Jessica Chambers, the 19-year old Mississippi girl who was burned alive on the side of the road last weekend, was reportedly able to give first responders the name of the person or persons responsible, but so far police have made no arrests. Now, U.S. Marshals have raised the reward for information leading to an arrest to $10,000 in the hopes that someone will come forward.
Chambers left home that night to clean her car, get gas, and grab some food, according to her mother, and had been lounging around that afternoon with no plans. She left the house in her pajama pants and wasn’t planning to be gone long, her parents said. Surveillance video at the gas station, however, shows her talking to someone off camera, and she reportedly told the attendant that she was meeting someone.
“She told me she was meeting somebody, but I didn’t ask her who because I didn’t want to be nosy,” said Ali Fahdel, who knew Chambers and had waited on her at the station before.
The teen reportedly had lighter fluid poured down her throat and up her nose and was knocked unconscious before being set on fire, but came to at some point and was found walking down the road by firefighters who had been called after her car, which was also set ablaze, was spotted in flames. She succumbed to her injuries at a nearby hospital after suffering burns on 98% of her body.
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According to Jessica’s friends and family, she was a kind girl who loved those close to her and had no enemies.
“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.
Jessica’s family has created a Facebook page in her memory and are warning about scammers who are soliciting money in her name.