Twist after 'drunk' teenager was found dead in hotel freezer
The mother of a teenager, who was found dead in a hotel freezer, is suing the hotel, its security company and the restaurant that may have been leasing the space where the body was discovered for $69.5 million.
Kenneka Jenkins was attending a party at a Rosemont hotel, in the US state of Chicago, last year.
Her body was found about 24 hours after family members contacted police and the hotel to report she was missing.
Surveillance video showed Ms Jenkins stumbling alone through a kitchen area near the freezer in the early hours of September 9, 2017.
Relatives and friends questioned whether she was the victim of foul play, but police said her death from hypothermia was an accident, with alcohol and drug abuse established as “significant contributing factors”, according to ABC7 Chicago.
The teen’s family is now seeking $69.5 million in damages from the Crowne Plaza Hotel.
The lawsuit says the defendants were negligent because they did not secure the walk-in freezer in an area that was under construction, or conduct a proper search when the woman went missing.
Attorneys for the teen’s family claim the hotel and security staff were aware of Ms Jenkins’ disappearance from the party an hour before she even entered the freezer.
“I’ve been seeking justice from the beginning,” the girl’s mother, Tereasa Martin, told the local news station.
“To know that I had to bury my child because of someone, that I couldn’t receive help, but if I could have received his help, she’d be here today.”
The freezer was in an area that was under construction, and the young woman’s family argued the area should have have been locked to begin with.
– with AP
