Twelve people have been interviewed in connection with the mysterious death of Chicago teen Kenneka Jenkins, who was found dead in a hotel freezer.
Her body was discovered early Sunday inside the walk-in freezer in an under-construction area of the Crowne Plaza in Rosemont, Ill.
via NYDN:
Eight of the people interviewed had attended a party at the hotel the 19-year-old Chicago resident attended last Friday night, Rosemont police said.
Investigators have reviewed security footage captured by 47 hotel cameras, police said in a news release, as well as a Facebook Live video.
Jenkins’ mother, Tereasa Martin, will see some of the security tapes Thursday afternoon, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
Martin will see “any of the relevant parts that would potentially include images of her daughter. They’re not going to make her sit through 30 hours of videotape,” Rosemont police spokesman Gary Mack told the newspaper.
Cops also want to speak with another four people who attended the party, Rosemont police said in the statement.
“The hotel has been extremely cooperative and has provided all video surveillance along with access to employee rosters,” cops said in the release.
Investigators are also looking at a Facebook Live video believed to have Jenkins in it. The six-plus minute recording features a woman in mirrored sunglasses speaking into the camera. A woman sitting on a bed resembling Jenkins can be seen in the glasses’ reflection.
The updated information from the Rosemont police comes after mounting pressure from the community over the department’s response.
Critics have questioned how Jenkin’s body wound up in the freezer. Martin previously said she thinks someone put her daughter there, despite police accounts that she may have walked in herself.
She and relatives have also been outraged that it took so long to find her daughter, who was reported missing early Saturday.
Protests have been organized against local leaders in Rosemont, located northwest of Chicago.
“Our concern is that it was possibly foul play. I think that’s what everybody’s concern is, that there was a possible cover-up of her death,” William Calloway, an activist, told local ABC affiliate WLS on Wednesday.
Rosemont Mayor Brad Stephens called Jenkins’ death a “tragedy,” but slammed those speculating on the case before the investigation is complete, WLS reported.
“It’s unfortunate a lot of the social media posts that are going on and the rhetoric that’s going on and that is sort of convoluting things and making things a little more difficult. Because they have to go and follow all those leads at the same time as they’re trying to get to the bottom of this,” Stephens said.
We hope those responsible for Kenneka’s death are brought to justice.
