re: 19 year old girl burned alive in Mississippi Saturday night- horrific (updates)

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White lives dont matter

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Supposedly the FBI has "upped" the investigation by having more billboards across the state. Not exactly the most encouraging sign. 

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JACKSON, Miss. — The tiny town of Courtland has been changed forever in the wake of the burning death of Jessica Chambers in December. The worst part is that the fear is coming from everywhere. There's the terror of having the eyes of the world turned on the town of 460, and there's the terror that comes from the fact that nobody knows, anymore, who to trust. Ali Alsanai (Photo: Therese Apel/ The Clarion-Ledger) Store clerk Ali Alsanai, who worked on the night of Chambers' death and was one of the last known people to talk to her, started receiving death threats almost immediately after he was quoted in news articles. USA TODAY Sheriff: 2 months after teen set on fire, case still active The death threats got worse, as well as accusations by bloggers and social media groups that he was tied to various gangs, and even to Islamic terror organizations. Contacted by The Clarion-Ledger late last week, Alsanai confirmed he is no longer in Courtland. He is believed to be out of state, but he would not confirm a location, citing safety reasons. District Attorney John Champion said Alsanai was always cooperative with the investigation. As early as Dec. 18, Champion confirmed that Alsanai was not a suspect. Jessica Chambers (Photo: Chambers family) The outside pressure has caused a level of fear that many in that small town can't figure out how to deal with or process. Chambers family friend Alicia Faulkner, who grew up with Jessica's sister Amanda Prince, said people even tried to point the finger at her. "They don't know us. We're small-town people who were living our lives every day and then we were struck with this," she said. USA TODAY Burned teen asked author for help with book before death Faulkner said the residents of the town are tired of finding themselves and their friends scrutinized and ripped apart by people on the Internet who have never even been to Courtland. "We have people in here trying to be detectives … let the law do their job. I'm tired of people trying to solve it theirselves. It's not helping," she said. "We have what we call little Facebook detectives doing this theory and that theory and that theory, and they're not getting nowhere with that. They're accusing people. On this one page they're putting up random people that I've known all my life and I know for a fact they didn't have anything to do with it." Ali Alsanai talks to the Clarion-Ledger about Jessica Chambers' last visit to his store 00:55 Sheriff Dennis Darby said he and his deputies just don't listen to the speculation that's thrown around, as much of a challenge as that can be. He said he understands people are involved emotionally with the case, and that they just want to do their part to help solve it. "It's speculation, and they don't know. How could they know? Where do they get their evidence from? They form opinions and that's the human side coming out in us, and I understand that." Champion said it's also unnerving that such a horrific crime could take place in such a tiny community. "I think that if you polled a group of people and asked them, 'If you know you're going to die, what's the greatest fear of how you're going to die?' I'd imagine being burned alive is one of the greatest fears people have," he said. "To know what she must have gone through and I can only surmise what she must have gone through, the pain and the utter fear as she was being burned, it's beyond description how horrific this is. I haven't ever dealt with anything like this ... I've been with many many cases of people shot or stabbed, but if you look at the horrific nature of knowing you're burning alive, it's beyond anything I've ever dealt with." USA TODAY Mom of burned teen's ex-boyfriend refutes gang rumors Still there's the $54,000 reward looming above everything. Officials can't figure out why nobody is coming forward for that kind of money. "We discuss constantly the reason why we're not getting any information off the streets," Champion said. "When you've got a reward of $54,000 and you're not getting any leads, no tips off that, it makes us really sit back and thing why isn't this money generating something?" Champion said a lot of people are out there trying to solve the case and get the reward, but no credible leads are being generated. He said that could imply that only one or two people know what happened to Chambers, and they aren't talking, or that perhaps the person or people who did it left town right after the slaying and no one has any knowledge of it. "People are scared. Nothing like this ever happened in this community, ever. Somebody getting set on fire alive, we don't have that every day," Faulkner said. "Coming from a small town … you know everybody. You know what part of town to stay away from, what people to stay away from. Something like that happening to someone close to me, I still don't know how to take that." USA TODAY Burned teen's father: 'They're coming for you' Faulkner, who had to help wrap the Christmas presents Chambers had bought for various friends and family, said the lack of closure at this point is taking its toll on every aspect of her life. "You can't sleep," she said. "I work for the public. I keep wondering if I see this person on a daily basis. Has this person ever looked me in the eye and smiled? Knowing the hurt he's caused me, her mother, her father, her friends and family? How could anyone be so cruel? What if that was your family?"

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Champion said around 5 or 5:30 p.m., Chambers got a phone call, and she left and went to the convenience store where she was captured on surveillance video. Officials know who made that call, and they don't believe that person has any bearing on the case.

Chambers' mother, Lisa Daugherty, has said that Chambers told her she was going to get food and clean her car out. She said she believes Jessica went to Batesville to do that because she learned later that the car cleaning facility in Courtland wasn't working at the time.

A little before 6 p.m., Chambers was at a residence in Courtland for about five to seven minutes. Champion said officials will not elaborate on whose residence that was or what she did there, nor if she picked someone up or dropped someone off.

She went from that residence to the area of Woodland and Highway 6 in Batesville. Champion said there are several businesses there she may have visited, and she was in that area for about 10 to 15 minutes. A separate, privately owned video source caught an image of her in her car during this time, but authorities said they know where she was going.

Around 6:30, Chambers was back in Courtland. But that's where that gap in the timeline comes. Officials don't know where she was for the hour after 6:30 p.m.

"At around 7:31, we've got her on the scene where she was found," Champion said. "There's that one hour gap we can't put her in a particular spot... yet. We're asking anyone who saw her between 6:30 and 7:30 that night to let us know."

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Authorities believe the person who killed Chambers is probably local, and if not specifically from Panola County, then probably from somewhere close.

"If you've got a lone perpetrator or two people doing this on their own and choose not to speak and don't leave evidence, that makes things much more difficult for us," Champion said. "We do believe it's someone local, we don't believe this is a random act, but other than that we're just, it's very frustrating."

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Panola County Sheriff Dennis Darby said Tuesday's arrests are not directly related to Chambers' death but to information gathered as authorities have interviewed more than 150 people and sorted through more than 20,000 phone records trying to find her killer.

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