Kenneka Jenkins Was Found In A Hotel Freezer, And Some People Doubt It Was An Accident
Kenneka Jenkins Was Attending A Party At A Hotel When Her Friends Lost Track Of Her
Photo: Kenneka Jenkins / Facebook / Fair UseKenneka Jenkins left her Chicago-area home around 11:30 pm on September 9, telling her mother she was going to see a movie with friends. However, Jenkins and said friends instead drove to the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, where they attended a party at the Crowne Plaza Chicago O-Hare hotel.
Security footage showed Jenkins and her friends entering the hotel around 1:13 am on September 10. The party in room 926 reportedly consisted of about 30 people and prompted at least one noise complaint from other hotel guests.
At some point in the evening, Jenkins became separated from her friends after she went looking for her keys and cell phone. Her friends called Jenkins's mother soon after to report her missing.
Jenkins Appeared To Be Intoxicated In Hotel Security Footage
Video: YouTube
Approximately two hours after she arrived at the Crowne Plaza, Jenkins was seen on security footage at 3:24 am on September 10th. In the video, Jenkins is seen stumbling out of an elevator, then bumping into walls as she walks down a hallway.
At 3:30 am, Jenkins makes her way down another hallway before running into a railing. Just two minutes later, Jenkins is finally seen from two different camera angles entering an unused kitchen in the hotel before walking out of frame. She is never seen on camera again.
Jenkins Did Not Appear To Be Impaired In Any Of The Social Media Videos Taken The Night She Disappeared
In a video taken at the party and uploaded online, Jenkins is seen walking around and talking to people in a crowded room with loud music playing. Several other videos later appeared on social media, including one in which people believed they heard Jenkins saying "help me," though the phrase was likely part of the Cheif Keef song playing in the background.
According to witness accounts, Jenkins had just one drink before leaving the hotel room. However, one friend did think that she seemed unsteady when he last saw her.
Jenkins's Mother, Teresa Martin, Asked The Hotel For Help, But They Reportedly Referred Her To The Police
At 4 am, roughly half an hour after video footage showed Jenkins in the hotel kitchen, the teen's friends alerted her mother, Teresa Martin, that Jenkins had vanished. At that point, Martin went to the hotel to look for her daughter and report her missing, but hotel officials told her the only recourse was to call the police.
Hotel staff reportedly explained to Martin that hotel employees couldn't help her search until an official missing person report was filed. "We were begging for help, and no one was helping," Martin later said in an interview.
Police Did Not Take A Missing Person Report Until 1 pm
Teresa Martin called police around 7:14 am to report her daughter missing but was told to wait several more hours in case Jenkins was somewhere with friends. When Jenkins hadn't turned up by that afternoon, a missing person report was finally filed at around 1 pm.
In the meantime, Martin and her family began going door to door asking hotel guests if they had seen Jenkins. At this time, the hotel called police to complain about Martin disturbing guests.
Police did an initial search of the hotel the afternoon of the 10th but could not locate Jenkins. They then reviewed surveillance footage showing Jenkins in the hallway and kitchen of the hotel but were still unsuccessful in finding her.
Authorities Didn't Find Jenkins's Body For Nearly 24 Hours
Around 12:30 am on the morning of Sunday, September 11, a hotel employee walked over to the freezer of the unused kitchen where Jenkins was last seen and spotted a body. Police brought in Teresa Martin to identify Jenkins, whose body was lying face down on the floor of the walk-in freezer. The medical examiner reportedly found no injuries or trauma to Jenkins's body aside from a cut on one of her bare feet. Her shoe was found near the body.
Because the kitchen wasn't being used, investigators are reportedly unsure why the walk-in freezer was turned on. It was also noted that the freezer door contained a self-latching mechanism that could be released when pushed. However, it's possible the instructions on how to operate the door were illegible, as there were no lights on inside.
Martin Questioned Jenkins's Friends' Account Of The Night
When Teresa Martin spoke to Jenkins's friends upon arriving at the hotel, she said that something "didn't sound right" about their story. According to Martin, the friends said that four of them had come down to the lobby with Jenkins, but that she had returned to the hotel room to get her phone and keys. However, the friends later said they had Jenkins's keys and phone.
"I don't understand why [Jenkins] would leave her phone with her friends and then just disappear," Martin later told the press.
Authorities Officially Ruled Jenkins's Death An Accident
The Cook County Medical Examiner's office performed an autopsy on Jenkins and ran toxicology reports to determine her cause of death. The medical examiner's office concluded that Jenkins died from hypothermia, adding that alcohol and epilepsy medication found in her system were "significant contributing factors."
Jenkins's blood-alcohol level was recorded at 0.112, which is above the legal limit for driving. The medical examiner reportedly found no other drugs or illegal substances in Jenkins's system.
Jekins's Family Wanted The FBI To Take Over The Investigation
Jenkins's family did not think that the Rosemont Police were doing enough to move the investigation along, so they wanted the FBI to step in. Around 30 people - all friends and family of Jenkins - protested outside of the Chicago FBI office to get their attention in hopes they would take over the case.
The FBI said at the time that it would take no action unless the governing police "request [the FBI] to assist with an investigation." The local police maintained that they had the investigation under control and had conducted dozens of interviews as well as eventually releasing the footage of Jenkins's final hours.
Police had also asked Teresa Martin on two occasions if they could search Jenkins's phone, but she reportedly declined their requests, saying that she had gone through the phone herself.
There Are Multiple Theories About How Jenkins Died
Teresa Martin has stated that her daughter was the victim of foul play. Because there is no video footage of Jenkins actually entering the freezer, some theorize that someone opened the door for her. "Those were double steel doors, she didn't just pop them open," Martin said in an interview.
Police received an anonymous call on September 11 claiming that a "blood gang" had murdered Jenkins for $200, which added to speculation surrounding her death. There was also considerable finger-pointing online towards guests at the party, and one of Jenkins's friends even moved due to cyber bullying and death threats.
Someone Was In The Kitchen Hours Before Jenkins's Body Was Found
The kitchen where Jenkins's body was found had motion-activated cameras, although the facility was not being used at the time due to construction. According to hotel authorities, the cameras turned on twice that weekend: once early on Saturday when Jenkins entered the room and somehow ended up in the freezer, and again around 8:30 pm Saturday night.
That particular video shows a person entering the kitchen, glancing around the room, and then immediately exiting. Reportedly, the unidentified person did not walk towards the freezer.
Martin Filed A $50 Million Lawsuit Against The Hotel
In December 2018, Teresa Martin filed a $50 million lawsuit against the Crowne Plaza Hotel, the hotel's security company, and the hotel restaurant that housed the freezer. Martin's lawyers maintained that the hotel did not respond quickly enough to her inquiries and waited hours to review the security footage.
Jenkins also allegedly passed multiple hotel employees who did not intervene, even though the teen was visibly intoxicated. In addition, the lawsuit sought to investigate the theory that someone locked the freezer door behind Jenkins, making it impossible for her to get out.
