Getting suspect in Jessica Chambers burning death to Mississippi may take time

Panola County District Attorney John Champion, center, addresses the media concerning the case of Jessica Chambers, Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016, in Batesville, Miss. Champion announced that Quinton Verdell Tellis has been charged with capital murder in the death of Chambers, who was found along a road, badly burned, in December 2014. Panola County sheriff Dennis Darby is seen on left. (Stan Carroll/The Commercial Appeal)
Panola County District Attorney John Champion, center, addresses the media concerning the case of Jessica Chambers, Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016, in Batesville, Miss. Champion announced that Quinton Verdell Tellis has been charged with capital murder in the death of Chambers, who was found along a road, badly burned, in December 2014. Panola County sheriff Dennis Darby is seen on left. (Stan Carroll/The Commercial Appeal)
Panola County District Attorney John Champion, center, addresses the media concerning the case of Jessica Chambers, Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016, in Batesville, Miss. Champion announced that Quinton Verdell Tellis has been charged with capital murder in the death of Chambers, who was found along a road, badly burned, in December 2014. Panola County sheriff Dennis Darby is seen on left. (Stan Carroll/The Commercial Appeal)

PANOLA, Mississippi (AP) — A Mississippi prosecutor says it could be late this year before the 27-year-old man accused of burning a 19-year-old woman to death is returned from Louisiana to face a capital murder charge.

Quinton Verdell is charged in the death of Jessica Chambers, whose burning body was found outside her car, which also had been set ablaze, in Courtland on Dec. 6, 2014. Both she and Tellis are from Courtland, in Panola County, and attended South Panola High School.

“I don’t expect to see him here before the end of the year,” District 17 District Attorney John Champion told The Commercial Appeal.

Tellis is being held in Monroe, Louisiana, on charges of using a 34-year-old woman’s debit cards after she was stabbed to death, and of possessing marijuana with intent to distribute it. He has not been charged in the death of Meing-Chen Hsaio, but police identified him in November as a suspect.

Champion said he believes Tellis is scheduled for trial May 9 on the two charges against him in Louisiana.

“Assuming it goes to trial then, I believe it could be 60 to 90 days before sentencing,” he said. “After that, we’d have to redo our paperwork that goes through the governor’s office to get him back.”

Authorities have not discussed a motive or the relationship between Tellis and Chambers, except to say they knew one another and were introduced by friends.

Authorities believe Tellis acted alone.

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