Kenneka Jenkins: Accident or Murder

Kenneka Jenkins was an American teenager who went missing after attending a party on the 9th floor of the Crowne Plaza Chicago O’Hare Hotel & Conference Center in Rosemont, Illinois. It wasn’t until after her mother demanded hotel staff search for her daughter, that she was found; dead, in the hotel freezer.

WARNING: The following content may be considered graphic or shocking. Read at your own risk.

Kenneka Jenkins was born in Chicago, Illinois where she lived with her mother, Teresa Martin. The two of them had a great relationship, as can be seen in various videos posted online of them laughing together. Kenneka had just gotten a new job at the local nursing home, and was excited to go out and celebrate with her friends.

Kenneka borrowed a car from her mom, and left home at 11:30pm on Friday, September 8, 2017. They ended up at a party, but at some point, Kenneka was just gone. Despite searching, her friends couldn’t find her. They had her car keys and went to the car. She wasn’t there either, but her cell phone was. They called Teresa at around 4am Saturday from the car.

Still no sign of her daughter, Teresa went to the hotel at 5am that morning, to help locate her her. She demanded the hotel staff review surveillance video, to see where Kenneka might have gone, but they refused, stating they needed a missing persons’ report first. Teresa then called the Rosemont Police Department where she was told she had to wait a few more hours before filing the report, in hopes that Kenneka would just show up.

Still missing later that morning, Teresa was finally allowed to file the report, but it wasn’t until 1:15pm that the police began their search. Around 3 or 4pm, police began reviewing the surveillance video, and Kenneka was seen staggering through the halls of the hotel, clearly impaired. She stumbled into walls, and was eventually spotted walking into a kitchen area. Kenneka was finally located at 12:48am on Sunday, September 10, 2017.

19 year old Kenneka Jenkins was found frozen, on the floor of the hotel’s walk-in freezer. This freezer was in an area of the hotel that was undergoing construction, and was not currently in use. It wasn’t until 5am that day, that Teresa was allowed to see her daughter – after the freezer, and the girl, had both been defrosted.

Teresa couldn’t believe it. How had her daughter gotten into that freezer, alone? She was hardly able to stand upright without falling over into walls, yet somehow she was able to open the double steel doors of a freezer and walk in? She couldn’t believe it – until prominent activist, Andrew Holmes spoke up. Mr. Holmes often spoke out on behalf of victims of violence, and so speaking in regards to Kenneka, there was no reason not to believe him.

“It was just an accident waiting to happen,” Holmes said. He claimed the police had showed him the surveillance video where he watched Kenneka enter the kitchen, open the double doors, and walk into the freezer, which closed behind her. “Did anybody force her down there? Was anybody on the other side in that room when she got down there? And the answer to that is ‘no.’”

Teresa wanted to see for herself, so on Thursday, September 15, the police released the surveillance videos – none of which showed Kenneka entering a freezer. In fact, the Crowne Plaza hotel has come out and stated that they do not have a “video camera trained on the freezer,” where Kenneka’s body was found. This leaves the question, just how did an impaired Kenneka get into that freezer.

Rosemont police continued their investigation into the matter, but on October 20, 2017, just over a month since her death, Kenneka’s case was closed. Her death was ruled accidental, caused by hypothermia from the exposure to the cold freezer. In a four page press release, the Rosemont Police Chief spoke to the various theories that were being tossed around. “While there were many theories, rumors and much speculation floating around social media regarding the death of Ms. Jenkins, none were supported with facts,” Stephens’ statement read. “While all leads and theories were investigated by our department, what we have reported throughout the investigation and again, today, are the facts.”

“At this time, the Rosemont Public Safety Department has closed the death investigation of Kenneka Jenkins and has classified this incident as an accidental death. There is no evidence that indicates any other conclusion.”

However, there are still too many unanswered questions, and things that do not quite line up. Here are just a few of the theories that have yet to be debunked.

Foul Play

Teresa Martin believes foul play was involved in the death of her daughter. This is driven by the fact that hotel employees refused to check the security footage within the first few hours that Kenneka went missing. It was as though they were covering up for someone, or some organization, that was hurting her daughter.

Adding to this belief is the crime scene photos of Kenneka that were released to the public. In these photos you can see Kenneka’s body laying in an unnatural position. Her shirt was pushed up, and her pants were pulled down. She was missing a shoe. When her body was examined, it was found that she had abrasions on her foot and one side of her body.

Get in closer to the pictures, and you will find something black on her left thumb nail. Upon further inspection, it looks like the other grime that is on the floor all around her. The question is, what is it, and why is it on her thumbnail?  Some people even believe the black is plastic, ripped from a garbage bag, thinking her body had been placed into a garbage bag at some point.

Altered Footage

There is a theory that the reason it took the hotel so long to allow a review of security footage is because it was being altered. Videos began popping up all over the internet, reviewing the security footage that had been released. In these videos, it is suggested that someone is following Kenneka before the camera angle changes. Some believe that Kenneka’s body language suggests someone was next to her, guiding her down to the kitchen, while some others believe someone is just ahead of her, out of view of the clips that were released, calling to her and leading her to her doom.

Organ Trafficking

One of the more outlandish theories states that Kenneka Jenkins was a victim of organ trafficking. In the land of conspiracies, the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Chicago, where Kenneka was found dead, is a hot spot for organ trafficking. As many know, organs on the black market can fetch a great price, and if Kenneka was in the wrong place, at the wrong time, then she could be just another victim.

Fueling this argument is a post on one of Kenneka’s Instagram pictures. “We didn’t mean to kill her,” it read, “she had a heart attack whilst we were raping her.” When hotel staff were alerted, they took her body and put her in the freezer until her organs could be harvested.

Another theory suggests that the hotel owner paid her friends $200 to get her to the hotel, so they could harvest her organs. When Kenneka’s sister came out and said, “No way could’ve she opened that door by herself, let alone blackout drunk,” it really made people think – there had to be someone else down there with her.

This theory takes it one step further however, in suggesting that Selena Gomez, who had a kidney transplant in Chicago during the same time frame, purchased the organ from the Crowne Plaza. Though she has put her best friend, Francia Raisa, up as having been the donor, many can’t shake the coincidence. Selena has the money, all she needed was the organ.

In the end, no matter what theory you choose to believe, the fact is that Kenneka died of hypothermia as a result of being locked in the freezer. A young woman needlessly lost her life. We may never know the truth behind the circumstances that led to her being in that position, but we can hope to protect others from ending up there in the future.

We want to know what really happened to Kenneka. We’d also like to know who really killed Dorothy Scott.