Jessica Chambers was 19 when first responders found her severely burned beside Herron Road near Courtland, Mississippi, on December 6, 2014. She died from her injuries. Reporting from the second trial described extensive burns and conflicting testimony over whether Chambers could speak intelligibly at the scene. The homicide investigation became closely associated with disputed interpretations of what responders believed they heard her say. [WMC Action News 5](https://www.actionnews5.com/2018/10/01/jurors-deliberating-retrial-jessica-chambers-murder-case/)
A Panola County grand jury indicted Quinton Tellis on a capital-murder charge. At the first trial in October 2017, prosecutors presented their case and the defense contested both the timeline and the interpretation of the evidence. After deliberations, the jurors could not reach a unanimous verdict, and the court declared a mistrial. A contemporaneous North Mississippi Herald report documented the jury's inability to agree after the six-day proceeding. [North Mississippi Herald](https://www.yalnews.com/2017/10/18/jury-unable-to-reach-verdict-mistrial-declared/)
Mississippi tried Tellis again in 2018. The retrial again included medical and speech testimony about Chambers's condition, as well as evidence offered to reconstruct her movements and contacts. After approximately 12 hours of deliberation, that jury also failed to reach a verdict. The judge declared a second mistrial. CBS News and WMC both reported the hung-jury outcome. [CBS News](https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/jessica-chambers-case-mistrial-declared-for-quinton-tellis-in-teens-burning-death/)
A 2024 Louisiana appellate opinion concerning a separate prosecution of Tellis confirms the procedural history: Mississippi indicted him for Chambers's December 2014 death, and the case was tried in 2017 and again in 2018. The two mistrials did not amount to a conviction or acquittal. [Louisiana Second Circuit Court of Appeal](https://www.la2nd.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/55609ka.pdf)
Because neither Mississippi trial produced a verdict and the reviewed reputable sources do not establish a later conviction in Chambers's death, the killing remains classified as unsolved. The account does not identify any other alleged perpetrator or repeat disputed claims about uncharged people. The central established facts are Chambers's fatal burning, Tellis's indictment, and the two hung juries.
SOLVEDListen
