There was one major flaw in the prosecution’s case. True crime aficionados have been diving deeper in the Jessica Chambers murder case with Oxygen’s Unspeakable Crime: The Killing Of Jessica Chambers, and on Episode 3, fans will learn why the case against her alleged murderer Quinton Tellis was not strong enough to convict him of setting her on fire, leading to her death. In an exclusive sneak peek obtained by In Touch, lead investigator Barry Thompson explains why he felt Quinton was guilty of the murder even though Jessica had allegedly said someone named “Eric” was the one who committed the horrific crime.

“Quinton was on my radar early on, but at that point, we were trying to identify the Erics and the Dereks that she may have known,” Thompson said in his confessional.

While on the stand, Thompson said that Quinton told him he believed that a man named Derrick Holmes had been stalking Jessica. Thompson and his fellow investigators then looked into Holmes’ involvement with Jessica before her murder, but Derrick was never developed as a viable suspect in the case because police were able to confirm that Derrick was with his mother in their home at the time of the crime.  

Thompson said that Quinton did say that he was with Jessica earlier in the morning on the day before her death, but that they went their separate ways later in the day. Quinton allegedly told Thompson that was with friends during the time of the fire, but investigators later found out that the friends Quinton mentioned were out of town that day.

“Normally, when people lie to you, they’re lying to you for a reason,” Thompson said in his confessional. But there was one flaw in the case: it was nearly impossible for Quinton to be able to tell Thompson his whereabouts at the time of the crime because no one really knows the exact time that Jessica was set on fire.

Be sure to catch the next episode of Unspeakable Crime: The Killing of Jessica Chambers, airing Saturdays at 7 p.m.  ET/PT on Oxygen.

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