UPDATE:  No decision reached. Jury breaks until tomorrow.  Generally this does not bode well for prosecution.  Possible OJ-type verdict becomes more likely.


The closing arguments in the case against Quinton Tellis have concluded.  Tellis is accused of capital murder in the burning death of 19-year-old Jessica Lane Chambers. Prosecutors believe that Tellis had sex with Chambers before he set her and her car on fire and left her to die the night of Dec. 6, 2014, in Courtland Mississippi.  Chambers died hours later in a hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.

The jury is now in deliberations.  Local reporter Therese Apel shares the timeline from yesterday’s phone forensics as delivered to the jury by prosecutors.

12:32-10:04 a.m. — Tellis is making calls that are bouncing off a tower in Pope, which indicates he is either at his home or across the street at the M&M gas station.

8:55 a.m. — Tellis on video at M&M getting breakfast wearing a white shirt and shoes and a dark dew rag and jeans.

9:01-9:02 a.m. — Chambers wakes up and sends a text. Cellphone data shows she is at her home on Carlisle Road.

9:06 a.m. — Tellis’ mother’s white Chevrolet Suburban leaves his house and heads up  U.S. 51.

10:04 a.m. — Chambers calls Tellis, and the call lasts for 69 seconds.

10:08 a.m. — Chambers is on the cameras at M&M making a purchase.

10:09 a.m. — Tellis texts Chambers, “I’m ready.”

10:10 a.m. — Chambers is on cameras at M&M talking to two acquaintances. No one else is with her. She leaves and can be seen pulling into Tellis’ driveway. From there they head south on U.S. 51.

10:15-10:47 a.m. — Chambers and Tellis are driving circles on Courtland backroads.

10:18 a.m. — Chambers calls Kesha Myers.

10:33 a.m. — Chambers calls Myers again. At some point they pick her up.

10:47 a.m. — Tellis calls his sister, LaQuinta Tellis.

10:49 a.m. — Chambers drops Tellis off at M&M. She and Myers leave.

10:55 a.m. — Tellis walks back to M&M and has changed clothes. He is now wearing black shoes, lighter pants, a red shirt and hat, and a plaid coat.

11:05 a.m.-5:29 p.m. — Chambers is home. Tellis is texting, “I need you,” to which Chambers responds, “What you need?” “Some lovin’,” he replies. She answers, “Oh Lord. Can’t.”

2:21 p.m.-4:23 p.m. — Chambers’ phone is silent. Mother Lisa Daugherty says she was taking a nap.

4:23 p.m. — Tellis calls and wakes Chambers up.

3:24 p.m.- 4:15 p.m. — Records show Chakita Jackson, Tellis’ then-girlfriend in Monroe, Louisiana, is trying to contact him to get him to send her money so she can visit him.

4:09 p.m. — Jackson texts, “I’m trying to come up. Call me.”

4:21-5:34 p.m. — Tellis’ phone is showing that he is at home.

4:23- 4:29 p.m. — Chambers is trying to reach Myers, whose phone is out of minutes.

4:32-4:36 p.m. — Chambers tells Tellis via text that she will go get something to eat with him if he’ll pay for it. She’s still trying to reach Myers.

4:59 p.m. — A 33-second conversation between Chambers and Tellis.

5:08-5:11 p.m. — Tellis can be seen on security video walking to M&M, still wearing the red outfit. He paces around inside and stands outside, but doesn’t make a purchase.

5:12 p.m. — Tellis walks south. It is dark.

5:20 p.m. — Tellis calls Chambers, and it appears from the length of the call she doesn’t answer. She calls him right back.

5:24-5:30 p.m. — Security video shows Chambers is at M&M. She talks with someone off screen, she picks up a penny, she goes inside and makes a purchase, she comes out and pumps gas.

5:29 p.m. — Both cameras and phone records show Chambers making a call to Tellis. She pulls out of M&M and heads south down U.S. 51.

5:34 p.m. — Tellis calls Chambers back. This is the last call he will make for the next 48 minutes. He tells investigators in his last interview in January 2016 that he was calling her to come and pick him up.

6- 6:01 p.m. — Chambers’ phone shows she is on her way to Batesville.

6:04-6:11 p.m. — Chambers’ phone shifts to the towers that cover the area of Batesville that includes Taco Bell, which is where Tellis tells investigators they ate dinner. During this time she continues to try to reach Myers.

6:17 p.m. — Tellis calls his sister. Phone data shows he and Chambers leave the Taco Bell area and head back south. The phone switches towers during the call. It’s the only call or text by Tellis between 5:34 and 7:42 p.m.

6:22-6:25 p.m. — Chambers is still trying to reach Myers.

6:30 p.m. — Cell site data shows Tellis and Chambers arrive back in Courtland around that time. Tellis says they went back to his house. His mother’s white Suburban is at the house. The area where he admits to investigators that he had sex with Chambers is right behind the house but can’t be seen from the house. Chambers’ phone is also registering her just south of M&M, which is the same area Tellis described. Tellis tells investigators during this time the two are smoking marijuana in Chambers’ car.

6:41 p.m. — Chambers is still trying to reach Myers.

6:48 p.m. — Chambers makes the last call she will ever make to her mother. The call lasts 76 seconds. Her mother says there was no background noise and no music, which she found unusual, leading her to believe Chambers was with someone. By Tellis’ admission, he and Chambers are together at this point.

6:49- 7:26 p.m. — Neither Tellis nor Chambers are using their phones. During the time between 6:55 and 7:41 p.m., five women are trying to reach Tellis. He does not answer any of them. One of those is Jackson saying, “Oh well,” presumably because she can’t get in touch with him about coming to visit.

7:10 p.m. — A vehicle can be seen leaving Tellis’ residence. He tells investigators that it is his uncle, Sammy.

7:26 p.m. — Headlights appear and leave the driveway next to Tellis’ house, the area where he and Chambers were, according to the earlier timeline.  Security video is too dark and grainy to see what kind of car, but authorities point out that the woman who lives there is at work and Tellis’ sister is inside the store.

7:29 p.m. — According to video, Tellis’ mother’s vehicle leaves the home; she goes to M&M where she will stay for around 20 minutes.

7:30 p.m. — Chambers’ cellphone patterns have shifted dramatically west. Then she’s on the scene on Herron Road where she would be found, burned.

7:42 p.m. — Tellis’ phone “wakes up.” He calls Chambers and leaves a voicemail. Then he follows with a text that says “Bae my friend is coming over tonight, I’ll call you tomorrow. Good night, sweet dreams.”

Tellis would later tell investigators that he was letting Chambers know that a girlfriend was coming over, and he named an in-town girlfriend. When questioned if that girlfriend would confirm his alibi, he changed his story and said it was Jackson.

7:46 p.m. — Tellis calls Jackson and tells her he is walking to his sister’s house to borrow her Tahoe. Investigators point out that there is a cut-through trail that leads from where Chambers was found on Herron Road to the subdivision in which Tellis’ sister lives. Chambers’ keys would later be found in a yard along that route.

Tellis’ cell data shows no communication to ask his sister if he can use her car, which investigators say he’s only borrowed once before when he took it to wash for her.

7:46-8 p.m. — Tellis’ phone is silent again.

7:50-7:52 p.m. — A vehicle can be seen on M&M security video pulling into Tellis’ driveway to a storage shed, and it remains there for 1:42. Tellis tells FBI agents in an early interview that he keeps a 5-gallon gas can in that shed. Neither a driver nor a tag can be seen.

7:52 p.m. — Vehicle leaves the driveway.

8 p.m. — A vehicle matching the description of Tellis’ sister’s SUV can be seen on M&M video heading toward Batesville at a high rate of speed. Tellis tells investigators in a later interview that it “could be” him going to get a Green Dot card to send Jackson so she can come for a visit.

8:04 p.m. — Chambers’ phone’s last communications ever with a cell tower. Investigators say it shut off when it got too hot.

8:07 p.m. — Phone call made to 911 by LaTroy Rudd and Glenn Williams, who see the burning car and call it in.

8:09 p.m. — Responders arrive on the scene where Chambers is found burned beyond recognition. Her car is still on fire.

8:15-8:23 p.m. — Cellphone data confirms Tellis’ story that he is going to Piggly Wiggly and finally to Fred’s to buy the cash card. He calls Jackson during this time. Investigators say he calls Jackson five times between 8 p.m. and 8:23 p.m. though he never makes calls to her between 4:25 p.m. and 7:46 p.m.

In the video from Fred’s, Tellis is wearing the red outfit but without the jacket.

8:26 p.m. — Tellis purchases the Green Dot card.

8:57 p.m. — Tellis shows up back on camera at M&M, and he has on white shoes, jeans, a white shirt and a new lighter-colored jacket. He later tells investigators he took a bath before he changed clothes.

A man on the camera at M&M is telling a dramatic story, appearing to describe the scene of the burning car. Tellis does not interact with him and does not appear to have any lengthy conversations at M&M. Tellis later tells investigators that it is when he walks back over to M&M that he hears about Chambers.

Prosecution notes that, in spite of being in constant contact with Chambers that day, Tellis does not attempt to call or text her when he hears such news about Chambers. Sometime in the days that follow, Tellis admits to having deleted Chambers’ texts, calls and contact information from his phone. The information connecting them and detailing their calls and conversations were pulled from Chambers’ phone and Tellis’ phone company records.

9:53 p.m. — Jackson receives the money from the Green Dot card. It’s unclear when Tellis actually gives her the card information.  (LINK)


Posted in Death Threats, Fire Crime, justice for jessica, Police action, Uncategorized
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