Jessica Chambers and Meing-Chen Hsiao
Jessica Chambers & Meing-Chen Hsiao
Two murders, 225 between them, 8 months apart. Jessica Chambers and Meing-Chen Hsiao had never crossed paths, but they still had one thing in common, their supposed murderer. Quentin Tellis, now 33, was accused of both Jessica and Meing-Chen’s murder. However, he is yet to be found guilty in either case. Before we understand why that is, it is important to understand the facts of both cases.
Jessica Chambers, 19:
Jessica Chambers was a social 19 year old living in Courtland Mississippi. There are many different details about Jessica that have been shared by friends and her community. Regardless of this information, Jessica was a vibrant young woman who was robbed of her life in 2014. At around 8:10 P.M. on December 6th, authorities discovered a gruesome scene while responding to a 911 call about a car fire. When approaching the fire, the first responders said they saw a “zombie” like figure crawling on the ground towards them begging for help. As they approached the figure, they realized the individual was horribly burned. After learning her name, many different first responders asked who set her on fire. Jessica responded with one name, Eric. Their attempts to figure out his last name were futile. All they knew was that someone named Eric was involved. Unfortunately, Jessica succumbed to the third degree burns that ravaged over 93% of her body the next morning by her mother’s side.
Jessica’s boyfriend at the time was questioned but quickly ruled out. This is not a debatable conclusion due to the fact he was incarcerated at the time of her death. Following this, investigators chased down the Eric lead as hard as they could. In spite of this, nobody named Eric was considered a person of interest. It is also important to note that when looking through Jessica’s phone, there was no evidence that she had ever been in contact with someone named Eric. Additionally, due to the fact some first responders claimed there was a chance Jessica said “Derrick” and not “Eric”, they decided to look into a man named Derrick, a convicted sex offender, that Jessica had been seeing. This also proved to be a dead end. After multiple interviews and a confirmed alibi, the police decided that Derrick was not the one responsible. Overtime, it was discovered that Jessica may have been making some money selling marijuana. This was activity police were unaware of due to the severity, or lack thereof, of her sales. Nonetheless, the police did look into the possibility that Jessica’s death had been the result of some sort of drug deal gone bad. But, nothing was ever found to substantiate the rumor that Jessica was burned to death by an angry drug dealer.
Other than Jessica’s small statement, there was little evidence left at the scene. Due to the fire, any evidence that might have been left in Jessica’s car was destroyed by the fire. Other than her car and cell phone, there was little for the police to go on. Jessica’s keys were not found until days later (this evidence ended up being quite controversial during the subsequent trial).
When police started looking through Jessica’s cell phone records, they realized she was in contact with someone named Quentin Tellis on the day she died. Police decided to question Tellis who claimed that he had been with Jessica on December 6th, but only in the morning. This was substantiated by a friend of Jessica’s who said the three of them had smoked weed and drove around together that morning. But Tellis’ statement was only half of the truth. When the investigators dug deeper into Tellis’ and Jessica’s phone records, they realized there was something he was not telling them. Records showed that they two had actually travelled to Batesville then back to Cortland together that evening. When questioned, Tellis claimed the two had gone to Taco Bell in Batesville and he was actually with her until seven that night. This was also proven to be wrong. The local convenience store Jessica frequently visited, the M&M Convenience store, is located across the street from the Tellis residence. At 7:30 P.M. on the night of the murder, Jessica’s car was seen pulling out of the Tellis driveway at 7:30. While you cannot see who is in the car, authorities believe(d) that Quentin was in the car with Jessica. Twenty minutes later, a car believed to belong to Quentin’s sister, was seen on surveillance stopping briefly at the Tellis home then leaving in the direction of the crime scene. Fifteen minutes after the gruesome discovery, Quentin was again caught on camera at the convenience store. While it can be debated that Tellis was not with Jessica when her car was seen at 7:30, there was a statement made by Tellis that did not bode well for him. During the interview where Tellis told police he had actually been with Jessica until 7, he adds that a friend had picked him up shortly after. Again, Tellis was caught in a lie. This friend told police and later testified in court that he did not see Tellis that evening because he was in Nashville Tennessee.
There is one more piece of evidence we have not discussed, Jessica’s car keys. A few days after Jessica’s death,her keys were discovered on a path between the crime scene and Quentin’s sister's house.While the following story is often debated, this was the story shared by the prosecution. Supposedly, a man had found Jessica’s keys while on a walk and handed them to his young daughter to play with. Later on, he realized this was probably a bad idea and decided to present the keys to the police. When tested, Tellis’ DNA was found on them. However, this has been something debated by Tellis’ defense team later on in trial (we will discuss this more in the next section).
In October of 2017, the trial of Quentin Tellis began. Aside from the controversial DNA, the prosecution only had circumstantial, albeit strong, circumstantial evidence. Other than cell phone records and surveillance footage, the prosecution had little else to go on. After Jessica’s murder, Quentin had deleted Jessica’s number along with all phone calls and text messages between the two. The state claimed this was his effort to “erase Jessica completely from his life.” Now, why would Tellis want to kill Jessica? This is something the state has to explain in order to present their evidence and prove his guilt. They claimed that Tellis was very attracted to Jessica, feelings she did not reciprocate. In the week prior to her death, text messages showed Quentin trying to have sex with Jessica four seperate times, she denied all attempts.This led to the events that transpired on the night of her murder. They further elaborate that on the night of her death, the two drove out to the crime scene to hangout. While there, Quentin tried yet again to have sex with Jessica, When she refuses, they claim Tellis flew into a blind rage and injured Jessica. This led him to believe that he had killed her and he decided to destroy the evidence. To do this, Tellis supposedly poured gas down Jessica’s throat, up her nose and then all over the rest of her body before he set her on fire. Supposedly, he walked to his sister’s house to borrow her car, drove to his house to get a gas tank, then back to the crime scene. They claimed that the convenience store footage at 7:50 of Quentin’s sister’s car in their driveway was proof Tellis went home to get a gas can to set her on fire. While cell phone records and the footage seemed to be quite damning, the prosecution also said Jessica’s keys were irrefutable proof that Tellis had done it. Not only was his DNA on the keys, but they were found on the path he would have taken to get to his sister’s house to borrow her car.
Tellis’ defense team fought back hard. Their biggest defense was Jessica’s own words. They claimed that Jessica told them who did it, and it was not Quentin Tellis. His team also argued that even if Jessica had trouble speaking due to the burns that night, the name Eric or Derrick sounds nothing like the name Quentin. In addition to this, they had a hard time believing Jessica was having a hard time speaking due to the fact she said both her and her assailants’ names multiple times to the first responders. The defense also tried their best to disprove the defense’s narrative of the motive. They claimed that there was no proof of Jennifer being injured other than her burns. A rape kit was also never done. Meaning, it is impossible to prove that Quentin had raped and then murdered her. While the prosecution never claimed Quentin had raped her, the fact that a rape kit was never done planted the idea that maybe the state was not as competent as they claim. The state’s motive was a huge part of their case against Quentin. There was no evidence that Quentin was the type of individual to commit a murder for no reason. They needed to prove that he wanted to have sex with Jessica so bad that when she declined his advances, he murdered her. His lawyers also tried their best to argue the cell phone logs. Claiming that while the state says it is incredibly reliable, cell phone science is not perfect. They also thought the state’s timeline of events made absolutely no sense. While the defense was questioning the head of the investigation, they were able to prove that they were unable to determine the time Jessica’s car was set on fire. The defense used this to claim that if they do not know what time the car was set on fire, then it is hard to prove the accuracy of their timeline. However, the prosecution claimed that while they could not figure out an exact time, they were able to estimate based off of the last time both Jessica and Quenton’s phones were used along with the state of the fire by the time they arrived.
Under most circumstances, it is hard to refute DNA evidence. However, the defense was able to do this by explaining the DNA test used to supposedly match Tellis’ DNA to the DNA on the keys. The defense argued that the test performed presented, “There was a mixture of DNA from four people on the keys. Quinton Tellis was not one of them under the more discriminating autosomal STR test. As for the less precise test, the Y-STR DNA test based on the male chromosome, there was a mixture of at least four males and Tellis could not be excluded” (Kini 2018). This would suggest that although Tellis was not an exact match, he could not be ruled out as a suspect either. Regardless, this was quite damaging to the prosecution’s case.
As per usual, jurors began their deliberations after the trial. When the court announced they had reached a verdict, the public went wild and the courthouse was filled within seconds. The judge prompted the foreman of the jury to read the verdict. Quinton Tellis was found not guilty. But that is not where the story ends. After the verdict was read the judge asked the jurors if this was a unanimous decision. This was when one juror told the judge that he had not agreed with the “not guilty” verdict. He believed Tellis was actually guilty, meaning the decision was not unanimous. The judge explained once more to the jurors that the verdict must be unanimous, all 12 jurors must agree. Unfortunately, after hours of deliberations, they were still unable to agree on a verdict, causing a mistrial. Tellis was retried in 2018, a year after his first trial. The strategies on both sides of the courtroom did not change much. The prosecution however did call a speech pathologist to the stand to testify that Jessica would have most likely been inaudible when first responders arrived. This was obviously an effort to poke holes in the defense’s “Eric” strategy. At the end of this trial, the judge would shock the world once again by declaring a mistrial. His reason was the same as the first time, the jurors could not agree on a verdict. Quinton is yet to be retried for a third time, but the D.A.’s office has every intention of making sure it happens.
Meing-Chen Hsiao, 34:
The story of Quinton Tellis does not end with the case of Jessica Chambers, which makes him a more interesting suspect. 225 miles away in Monroe, Louisiana, lived 34 year old Meing-Chen Hsiao, or Mandy. After concerned neighbors requested a welfare check on Meing-Chen after days of inactivity, her body was discovered on August 8th, 2015 in her apartment. She had been dead for approximately 10 days according to the medical examiner. Placing her time of death on July 29th, 2015. According to her autopsy, Meing-Chen also suffered a horrific death. It is believed that after being tortured for hours with several shallow cuts, Meing-Chen had been stabbed around 30 times. During the investigation, investigators slowly started linking Quinton Tellis to the murder of the recently graduated woman. In February of 2016, Tellis was named the primary suspect. Five months later in July 2016, a warrant was filed for his arrest.
Similar to his previous murder case, the evidence the state gathered against him was considered to be circumstantial. But in my opinion, the evidence used in this case is much stronger than in his previous trials. The state claimed the motive for the murder was Tellis had tortured Meing-Chen in order to find out her PIN code for her ATM card. After he finally got it out of her, he killed her. The state has many strong points to prove this theory. The first being on the night of the murder, when two phone calls were made to Chase bank from Meing-Chen’s phone. The first call at 8:16 P.M. then again moments later. Both calls ended almost immediately after they were made, no words were said. Approximately two minutes later and 60 meters from Meing-Chen’s home, Chase bank receives two more phone calls, this time from Tellis’ phone. During the call, Meing-Chen’s debit card number and PIN code were entered into the call.
On July 30th, Quinton approaches a neighbor of his mother-in-law, asking her a favor. The neighbor claims that Tellis gave her a blue debit card with a Chinese name on it and asked her to use it to withdraw $2,000 from an ATM. After taking the card to an ATM and checking the balance, the neighbor got cold feet and did not withdraw any money. Two days later, activity was shown on Meing-Chen’s bank account. Someone in Vicksburg, Mississippi withdrew $400 from her bank account. According to cell phone records, Tellis was in Vicksburg that day at the time the withdrawal was made. Two weeks later, Tellis is recorded on an ATM making a withdrawal from Meing-Chen’s account three days in a row, starting on August 17th. When the police questioned Chambers about how he gained access to Mein-Chen’s ATM card, he claimed he got it from a drug dealer named “J”. He then quickly changed his story and claimed he actually got it from an addict named “Kenny”.
This is usually great evidence that would end a suspect on trial for murder, even without DNA evidence. However, one spiteful man threw a wrench into law enforcement’s investigation. A tattoo artist, Eric Hill, who is actually married to Tellis’ wife’s cousin, accused a man named Curtis Lemons as the murderer. He claimed that while tattooing Curtis, he confessed to the murder of a Chinese girl. Mr. Hill then identified Lemons in a line-up and claimed he had no idea who Tellis was when police showed him a picture. Upon further investigation, police realized that Eric Hill and Curtis Lemons are also related by marriage. When confronted, Hill admitted to implicating Lemons simply because he was mad at him. Not because he actually did it. With another man implicated in the murder, Tellis’ defense would have an easier time getting a not guilty verdict from the jury. As a result, Tellis was charged for using Meing-Chen’s debit card and is currently serving a ten year sentence. After he was sentenced, he was extradited to Mississippi for the Jessica Chambers trial. As of today, Tellis is yet to be indicted by a grand jury in Louisiana for the murder of Meing-Chen Hsiao.
Thoughts:
I started following the Jessica Chambers case in 2020 during quarantine. At the time, I was unsure of Tellis’ guilt. Based on what I knew at the time, he did not seem like a violent individual who was capable of such a disturbing crime. However, it was hard to refute the cell-phone evidence and the fact he had lied during initial investigations. While I still do not place much faith in the DNA evidence, the spot where they were found is quite suspicious. I also have mixed emotions about Jessica’s last words. She was able to tell first responders her name multiple times, ask for help and say the name Erik many times. If Jessica had trouble talking based on her injuries, she would not have been able to say her name and beg for help, in my opinion. As for the name Erik, I wonder if the gas she had swallowed was starting to affect her thought process. I would also not be surprised if she felt some sort of “high” from the gasoline fumes, thus making her confused. My last theory on this is that she said her boyfriend’s name, Erik, because she wanted him in her time of need. While this is not as likely as the first two, it is always a possibility. Or, Jessica was actually attacked by a man named Erik that was never found. Under normal circumstances, I’d be more willing to believe this. However, the murder of Meing-Chen Hsiao, makes me believe otherwise. To me, it seems quite clear that Tellis murdered Meing-Chen 8 months before the death of Jessica. I think that his first murder of Meing-Chen was sloppy, while Jessica’s murder left no evidence. In my opinion, this shows that Tellis learned his mistakes from the first murder and knew to do different the second time around. However, since the motives are different behind both crimes, it makes it difficult to see Tellis as a repeat offender. But, if these were his first kills, it is possible that he was still trying to figure things out, hence the differences between both crimes. I also believe Jessica’s murder was not pre-meditated, but a crime of passion. In the heat of the moment, Tellis may have killed a different way because he had not planned on it. Due to his lack of planning, he set the car on fire to protect himself from getting caught.
I whole-heartedly believe that Tellis is guilty of murdering Meing-Chen Hsiao. While there is no forensic evidence, there is pretty solid proof that he was the one who did it. His use of her debit card proves this to me, I believe Quinton Tellis is a disorganized killer with anger and impulse issues.
For more information, look into one of these:
Jessica Chambers, an ID Murder Mystery
Listen to the podcast, Unspeakable Crime: The Killing of Jessica Chambers
Article about Meing-Chen Hsiao- Click Here
