Party Video Adds Twist to Mysterious Freezer Death

Police are identifying people in it as Kenneka Jenkins investigation continues
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 12, 2017 5:33 AM CDT
Party Video Adds Twist to Mysterious Freezer Death
A screen shot of Kenneka Jenkins from a WGN report on her death.   (YouTube)

Police in suburban Chicago investigating the death of a 19-year-old found inside a walk-in freezer at a hotel are studying a Facebook Live video that has now gone viral. The video reportedly was taken inside a room at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Rosemont on Friday night during a party attended by Kenneka Jenkins. (It's circulating online in various places, and you can see it here.) The video mainly features a woman talking into the camera, but the reflection from her sunglasses shows other people in the room. Jenkins is believed to be seen sitting on a hotel bed with people around her, reports the Chicago Tribune. Police have identified most of the people in the video and are interviewing Jenkins' friends, reports the Washington Post. But almost everything else about Jenkins' death remains unclear, including how she died. Toxicology tests are pending.

Jenkins' friends called her family about 4am to say she was missing, reports the Chicago Sun-Times. Her body wasn't found until nearly 24 hours after that, inside a walk-in freezer in a vacant part of the hotel undergoing renovations. Jenkins' mother, who is angry at both the hotel and police for what she calls a slow response to her daughter's disappearance, says authorities told her they think her daughter walked into the freezer while intoxicated. The family, however, suspects foul play. Among the unanswered questions is who found Jenkins and whether the freezer was actually fully functioning as a freezer at the time. "I don't think anything has been ruled in or ruled out at this point," says a spokesman for the village of Rosemont. "It's just considered a death investigation at this point." (More Kenneka Jenkins stories.)

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