 2014
Tellis, fourth from right, walks towards his former residence during a court field trip on Thursday
People gather before testimony at the scene where Chambers was burned alive
The spot where Chambers was burned alive in her car is seen during the third day of the retrial of Tellis on Thursday
Prosecutors believe evidence will show Tellis killed Chambers by setting her on fire, but defense attorneys said they can’t prove it and that another man killed her.
A total of ten emergency responders said during testimony that they heard Chambers speak of a man named 'Eric' or 'Derek' who attacked her.
Tellis is being retried on capital murder charges, after jurors could not reach a unanimous verdict last year.
Opening statements began Tuesday. The trial is expected to last through the end of the week.
Jurors were selected Monday in Starkville more than 120 miles away because of pretrial publicity.
Father of the victim, Ben Chambers, breaks down during testimony in the retrial of Quinton Tellis in Batesville, Mississippi on Wednesday
Jurors heard testimony from Jessica's mother, Lisa Chambers (seen left on the witness stand), who talked about the teen's final days
Jessica's best friend, Lakesha Meyer, testified about meeting Tellis for the first time, just a few days before the deadly attack
Dr. Carolyn Higdon, a speech language pathology expert, told the court that based on Jessica's injuries, the woman would have been unable to utter the names 'Eric' or 'Derrick'
Tellis faces another murder indictment in the 2015 stabbing death of another woman in Monroe, Louisiana. He’s already pleaded guilty to unauthorized use of her debit card.
The defendant is currently serving a prison sentence in Mississippi on an unrelated burglary charge.
Prosecutors say cellphone locations, video, DNA on a keychain and Tellis’ statements link him to Chambers’ death. A new witness may testify she picked up Tellis that night near where Chambers was burned.
'Once you hear all the evidence the state offers, you’re going to have plenty of evidence to convict him of capital murder,' Panola County Assistant District Attorney Jay Hale told jurors.
The defense emphasized that multiple emergency workers heard the dying Chambers say someone named 'Eric' attacked her, calling the prosecution’s evidence 'speculation' or 'unreliable.'
Defense attorney Darla Palmer urged jurors to disregard evidence about cellphone locations that she said can’t prove Tellis and Chambers were in exactly the same place.
Deputy Prosecutor Jay Hale holds up a picture of Jessica Chambers in court Tuesday
Defense attorney Darla Palmeron gives an opening statement during Day 1 of the retrial
Tellis' first trial in 2017 ended in a hung jury because the panel could not reach a verdict
'This evidence is always going to show, it’s always going to say Eric did it, no matter what the state does to diminish that, and we would ask that you find Quinton not guilty.'
Hale said investigators had interviewed many people named Eric or Derek but ruled all of them out.
He said that after the inquiry reached a dead end, investigators re-examined Tellis who had been an early suspect.
Hale said investigators focused on him after he changed his story and admitted he had been with Chambers later on the Saturday of her death.
'Quinton Tellis had not been truthful to investigators,' Hale said.
On the first day of testimony, the jury heard from Jessica's mother, Lisa Chambers, who described in detail the last few days in her daughter's life, reported WREG.
Next up on the stand was Jessica's best friend Lakesha Meyer, who recounted how she first met Tellis a few days before Chamber's death, and how she introduced the man as just a friend.
Jessica suffered burns to 98 per cent of her body and later died from her injuries
After a break, Dr. Carolyn Higdon, a speech language pathology expert, took the witness stand, telling the court that based on her analysis of autopsy photos showing extensive damage to the victim's mouth, larynx and lungs, and her conversations with Chambers' doctor, the young woman would have been unable to utter the names 'Eric' or 'Derrick.'
That testimony could help undercut a key defense argument — that multiple EMTs heard a dying Chambers say someone named 'Eric' attacked her. Defense attorneys urged jurors to trust that testimony — a foundation of their arguments in the first trial.
Tellis has always insisted that he is innocent, telling police in the interrogation room, even after being threatened with the death penalty if it went to trial: 'I told the truth. I didn't kill Jessica. It ain't even in my heart to kill nobody.'
His family claim that the police are simply looking for someone to blame in the case, which has become a highly charged racial issue after Tellis, who is black, was arrested for the death of the pretty, white cheerleader.
Chambers told her mother, Lisa, she was going out to get something to eat at around 5.15pm, on December 6, 2014.
Speaking to the producers of the new docu-series 'Unspeakable Crime: The Killing of Jessica Chambers,' which premiered September 15 on Oxygen, Lisa said she called Jessica while she was out to see what time she would be home.
Tellis (left) also faces another murder indictment in Louisiana, where he is accused in the torture death of Meing-Chen Hsiao (right), a 34-year-old Taiwanese graduate student
'I called her and she said ill be home in a little while Momma, but I love you.
'I told her I loved her too. She said, 'See you in a little bit.'
'That's the last I heard from her.'
Chambers later stumbled out of the woods near her hometown of Courtland, Mississippi, after she and her car were set on fire.
The last time Lisa Chambers saw Jessica alive was at the hospital. Her daughter had suffered burns to 98 per cent of her body and was barely clinging on to life.
The volunteer firefighters and first responders who found Jessica were shocked at the state of her injuries, with one describing her as resembling a 'zombie.'
He said that one of his fellow firefighters had asked her who had done this to her.
'She said "Eric did this." We were all kinda stunned.
During the investigation, police interviewed several people called Eric or Derek, but none were charged.
After Tellis was arrested, prosecutors told the court last year that Jessica may have been trying to say another name but her throat and mouth were so badly burned that it only appeared to sound like 'Eric' or 'Derek.'
Prosecutor John Champion said during the first trial that Tellis thought he suffocated Chambers while they were having sex before he drove her car to a back road.
Prosecutors also showed a number of text messages, which appeared to show Tellis, who was from the same neighborhood as the victim and attended her high school years earlier, pestering Jessica for sex.
After he believed he'd choked her to death, Champion said that Tellis ran to his sister's house nearby, jumped in his sisters' car, stopped to pick up gasoline from a shed at his house and torched Chambers' car and her.
Tellis also faces another murder indictment in Louisiana, where he is accused in the torture death of Meing-Chen Hsiao, a 34-year-old Taiwanese graduate student at the University of Louisiana at Monroe.
Tellis will not return to Louisiana to face the charges or an indictment until the conclusion of his case in Mississippi because of the extradition agreement.
Link textbacklinkexchanges.comhttps://textbacklinkexchanges.com/man-accused-of-burning-cheerleader-to-death-admits-he-deleted-texts/
News Pictures Man accused of burning cheerleader to death admits he deleted texts
You don’t have to pack away your bikini just because you’re the wrong side of 20. These body-beautiful stars reveal their secrets to staying in shape and prove you can smoulder in a two-piece, whatever your age. Read on and be bikini inspired!
TEENS
Hayden Panettiere
Size: 8
Age: 18
Height: 5ft 1in
Weight: 8st
To achieve her kick-ass figure, Hayden – who plays cheerleader Claire Bennet in Heroes – follows the ‘quartering’ rule. She eats only a quarter of the food on her plate, then waits 20 minutes before deciding whether she needs to eat again.
Hayden says: “I don’t have a model’s body, but I’m not one of those crazy girls who thinks that they’re fat. I’m OK with what I have.”
Nicollette says: “I don’t like diets – I see it, I eat it! I believe in eating healthily with lots of protein, vegetables and carbs to give you energy.”
kim cattrall
Size: 10-12
Age: 52
Height: 5ft 8in
Weight: 9st 4lb
SATC star Kim swears by gym sessions with Russian kettle bells (traditional cast-iron weights) and the South Beach Diet to give her the body she wants. To avoid overeating, Kim has a radical diet trick – squirting lemon juice on her leftovers – so she won’t carry on picking.
Kim says: “I am no super-thin Hollywood actress. I am built for men who like women to look like women.”
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