Jessica Chambers’ murder suspect Quinton Tellis indicted in death of woman in Louisiana

Quinton Tellis has been indicted on charges of second-degree murder in Ouachita Parish for the death of Meing Chen Hsaio, of Taiwan.

Tellis was indicted by a grand jury in February 2016 in Chambers’ death as he sat in the Ouachita Parish Jail in Monroe on charges related to Hsiao’s stabbing death.

Police say Tellis is believed to have stabbed Hsaio to death on her bedroom floor after torturing her for her debit card pin number.

“He brutally murdered her by repeatedly stabbing her and letting her body rot and decompose until being discovered,” read part of Detective Duane Cookson’s statement, which was included in the 2016 Louisiana arrest warrant.

The homicide allegedly took place on July 29, 2015, and her body was found Aug. 8, which was also Tellis’ wedding day. As authorities worked the crime scene, Tellis celebrated his marriage to Chikita Jackson.

Police may not have connected Tellis and Hsiao, authorities said at the time, but they were seen together on a Wal-Mart security video. A neighbor gave police a license plate number of a man who had been hanging around the complex who gave her a “creepy feeling.” She identified him as Tellis and said he’d been to Hsiao’s apartment July 27 and 28.

During that time, she told police, she heard them arguing.

The warrant stated that someone had tried to clean up the crime scene. At the time of the arrest, aside from witness statements, there was data to tie him to the scene. A receipt for $.07 was found in Tellis’ bedroom. It was paid with Hsiao’s card.

Police got search warrants for phone and bank records, which turned up calls to Hsiao’s bank from Tellis’ phone on the day she died. GPS records showed Tellis was within 60 meters of the crime scene.

Withdrawals from a Vicksburg ATM coincide with phone records and statements that Tellis and Jackson were there that day.

According to court documents, Hsiao and Tellis were seen on the WalMart security video in a black Impala, and a neighbor identified Tellis as a man she saw driving a black Impala and arguing with Hsiao.

A pair of tennis shoes were found in an outside storage shed, and they had been spray-painted white, according to the affidavit. Under the paint were dark stains police believed to be blood.

Tellis’s wife’s cousin, Eric Hill, told police that a man named Curtis Lemons confessed to him that he had killed Hsiao, but later admitted that he misled investigators and that it was Tellis that had told the story. He admitted that he had been mad at Lemons and had falsely accused him.

According to Hill, Tellis said he had beaten Hsiao up “pretty bad” and then “continued to stab and cut” her because she wouldn’t give up her pin number. Police said later he had stabbed her around 30 times.

Hsiao had friends and neighbors nearby, but her family was in Taiwan. It was 10 days before her body was found inside her apartment.

He pleaded guilty to unauthorized use of an access (debit) card after video and other evidence tied him to the use of her stolen card.

Tellis has been tried twice in the 2014 burning death of Jessica Chambers.

after the juries could not come to a decision.

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