A total settlement of $10 million has been awarded to the family of a woman who tragically passed away after being trapped in a hotel freezer.
In 2017, the lifeless body of Kenneka Jenkins, a 19-year-old, was discovered in a walk-in freezer at the Crowne Plaza Chicago O’Hare Hotel in Rosemont, Illinois, as reported by the Chicago Tribune.
Surveillance footage captured the moment when Jenkins appeared disoriented and entered the freezer located in an unused kitchen. Her body was found over 21 hours later.
The Cook County medical examiner’s office has determined that her death was accidental, resulting from hypothermia.
According to the Chicago Tribune, in 2018, the hotel, a security company, and a restaurant at the hotel were sued by Jenkins’ family. The lawsuit claimed that the staff were negligent.
According to court records that were made public on Tuesday, Tereasa Martin, the mother of Jenkins, will be receiving a settlement of over $3.7 million for the wrongful death of her daughter, as reported by the Chicago Tribune.
Additional family members will be granted $1.2 million and $1.5 million, respectively.
An additional $3.5 million will go towards attorney fees and $6,000 was earmarked for Jenkins’ funeral costs, per the outlet.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Jenkins’ death generated a wave of conspiracy theories on social media. The high level of interest resulted in over 1,000 individuals attending her funeral.
According to reports, Jenkins discovered that she had accidentally left her phone behind at a hotel party room around 2:30 am on September 17, 2017.
Upon their return, her friends discovered that she had vanished. According to the security footage, she was seen entering the freezer at approximately 3:32 am.
In the case, it was claimed that Jenkins, who was under the influence of alcohol and her migraine and epilepsy drugs, walked by multiple hotel employees who ought to have stopped her when she “was visibly disoriented and in dire need of assistance,” as reported by the Chicago Tribune.
It also claimed that staff did not review security footage when they were first alerted to Jenkins’ disappearance, which might have helped find her.
According to the lawsuit, the hotel staff allegedly failed to review the footage until the police arrived to investigate the disappearance, several hours after she had gone missing.
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