Teresa Martin, the mother of Kenneka Jenkins, has filed a lawsuit against the hotel in Rosemont, Illinois, where her daughter’s body was found in a freezer. She is seeking $50 million in damages, according to @abc7chicago.
Kenneka disappeared back in September 2017 while she was attending a party at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Video of the incident showed her wander alone through a kitchen area and toward a freezer, although she’s never actually shown walking inside.
Her body was found the next day and the circumstances surrounding her passing were questioned by her family who believe Kenneka was the victim of foul play. Despite calls for further investigation, police claimed that Kenneka’s death was accidental and caused by hypothermia.
The lawsuit claims the defendants were negligent because they didn’t secure the walk-in freezer or conduct a proper search when Kenneka went missing.
The firm that represents the Crowne Plaza Hotel Rosemont had this to say about the lawsuit: “The death of Kenneka Jenkins was a tragedy, but the proximate cause of her death were the unsavory individuals who used a stolen credit card to book a room and host an illegal party which Ms. Jenkins attended. Those criminals escaped the hotel before police arrived and have never truly been held accountable. This lawsuit has no merit and we will vigorously contest it.”
As we previously reported, when photos from the investigation into Kenneka’s death surfaced, the public had more questions for police about the circumstances.
According to the Chicago Tribune, the lawyers representing Teresa Martin wanted answers as to why portions of Kenneka’s body were inexplicably exposed.
In a Rosemont Police report, Kenneka was found on her side, face down with her left arm underneath her. She was wearing the jeans and jean jacket shown in surveillance video, however the shirt beneath her jacket “was pulled up exposing her breasts.”
Also what made matters worse and raised even more questions was that even though there was a video that showed Kenneka near the freezer, the hotel admitted that there was no actual footage of her walking into the freezer. A spokesperson for the hotel said that there is no video camera trained on the freezer.
As Kenneka’s family continues to seek justice, we will continue to follow this story.
