BATESVILLE — Authorities are still trying to figure out what happened to a north Mississippi woman in the last hour before she was found burned.
Panola County District Attorney John Champion, in a Tuesday news conference, said authorities know where the 19-year-old was at almost every other moment of Dec. 6.
“We just don’t know where she was between 6:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.,” Champion told reporters. “We’re releasing this timeline in hopes it will generate some leads and memories. This case is obviously unusual for this area.”
Firefighters found Jessica Chambers walking from her blazing car after 8 p.m. that night on a rural road near Courtland. She had been burned over 98 percent of her body and died in a Memphis hospital the next day.
Champion said authorities can place Chambers on that road by 7:30 p.m. She arrived there after leaving home and visiting a Courtland convenience store where she gassed up her car. Chambers’ mother, Lisa Daugherty, has said her daughter told her she was going to buy food and clean her vehicle.
After buying gas, Champion said Chambers visited a residence in Courtland, then drove the 10 minutes to nearby Batesville, where a video camera spotted her. By 6:30 p.m., she was back in Courtland.
“We’ve gotten leads on where she might have been and every one of them has been followed up on,” Champion said. “The problem is the one-hour gap.”
Champion said officials have interviewed more than 120 people, “but not enough to generate a suspect.”
Anyone with information is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 1-800-729-2169. Officials are offering a $54,000 reward for information.
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