Janet Posey was arrested Wednesday after she allegedly created a Web page soliciting donations for the family of Jessica Chambers, the 19-year-old was forced to drink lighter fluid and then burned alive on a rural Courtland road.
But Chambers’ family said they have never met Posey.
The family — who run their own Facebook memorial for Jessica — tipped off cops about the possible scam. Investigators caught Posey before she made any money off of the website, Attorney General Jim Hood told the Jackson Clarion-Ledger.
Posey was charged with attempted false pretense and communications fraud. If convicted, the 39-year-old from Blue Springs faces up to 15 years in prison.
Since the case is being prosecuted, officials declined to comment on specifics, but Posey’s landlord said her family was financially troubled.“They can barely make rent,” Bonnie Gammel told WREG. “I don’t believe they can manage their money right.”
Posey’s adult daughter once told Gammel, “My momma bankrupt me,” the landlord claimed.
Police are still investigating Chambers’ Dec. 6 death.
Her killer is still on the loose. Investigators are looking into the possibility that someone else was in the car with her moments before she died: Previously, cops believed she was driving alone.
Firefighters found the 19-year-old on fire outside of her torched car. She was still alive and spoke to first responders before she died at a hospital from the burns that covered 98 percent of her body.It’s not clear what she told the paramedics.
Surveillance video caught Chambers at a gas station just 90 minutes earlier. Ali Fadhel, who works at the rural convenience store where Chambers was a regular, said she put more gas in her tank than usual — $14 instead of her usual $5 — and told him she was “going somewhere.”
Nothing seemed unusual, Fadhel said.
"If she knew she had a problem with somebody, she would have told me," he said.
Investigators have offered a $16,000 reward for information.
