Jessica Chambers was a 19-year old Mississippi girl who was full of life and loved her family and friends, according to those who knew her best. But on Saturday, a person or persons knocked her unconscious, doused her with lighter fluid–including down her throat and up her nose–and set her on fire. She was reportedly found walking down the road in flames, away from her still-burning car, by the local fire department. She died shortly afterward.
“When they took her they took what was left of me. They might as well have done it to me,” said her mother, Lisa Chambers.
The teen had left home to clean out her car and grab something to eat, according to her parents, but somewhere along the way she met her killer, and police are investigating who she might have been with that day. For those who knew her, there is no motive in the world for such a tragic, horrific murder.
“She was the most beautiful and loving and kind girl I’ve ever known. She loved to cheer(lead). She loved softball. She loved her family and her friends. She was just a big bundle of joy. We have no idea who did this,” her best friend, Alyssa Cotten, said.
Lisa Chambers said that her daughter never mentioned meeting anyone while she was out and had been lounging all day in her pajamas, which she wore to get gas and food that evening. According to the gas station attendant, she seemed normal during her brief time there. However, in apparent surveillance footage from the gas station, it appears Chambers is called over by someone off camera.
“She was normal that day. She just pumped the gas like she always does. She left, then two hours later, we all heard. If something was going on,s he would have told me. She would have told me she was having a problem with someone. She was smiling, and she left, and that’s the last time I saw her,” said Ali Alsanai.
Chambers’ father, Ben, told the media that she used her last bit of strength to tell paramedics who had attacked her, though that has not been confirmed by police.