The family of 19-year-old Kenneka Jenkins will receive $6.4 million following a wrongful death settlement six years after the teen died in an Illinois hotel freezer in 2017.
Blavity reported that Jenkins was found dead in a walk-in freezer at the Crown Plaza Chicago O’Hare Hotel in Rosemont, Illinois, early on Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017. She and several friends had visited the establishment that Friday for a private birthday party in one of the rooms on the ninth floor.
The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the teen’s death as an accident after she died from hypothermia and medications used to treat migraines and epilepsy.
In 2018, her mother, Teresa Martin, filed a $50 million lawsuit against the Crown Plaza Hotel, its third-party security company and the restaurant that frequently used the commercial freezer. The suit claimed staff were negligent in the teen’s death since no one initiated a search for Jenkins after she went missing, per Blavity.
According to court documents, both sides agreed to a settlement in August. Martin tried to keep details about the suit sealed from the public. However, the judge presiding over the case denied her request, and CBS News reported information was released to the public for the first time on Tuesday.
The family agreed to a $10 million settlement, with Martin to get $3.4 million, additional family members $2.7 million, attorney fees at $3.5 million and $6,000 set aside to cover Jenkins’ funeral costs, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Jenkins’s death has sparked outrage among her family, friends and those who shared news of her tragic death on social media. Several reports have stated Jenkins had accidentally wandered into the hotel freezer during the early morning of Sept. 9, 2017, and her friends later reported that they couldn’t find her after she left the party.
Martin then called the hotel and asked staff to search for the missing teen. Police confirmed that no one searched for Jenkins or checked the walk-in freezer until her body was found, per the Sun-Times.