The Chicago-area teenager whose death has drawn national attention since her body was found in a hotel freezer will be laid to rest next week.
WLS-TV reports that the mother of Kenneka Jenkins said in a Facebook Live video Saturday that a memorial service for her daughter has been tentatively scheduled for Sept. 30.
The 19-year-old’s family has not yet specified a location for the memorial service. The date was moved from Thursday to Saturday so the family could accommodate more mourners, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Jenkins was found in the freezer of the Crowne Plaza Hotel in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont on Sept. 10.
Her death has sparked intense public interest and has prompted calls for an FBI investigation into how the Rosemont Police Department is handling the case. Social media sites have been awash in conspiracy theories about a possible cover-up of her death, and protesters have converged outside the hotel in recent weeks.
Police have publicly released video clips showing Jenkins stumbling through the hotel hours before she died. The recordings show her walking in an unsteady manner through the hotel kitchen then turning a corner, at which point she disappears.
However, none of the footage that police have released show her entering the freezer. No such footage exists because there were no security cameras facing the freezer entrance, according to a hotel spokesperson.
An Chicago community activist by the name of Andrew Holmes had previously claimed that he saw video of Jenkins entering the freezer. But Jenkins’ family has since accused him of making misleading statements.
Jenkins reportedly left her home at 11:30 p.m. Sept. 8 to attend a party in a hotel room at the Crowne Plaza. Her sister received a text message from her around 1:30 a.m. Saturday.
Friends of Jenkins last saw her at the party on the hotel’s ninth floor in the early morning hours of Sept. 9. She was subsequently reported missing later in the day and police found her in the freezer just after midnight, the television station reports.
While Jenkins’ body has now been released to her family, autopsy results and toxicology tests are still pending.
[Featured Image: Twitter/Village of Rosemont]
