Man accused of burning teenager to death goes on trial in Mississippi

Quinton Tellis has pleaded not guilty to the murder of 19-year-old Jessica Chambers

Quinton Tellis, 29, sits in a Batesville, Mississippi courtroom (AP Photo/Rogelio V Solis)

A Mississippi man has been accused of burning a teenage girl alive in an attempt to dispose of her body.

Prosecutors told a courtroom in Batesville, Mississippi that 29-year-old Quinton Tellis had doused 19-year-old Jessica Chambers in gasoline and set her on fire after repeatedly asking her for sex. Mr Tellis has pleaded not guilty.

The alleged murder, which took place in December of 2014, has gripped the country due to its horrific details. Jurors were sequestered and spectators were screened through metal detectors before entering the courtroom this week.

Prosecutor John Champion painted a brutal picture of the alleged murder in his opening statement, telling the jury Ms Chamber had suffered “horrific burns”.

"I would venture to guess if all of us sitting here were to know we're going to die, that the very last way we would want to die would be by fire,” he said, according to the Associated Press. “But Jessica was set on fire."

Prosecutors allege Mr Tellis picked Ms Chambers up from her house the night of the murder, and later had sex with her in her car. Prosecutors said he had repeatedly texted her asking for sex in the weeks before, and she had refused.

That night, prosecutors say, Mr Tellis attempted to suffocate the 19-year-old. Believing he had been successful, Mr Tellis took his sister’s car, picked up gasoline, and set fire to Ms Chamber’s car and her body, they allege.

Firefighters who responded to the scene testified that Ms Chambers had been found near her burning car, wearing only her underwear. They said she had difficulty walking and speaking more than a few words.

"I can't picture it for y'all,” firefighter Shane Mill told the courtroom. “Her hair was, you know, beautiful blonde. You look at it at the time, her hair is just fried."

Ms Chambers died about four hours later, after being airlifted to a hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.

Jessica Chambers, 18, died after becoming engulfed in flames (Facebook)

Mr Tellis’s defence attorney, Darla Palmer, said the young man had “insisted this is not something he would do”. Ms Palmer pointed out that firefighters recalled Ms Chambers calling the person who had attacked her “Eric”. They also said she seemed not to know the person’s last name.

"She knew Quinton," Ms Palmer said. "She knew his name is Quinton Tellis. But she did not say that that day."

The defence attorney also said she would prove that Mr Tellis was miles away from the crime scene, purchasing a pre-paid debit card, at the time of the crime.

If convicted, Mr Tellis faces life in prison without parole. He has also been charged with murder in the torture and death of a 34-year-old graduate student at the University of Louisiana at Monroe.