By John Howell
Describing Tuesday’s capital murder indictment of Quinton Verdell Tellis for the December 6, 2014 burning death of Jessica Chambers, as “hurdle number one” in a relay race, District Attorney John Champion on Wednesday ruled out drugs or gang violence  as factors in the heinous crime.
“We felt like this was a personal crime against Jessica,” the District Attorney said.
“Basically they knew each other from the Courtland area,” Champion said. “I’m not going to elaborate in detail what we’ve uncovered,” he said. “We do not feel at this point that there will be any other charges against any other individuals.”
Champion, Panola County Sheriff Dennis Darby and Mississippi Public Safety Commissioner Warren Strain spoke to about two dozen media representatives in a news conference at the David M. Bryan Justice Complex. Chambers’ family members, several Panola County Supervisors and sheriff’s department personnel spilled into the adjacent hallway and offices as officials spent about 30 minutes describing the 14-month investigation that led to Tellis’ indictment.
Chambers was found near her burning car by volunteer firefighters responding to what they had thought was a car fire shortly after 8 p.m. that Saturday night. She had been burned over much of her body and died at the Med early the following morning.
Chambers Task Force
The investigation into Chambers’ murder brought together “a tremendous team effort,” the district attorney said. It triggered the most extensive mobilization of law enforcement resources ever assembled in Panola County and a reward offer of $54,000 for information leading to the conviction of her murderer. Agencies included U.S. Marshals Service, the F.B.I, the M.B.I., The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Oxford as well as the Panola County Sheriff’s Department and Champion’s 17th Judical District office.
Sheriff: Personal Matter
“This is a personal matter,” Sheriff Darby said. “It’s been personal from the start, not only because it’s in this county, but also because the family members — one is an employee here.”
Darby commended the investigation team that “never laid down for a minute—it’s a lot of long, sleepless hours. When they got on a trail they followed it out.”
The concentration of investigators spun off into “Operation Bite Back,” that last December resulted in 17 local arrests on state and federal drug trafficking and possession charges. Darby said Wednesday that other arrests can be expected from information unearthed in the ongoing operation.
“It took time to build this case,” Champion said. “Everybody wants all these things solved immediately; television doesn’t help us with that,” he added, alluding to television crime shows. “We just methodically plugged along.”
Strain:
Extensive Investigation
“It’s been a long 14 months, thousands and thousands of miles traveled to other states and within the state; 150 interviews, 20,000 telephone numbers analyzed,” Commissioner Strain said.
“It’s very rewarding to know that someone who is capable of this degree of evil will have to answer for his actions,” Strain said.
No Street Talk
“We were all amazed at the total lack of information coming from our street sources,” said Champion, reiterating an observation that he first stated during a Dec. 11, 2014 news conference and many times since.
Yet, “we did not have a single person in this case refuse to speak with us, refuse to cooperate with us, refuse to give us a DNA sample if we needed one,” Champion continued.
The dearth of street talk, “led us to focus back in on our belief that it was one person who had not said anything to anybody,” the DA said.
Champion said that court rules prevented him from discussing details of evidence. He also was adamant that he would not discuss any motive alleged in the crime.
Rumor Dispelled
“I want to dispel this rumor,” he said, responding to a question about the use of an accelerant. “There was nothing poured down her throat. I’m not going to get into what type of accelerant we’ve got.”
Champion also said that investigators do not believe Chambers’ trip to a convenience store on Highway 51 in Courtland a few hours before her death, a trip recorded on the store’s security video, was relevant to the case.
Though Chambers’ murder does not appear to have been gang related, Tellis appears to be involved in gang activity, Champion said
The district attorney would not discuss the statement by a Courtland volunteer fire fighter that Chambers whispered the name of her assailant when he found her and attempted to render aid. “I’m not getting into that; anything that she said will be part of the case,” he said.
(“We know what she said; we’re not commenting on what she said,” Champion said during a December 11, 2014 news conference.)
Champion:
‘Most Unusual Case’
“This has been the most unusual case that I’ve ever dealt with,” Champion said, “…the nature of how she died was very brutal, was very horrendous, the number of investigators we had initially working in this case, and we could come up with nothing.”
The district attorney said that on four different occasions during the 14 months, he thought they had identified a suspect, but none of them proved out.
“The core of our team working the final part of the case realized that this was going to have to be solved by either forensics or through obtaining data information,” he continued, “and quite frankly that’s exactly the way it ended up.”
Last Hour Accounted For
Champion said investigators had, “absolutely filled that hour in,” in the timeline the investigation constructed detailing the victim’s whereabouts immediately prior to the firefighters’ gruesome discovery.
Champion said investigators initially interviewed Tellis in December, 2014, right after the homicide.
Months later, when “we received information from subpoenas and we began analyzing the information that we obtained that some certain things began to fall into place,” Champion said.
“When he came back on our radar, we just used some search data bases; we knew he wasn’t here and we found him very quickly,” Champion said.
Louisiana Murder
Tellis, 27, of Courtland is currently housed in the Ouachita Parrish Jail in Monroe, LA, following his arrest for fraudulent use of a debit card.
The card belonged to a young female Chinese exchange student who was found murdered in a Monroe residence.
Tellis is scheduled to appear May 9 to face the Louisiana charges.
Chambers said he vetted the evidence before fellow prosecutors whose positive feedback convinced him to impanel the special meeting of the Second Court District Grand Jury on Monday.
Jurors met all day Monday and into the evening before returning Tuesday morning to issue the indictment, he said.
Having then cleared that “first hurdle,” Champion has initiated steps through the Governor’s office to bring Tellis back to Panola County for trial.