MS - Jessica Chambers, 19, found burned near her car, Panola County, 6 Dec 2014 - #8

[tlcya]

I think it possible that CW really was telling the truth about this getting out of hand, going too far. I've tried to walk through this in my mind concerning the phone and concerning a possible Batesville hotel sighting.

The phone left near the scene with its battery separated from but still nearby has ALWAYS struck me as the act of someone enraged in the moment and not the act of someone who planned this vicious act in advance.

I've always envisioned the possibility of an angry, frustrated, and maybe frightened JC walking away from her car and an argument. Maybe this was a tool taught to her at Leah's House to avoid situations that could lead to those doggone 'simple assault' type charges.

Maybe, just maybe, she left Batesville after an angry encounter there and went to see someone with whom she is familiar. Maybe the intent was consolation, but maybe the intent was to "straighten out a misunderstanding" that had led to the confrontation in Batesville. Maybe she parked at a place she regularly parked at to call this person and wait for his/her appearance a short time after. Maybe this person didnt have access to a car and needed to walk to their meeting place. Maybe she had done this numerous times before.

Maybe the wrong people showed up instead, maybe one who felt JC was "a snitch"; maybe those people were already at the location JC called last, maybe very nearby. Maybe one or more of those peeps had a propensity for flashes of uncontrollable intense anger and history of fighting that bordered on pathological borderline personality rage, maybe egged on by an ever-present friend who kept the cauldron boiling hot. Maybe that person also had intense jealousy issues concerning her baby daddy's affections.

If she drove there alone and was met by an angry female or two, maybe she was walking away from her car while her antagonist followed, screaming and trying to get her to fight back. Maybe a second person was dousing her car with gas by this time and JC tried to call 911 or someone else. Maybe her antagonist grabbed her phone, took the battery out, and threw it down, angry in that moment, without thinking of the future ahead. It seems the act of an enraged and possibly drunk (and not very smart) angry female.

Maybe at that point, the fists started flying frfr. With JC fighting back at this point, it's a free for all and whoever else is with crazy-mad-chick gets in on the action. Dragged back the short distance to her already-on-fire car, the mad-chicks do their lighter fluid thing in the crazy heat of the moment, maybe even just as a threat. Threat turns real as JC is caught in flames. One of the females wouldn't have gone this far. One is just too pathologically sick, mentally and substance abuse-wise, to have any control once things have gone this far.

The car itself may have even been part of mad-chicks jealousy if JC was known to give rides to males here and there, maybe sometimes her babydaddy? Or maybe mad-chick or her loyalty-fam was enraged if JC denied them a ride somewhere, or declined to ferry a bag of chips to them, or the 'right' cigs.

I dunno. I just keep having bad dreams of angry women picking a fight with JC and it "going too far". I've seen enough now at other sites to know that some do have uncontrollable anger issues, jealousy issues, and substance abuse issues, along with the hopelessness and despair of southern rural poverty and the repeating cycle of dependency.

I can see the men getting jacked up from their women folk harping on "snitching", and I can see an angry confrontation between them and JC, and I can even see them burning her car (maybe), but the final crime, IMO, smacks of a pathologically jealous woman's touch.

If JC did go see a former bf's mom several days before her death, maybe it was to confide in her about the "snitching" rumors and enlist her help in how to make it go away. If so, that kind and nurturing relationship alone could have set off a pathological jealousy in someone close, very close.

Jessica, sweet baby girl, help us here. Many are working hard to bring your killers to justice. I hope you left enough clues behind to make it possible.

I believe in her last living hour as her body quickly failed, her spirit and central nervous system were in autopilot overdrive trying to make sure justice would be done. It's all she had left to leave this world. And she was a fighter.

I do not have a specific supsect(s) in mind, but agree that there is a serious female jealous, retribution type vibe to this crime. And also agree that it was likely committed for one of the ridiculous reasons you postulate, or one of a hundred other equally stupid, hateful, resentful "reasons". This IMO was a very personally driven murder. And two perps feels right because I see two egging one another on and feeding off one another's sick frenzy. Whether one or both planned it to end as it did or things just went too far . . .

I really hope LE has more to work with and is working dilegently behind the scenes

 

[SteveP]

Persons of Interest...yes. Actual Suspects...no.

I can't put anyone actually at the scene with her yet. Several people are quite suspicious, but it seems no one has given themselves away to being there.

I have two sets of POI's based on two theories, and waver from day to day on which I think is most likely. One has 2-3 males, with possibly a female setup, who may have not have had full knowledge, and one has 1 very involved female and 1-2 males.

 

[MyBelle]

Regardless of whether LE knows who killed Jessica, and I believe they do, if they feel that evidence was so mishandled as to prevent a jury from concluding the accused did murder her, there is every reason to believe that they would keep suspect(s) under surveillance while they continue to try to build a case that will stand up in court before making any arrest. Most reasonable people would agree that the car was removed from the scene of the fire far too quickly for a thorough examination to have been done. The car was not covered, and seems to have been left unattended while being towed to the impound lot. The physical site of the car fire was not properly secured until the third day after the incident, when crime scene tape was finally put up. LE was spotted on day 3 or 4 picking up items from the crime scene and placing them into bags. The recording at the convenience store was allegedly not retrieved until the fourth day, after a news reporter had already reviewed it. All of these things will be brought up by any competent defense attorney, so LE SHOULD take as much time as they need to build their case with as much solid evidence as they can before making an arrest or arrests, because I am sure most of their earliest collected evidence will all be contested. JMO.

I don't share your opinion there was any LE bungling of evidence and I'm a reasonable person.

JMO

 

[SeriouslySearching]

Well I don't know about the type of fuel. Gasoline smells so if you needed to go home afterward and didn't want anyone to suspect you ... you would use something low-odor. That would mean premeditation unless you carried the accelerant as a part of your job. The amount of accelerant also points to premeditation. It's hard to believe in a town this small that people don't know who did this. It seems they would be connected to the fire by the purchase of fuel alone.

Didn't Jessica buy more fuel than normal? How do we know for a fact she put it all inside the tank?

 

[Yvettea]

My theory is that one person carried out this crime. The premeditation had been building for awhile. To me this looks like a tightly controlled crime scene.

LE doesn't seem to have a suspect and I don't either. The suspect may have decieved themselves believing they would never really carry through with the plan. They may feel regret; they may feel completely justified.

This is all gut MOO. I can't provide further explanation.

 

[MyBelle]

Logically speaking, if this was ALL premeditated, and they knew they were going to disable and dispose of the phone, you'd think they would have done that somewhere far away from the sight of her murder. And since pings can location services tell a lot, why not leave the phone wherever she was initially accosted or in a dumpster or trash can somewhere inbetween? Leaving it right there at the scene makes me think someone wasn't in their right mind at that moment. It definately doesn't smack of prior planning or much premeditation. Of course, I don't think these were the smartest folks, either.

Forgetting about disposing of a phone is no reflection of the premeditation of the actual murder. It simply shows the killer forgot about it until the last minute and was worried about getting caught with the phone in their possession.

JMO

 

[Yvettea]

Forgetting about disposing of a phone is no reflection of the premeditation of the actual murder. It simply shows the killer forgot about it until the last minute and was worried about getting caught with the phone in their possession.

JMO

Possibly. One good explanation.

 

[tlcya]

MOO. Even morons premeditate murder. Not well, but they do it all the time.

ETA so cell phone being at the scene is weird if fire was meant to destroy evidence. If fire was meant to murder, torture, maim, the cell phone was simply not thought of beforehand. For either reason stupid premeditation or non premeditation. Besides, premeditation can take place in seconds, and does not require weeks of plotting and planning by the law.

 

[southernyankee]

FYI, y'all: "Reasonable person" and the word "reasonable" are not arbitrary terms in the context of the law. It is treated as a hypothetical standard, but can be a bit more complicated than a simple definition. In fact, it can get kinda dicey, but just so everyone's on the same page that there's a difference between casually tossing the word around and understanding it in the context of legal theory.

http://lsolum.typepad.com/legal_theory_lexicon/2003/10/legal_theory_le_3.html for more info...maybe more than you'd ever want, but ah well

 

[dairydog]

I mentioned a few days ago that it would be helpful to have a timeline for the days leading up to Jessica's murder (what did she do?). As far as her phone is concerned, LE would have requisitioned records of her calls and texts from her service provider and we can only hope that calls or texts in the days prior to her death would provide LE with some useful information. (MOO). The phone records could provide valuable evidence for a future trial. It seems to me that several text messages were presented at the Arias trial.

 

[MyBelle]

I mentioned a few days ago that it would be helpful to have a timeline for the days leading up to Jessica's murder (what did she do?). As far as her phone is concerned, LE would have requisitioned records of her calls and texts from her service provider and we can only hope that calls or texts in the days prior to her death would provide LE with some useful information. (MOO). The phone records could provide valuable evidence for a future trial. It seems to me that several text messages were presented at the Arias trial.

LE have said her phone and records are important evidence.
Police are searching her data and text records after obtaining warrants Wednesday that compelled Google and her cell phone provider to give police access to her phone's content, Champion said. Investigators believe her phone will be "the key to everything," the prosecutor said. She received a call before she left her house, he said.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/11/us/mississippi-girl-burns-to-death/

 

[SeeAlice]

I'm curious to know how many of us have a person or persons of interest in mind at this point. Let's not name any specific names, of course, but if you'd like to share a yay or nay, I'm interested. As for me, yes, I do.

I don't. I still see no evidence of any crime, but I keep an open mind pending the release of actual evidence.

 

[dairydog]

LE have said her phone and records are important evidence.
Police are searching her data and text records after obtaining warrants Wednesday that compelled Google and her cell phone provider to give police access to her phone's content, Champion said. Investigators believe her phone will be "the key to everything," the prosecutor said. She received a call before she left her house, he said.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/11/us/mississippi-girl-burns-to-death/

I agree. Even though the phone was physically damaged, IMO it left a trail of footprints (metaphorically of course)!

 

[southernyankee]

I don't. I still see no evidence of any crime, but I keep an open mind pending the release of actual evidence.

I'm curious - what is your theory? Accident, suicide...or... ?

 

[MyBelle]

I don't. I still see no evidence of any crime, but I keep an open mind pending the release of actual evidence.

We rarely see actual evidence ahead of an arrest but there is no doubt with the FBI that Jessica is a victim of a homicide. From the FBI Reward Poster:


DETAILS
The FBI, the Panola County Sheriff's Office, and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation are seeking information regarding the murder of Jessica Lane Chambers, a 19-year-old white female, from Courtland, Mississippi.

http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/seeking-info/jessica-lane-chambers/view

 

[Kat320]

Hello. Long time lurker here...
There are many good theories being pondered upon and many great questions. One thing I haven't seen discussed is the possible "condition" of the perpetrators of this crime. Most of the names being thrown around are of people with a history of drug and alcohol use, based on pics on social media. It's a small town with not much else to do but "turn up and get tore up". There is a good chance that the person or people responsible had been partying before their interaction with JC. This could cause something to "get out of hand", her car to be parked oddly, her phone clumsily separated from the battery and dropped, etc... I've been around plenty of drunks in my life....some are sloppy, some are angry and irrational. It's just another angle to analyze the evidence from. Some of the things we are observing and thinking may be intentionally done, like the phone, just may be because the murderer/murderers were under the influence and sloppy.

 

[SeeAlice]

I'm curious - what is your theory? Accident, suicide...or... ?

No specific theory. Vehicle fires happen all the time, even when there is no obvious collision. Many threads back, I posted links that showed up in a google search for (I'm guessing the search words I used)
"vehicle fire death"

I was surprised how frequently fires of unknown origin result in death. The causes of the fires end up being things such as a rock thrown up by a tire that causes a hole in a fuel tank, a mechanical malfunction or design flaw, or carelessness of the motor vehicle operator - from falling asleep/passing out with a burning cigarette or cigar to use of flammable liquids while getting high.

Right now, there are too many questions unanswered and too little evidence for me to even attempt an educated guess. I could use my imagination and come up with a real psychological-crime thriller, but I try not to do that.

If my name (or an unnamed person who seemed very similar to me) was being discussed and some people - even strangers on the web - believed I was capable of being so inhumane and acting so heinous, I would be devastated.

I'll wait to see what LE & the prosecution has. (btw - I don't assume they bungled this investigation but this post is long enough already.)

JMO

 

[SteveP]

Hello. Long time lurker here...
There are many good theories being pondered upon and many great questions. One thing I haven't seen discussed is the possible "condition" of the perpetrators of this crime. Most of the names being thrown around are of people with a history of drug and alcohol use, based on pics on social media. It's a small town with not much else to do but "turn up and get tore up". There is a good chance that the person or people responsible had been partying before their interaction with JC. This could cause something to "get out of hand", her car to be parked oddly, her phone clumsily separated from the battery and dropped, etc... I've been around plenty of drunks in my life....some are sloppy, some are angry and irrational. It's just another angle to analyze the evidence from. Some of the things we are observing and thinking may be intentionally done, like the phone, just may be because the murderer/murderers were under the influence and sloppy.

That is a very good point, and :welcome4:

 

[MyBelle]

No specific theory. Vehicle fires happen all the time, even when there is no obvious collision. Many threads back, I posted links that showed up in a google search for (I'm guessing the search words I used)
"vehicle fire death"

I was surprised how frequently fires of unknown origin result in death. The causes of the fires end up being things such as a rock thrown up by a tire that causes a hole in a fuel tank, a mechanical malfunction or design flaw, or carelessness of the motor vehicle operator - from falling asleep/passing out with a burning cigarette or cigar to use of flammable liquids while getting high.

Right now, there are too many questions unanswered and too little evidence for me to even attempt an educated guess. I could use my imagination and come up with a real psychological-crime thriller, but I try not to do that.

If my name (or an unnamed person who seemed very similar to me) was being discussed and some people - even strangers on the web - believed I was capable of being so inhumane and acting so heinous, I would be devastated.

I'll wait to see what LE & the prosecution has. (btw - I don't assume they bungled this investigation but this post is long enough already.)

JMO

The origin of the fire has been known for more than a month in this case. LE have publicly stated a flammable liquid was used to accelerate the fire.

Panola County Sheriff Dennis Darby said last month Chambers was doused with a flammable liquid before she was set on fire on a road in Courtland, Miss., a town with a population of 460 people.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/01/18/fbi-ups-reward-in-case-mississippi-girl-burned-to-death/

 

[Yvettea]

Has anyone heard of the Bradford Bishop case? This is a case of a middle-aged man who didn't get the promotion he wanted. That afternoon he stopped on his way home, bought a hammer and filled a container with gasoline. That evening he murdered his three sons, his wife and his mother with the hammer. The boys were sleeping.

Then he piled their bodies in the back of the station wagon and drove to another state. There he dug a hole, threw their bodies in, doused them with gasoline and set them on fire.

He wanted his family so thoroughly out of his life he seemed to murder them twice. Bradford has not been seen since. He is on the 10 most wanted list.

This case with JC reminded me of Bradford Bishop's family savagely beaten and killed. ETA: I see this as a crime of passion something the person contemplated for a while but didn't act on. When they wanted JC out of their life they wanted her the thoroughly out and went to extreme lengths to make that happen.