Could Kenneka Jenkins Have Been Saved?

Kenneka Jenkins

 

"She is a goddess, a warrior

Worth more than her weight in gold

She is a guardian, a nurturer

With spirit young and soul of old

She has words for all occasions

And is wise beyond her years

She has a heart as big as oceans

And will always face her fears."

-Michelle Schaper

Kenneka was born on May 27th, 1998 to Tereasa Martin. She was a beautiful, loving and caring person who opened her heart to all. She always kept and showed that she had a heart of gold.

On Friday, September 8th, 2017. 19-year-old Kenneka Jenkins left her West Side home to go with friends to celebrate a job that she had just gotten at a nursing home. Kenneka told her mom that they were going bowling and to the movies, but that is not what happened. Kenneka and her friends went to another friend's birthday party on the 9th floor in Room 926 of the Crowne Plaza Chicago O'Hare hotel in Rosemont, a suburb of Chicago. On the way to the hotel, they stop to pick up a Bluetooth speaker, a bottle of Hennessy Cognac, some energy drink and some marijuana.

The party started at 11:30 p.m. Kenneka allegedly was sad that night because her boyfriend was in jail. Throughout the night Kenneka would get up and dance a little and then sit back down and become sad. 

Multiple people saw Kenneka drink straight from a bottle of Hennessy during the party. One person claimed that Kenneka drank most of one bottle. An acquaintance who arrived at the party noticed that Jenkins appeared to be swaying back and forth as she embraced him in a hug.

Kenneka's sister said the last contact she had with Kenneka was at around 1:30 a.m. on Saturday, September 9th, via text message.

6 minutes later, a Facebook live video appeared to show the party. The video featured a woman in mirrored sunglasses talking to the camera. Reflected in her glasses was the other side of the hotel room, where Jenkins appeared to be sitting.

At 2:17 a.m., Kenneka posted a Snapchat video that appeared to show her in a hotel bathroom. 

Around 3 a.m., Kenneka and her friends left the party and Kenneka realized she didn't have her keys or her phone. She stood in the hallway by a ninth-floor elevator while her friends went back to the room to look for her belongings. When they came back about 15 minutes later, Kenneka was gone. Kenneka's friends desperately for her, but it was no use, there was no sign of her. Her friends then called Kenneka's mom and told her what happened and that Kenneka didn't have her phone or keys.

It was about 5 a.m., when Kenneka's friends returned to her mother's home with the car that Kenneka had borrowed from  Tereasa. Tereasa and members of the family went straight to the hotel to look for Kenneka. Tereasa asked if the hotel staff would look at the surveillance footage to see if it would help to located Kenneka. The staff refused and said that they could only look at video at the police's request.

At about 7:15 a.m.,  a frustrated and worried Tereasa called Rosemont police from the parking lot of the hotel. By now she and other relatives and friends have been at the hotel for at least an hour. During the call, the dispatcher suggested to Tereasa that she wait a couple of hours, go home and relax and see if her daughter shows up. He suggests that Kenneka probably was drunk and went home with some other friends. Tereasa expressed her concerns that her daughter had been drinking and that she had left her phone behind.

Tereasa and the rest of Kenneka's friends and family proceeded to knock on many guests' doors from the top floor to the bottom, until a hotel employee called 911 to complain. It was now 8:29 p.m. and officers showed up to the hotel. After talking to Tereasa, police asked to view surveillance videos and are shown the video of Kenneka and her friends as they entered the hotel. Police also checked Room 926, where the party took place, and a nearby stairwell. The hotel staff continued to review surveillance videos. Officers left the hotel but told the family to contact them with any new information.

At 10 p.m., footage was found of Kenneka stumbling through the hotel at 3:25 to 3:32 a.m. 

Kenneka was in the elevator and probably pushed the LL button inside of the L button. 

So when the doors opened, she could have thought that it was the lobby. 

Kenneka exited the elevator and staggered down the hall. She undoubtedly was highly intoxicated and had to lean on walls for support. 

She went up a small ramp and continued down the hall. 

In doing so, she is still leaning and walking into walls.

Kenneka came out of the hall, noticed the conference doors in front of her and turned left to go down another hall.

She continues to stumble and stagger down the long hallway. 

It seems like she was pushing on a door or two, maybe searching for a way out.

Kenneka walked to the end of the hall, captured by a different surveillance camera. Kenneka was off camera for less than a minute. At the end of the hall was a set of double doors. 

She went through those doors, through a second set and found herself in the kitchen.

Kenneka was picked up by a different camera, still walking through the kitchen.

Then she walked out of the kitchen through a different set of double doors and back down the hall.

Kenneka almost tripped over the stairs and then decided to go right towards the water fountain.

She came back and then went into the men's restroom.

A few seconds later she came back out of the bathroom and went back by the water fountain again.

Kenneka turned around, came back down the hall and through the double doors again and into another kitchen.

Once in the kitchen, she went up these stairs and through double doors and into another kitchen.

Kenneka walked to the back and disappeared.

At September 10th, 12:23 a.m., a hotel worker walked through the empty kitchen, goes into the corner where the freezer is located, just outside of the camera's view. 

He then came back out and  summoned police. 

Kenneka is discovered in a cooler inside a freezer, lying on her side with her face down. One of her shoes is off. A paramedic finds no cardiac activity and says her body is frozen.

About 1:15 a.m., police bring Kennekas' mother, into a conference room to inform her that she has been found dead.

At 4:52 a.m., Kenneka's covered body is removed from the freezer on a stretcher. She is wheeled into the empty kitchen, where a worker places a blanket over her and removes the covering from her head and face.
At 5:07 a.m., Kenneka's mother and sister, escorted by officials, enter the kitchen to identify the body. They are taken around the corner, outside of the camera frame, to view the freezer where Jenkins was found.

Kenneka's mother freaked out and ran out of the hotel.

Kenneka's death was ruled as accidental and caused by hypothermia from exposure to cold, with alcohol intoxication, and the presence of a prescription drug used for treating migraines and epilepsy, listed as significant contributing factors.

Three weeks after her death, Kenneka was laid to rest. More than 1,000 people, many who never knew her, turned out for Kenneka's wake and funeral at the House of Hope Church.

The whole thing seems like an accident, but i do find something odd. Kenneka, being that inebriated, how did she make it up those stairs? That part is just weird. You think she would have fallen while walking up those with the way she was staggering around. I do think the hotel has some fault in this story. They had noise complaints from the party that Kenneka was at. Plus, at one point, they knew that underage drinking was involved. They should have checked their surveillance footage earlier or tried to get a hold of someone who could. No matter the age, Kenneka had no cell phone and was very intoxicated. She could have fallen down stairs or been kidnapped by someone. They should have had more safety precautions taken with that kitchen. What if a little kid had wandered down there and got hurt or died? Oh and, the credit card that the person used to pay for the hotel room was stolen. They didn't check the ID of the person that paid for the room that well did they. If they ha, maybe the party wouldn't have happened at all.

Whatever happened to Kenneka, i would never stay at that hotel in a million years.

💜Rest In Peace Kenneka, You Are Loved.💜