After years of seeking justice, the family of 19-year-old Kenneka Jenkins, who was found deceased in a hotel’s walk-in freezer, has achieved a sense of closure with a recent settlement in their wrongful death lawsuit.
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The family of Kenneka Jenkins, the 19-year-old Chicago teen found deceased in a Crowne Plaza hotel’s walk-in freezer in 2017, has finally achieved a sense of closure. After five years of pursuing justice, they have now settled their wrongful death lawsuit.
Do you guys remember Kenneka Jenkins? The young lady who was found in the hotel’s freezer room? Her mother has finally settled with the hotel.
Although it will never bring her daughter back, in my opinion, the hotel is absolutely responsible for her death due to their negligence pic.twitter.com/8ILXTolc1D
— Nikki Young, Serial Napper (@serial_napper) October 6, 2023
This settlement marks the end of a long and painful journey for the Jenkins family, who have tirelessly fought for accountability and answers.
The Jenkins family and the parent company of Crowne Plaza agreed upon a $50 million settlement. However, due to safety and privacy concerns, the settlement details have not been made public due to safety and privacy concerns. Jenkins’ mother Tereasa Martin’s attorneys emphasized the importance of confidentiality:
“The widespread publicity of this case, including uncontrolled speculation and social media commentary, has resulted in various threats made against various individuals in the case. One of the main terms of the settlement for all parties was maintaining the confidentiality of the settlement.”
Kenneka Jenkins’ tragic demise occurred on September 8, 2017, when she attended a private party at the Crowne Plaza Chicago O’Hare Hotel. While intoxicated, she wandered to a lower-level floor and ultimately died from hypothermia after being exposed to the cold in a walk-in freezer.
The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled her death as an accident, attributing it to hypothermia along with alcohol and medication found in her system.
In the following year, Jenkins’ mother, Tereasa Martin, filed a lawsuit against the hotel’s parent company, security firm, and restaurant, alleging negligence on their part.
The lawsuit claimed that the staff failed to secure the walk-in freezer and neglected to conduct a proper search when Jenkins was reported missing. It was further asserted that the hotel staff did not monitor security cameras properly, which could have potentially prevented Kenneka’s tragic death.
This serves as a stark reminder of another tragic case where justice took a different form. The accused attackers of Shanquella Robinson found dead in Mexico in October 2022, faced their own version of “street justice” when they were jumped outside a nightclub in Greensboro, North Carolina.
