Raw video released showing woman found dead in Illinois hotel freezer
ROSEMONT, Ill. -- Eight snippets of raw surveillance video were released Friday afternoon showing 19-year-old Kenneka Jenkins walking the halls of a Rosemont hotel more than a day before she was found dead in a basement freezer.
The videos, released by Rosemont police, do not show Jenkins walking into the walk-in freezer, but do show her in a kitchen alone and then walking out of frame. She appears disoriented and stumbling in the videos.
WATCH: HOTEL VIDEOS OF KENNEKA JENKINS
At about 1:15 a.m. Saturday, Jenkins appears fine walking into the hotel with friends to attend a party on the ninth floor. At about 3:30 a.m., she is seen in other videos getting off an elevator, bumping into walls and struggling to stay upright.
Police have told our sister station, ABC7, from the beginning of their investigation they do not suspect any foul play is involved in the young woman's death.
Police said that they have handed over the hotel video to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office, which has not yet rules on the cause and manner of her death. The office has said they are awaiting toxicology results.
FAMILY ASKS QUESTIONS
Less than an hour before the videos were released to the media, Jenkins' mother, Teresa Martin, and her attorneys - Larry Rogers, Jr. and Sam Adams, Jr. - held a press conference imploring the hotel and authorities to release all of the video. They said they plan to do an independent investigation.
Martin and her attorneys were also given snippets of the video, but were frustrated that none show her walking into the freezer. They said they only want to know what happened to Jenkins.
WATCH: KENNEKA JENKINS' FAMILY HOLDS PRESS CONFERENCE
"Serious questions remain as to how she ended up in a Crowne Plaza Hotel freezer and why it took a day and a half for the hotel to find Kenneka," Rogers said.
The hotel has 47 cameras that captured about 36 hours of surveillance video footage.
WATCH SURVEILLANCE VIDEO
Her body was discovered in a basement walk-in freezer early Sunday morning, roughly 24 hours after she was last seen at the party. Drugs and alcohol were present at the party, police said.
Andrew Holmes, a community activist in Chicago who viewed the footage Thursday, said the young woman was alone the whole time she was in the basement and may have been trying to get out. He said she may have thought the walk-in freezer was an exit.
"From me looking at the video, she was trying to find her way back upstairs to the lobby and she was checking the doors just trying to find her way upstairs," Holmes said.
Protesters have been around the Crown Plaza Hotel over the last two days, demanding more transparency from police in their investigation into the 19-year-old's death. Many said they suspect a cover up.
The hotel has offered to pay for Jenkins' funeral expenses, but it was immediately unknown if the family has accepted the offer.
----------
Send a breaking news alert
Report a correction or typo
Learn more about the 6abc apps
