Haunting surveillance footage captured a 19-year-old girl's final moments before she was discovered dead in a walk-in freezer.
Kenneka Jenkins visited the Crowne Plaza Chicago-O’Hare Hotel in Rosemont, Ill., around 1AM on September 9, 2017, according to a lawsuit that her mother, Tereasa Martin, filed against CPO Hospitality LLC, the company that oversees the hotel.
The court filing states that the 19-year-old was last seen by her friends around 2:30AM, leaving a room on the ninth floor of the hotel after attending a party.
Security camera footage, which was obtained by police and is making rounds on social media, caught the teenager's final moments.
The video showed Kenneka stumbling out of an elevator alone, appearing intoxicated, and bumping into walls as she walked down the hallway at around 3:30AM.
She then strolls through an empty kitchen in the Caddyshack Restaurant and then disappears out of view.
The footage does not show her entering the freezer, where she was discovered lifeless 21 hours later, because no cameras show the doors directly.
Watch the video below:The late teen's mom got a call around 4AM and learned that her daughter's friends couldn't find her.
She contacted 911 later that morning to report her daughter missing and asked if authorities would look at the hotel's surveillance footage but the dispatcher told her that would take time.
"What I would recommend is just go home, relax a little bit, give it some time," the dispatcher said, cited by NZ Herald. "She very well still could be in the room. She could just be passed out. You know how it is. You're drinking the night before, you get - you know what I mean."
According to AP News, the lawsuit states that surveillance footage wasn’t reviewed until cops arrived at the hotel. Had the hotel properly monitored the cameras, the teen would likely still be alive, the lawsuit contended.
The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office initially ruled that Kenneka's tragic passing had been accidental, caused by hypothermia and “cold exposure in a walk-in freezer” as well as “ethanol and topiramate intoxication," according to CNN.
Toxicology tests also revealed that the teen had alcohol, caffeine, and a medication used to treat epilepsy and migraines in her system when she died, per USA Today.
The grieving mom originally sought $50 million in connection to her daughter's death. However, in 2023, she settled a lawsuit against the parent company of the hotel, security firm, and restaurant, and received approximately $3.7 million, AP News reported.
Other family members received $1.2 million and $1.5 million. Another $3.5 million will cover attorney fees, with $6,000 covering the cost of Jenkins’ funeral.
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