Authorities released Friday photos, videos and other material--including a timeline of events--from the investigation of a Chicago teen's death whose body was found in a hotel freezer last month.
NBC 5 is not publishing the photos because due to their graphic nature.
The attorneys for the family of Kenneka Jenkins said police told the teen’s mother and sister that more information would be released to the public and the family Friday, “with the exception of a few select photographs they wished to share with the family before they were released.”
Those photos, attorneys said, “are graphic and disturbing images and inexplicably show portions of Kenneka’s body exposed.”
“The photos shown to [Jenkins’ mother] depict how Kenneka was found after being in a freezer for more than 20 hours,” attorney Sam Adam Jr. said in a statement.
Attorney Larry Rogers Jr. added the photos "raise more questions about what happened to Kenneka Jenkins than they answer.”
Jenkins’ death has drawn national attention since she was found in a freezer at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Rosemont on Sept. 10. Protesters gathered outside the hotel on multiple occasions in the days since to demand more transparency in the investigation and to call on a federal investigation.
Jenkins was last seen by her friends at a party on the ninth floor of the hotel in the early hours of Sept. 9 and she was reported missing later that afternoon.
Surveillance footage from the hotel captured Jenkins’ final moments, showing the teen stumbling through the hotel and into a restricted kitchen area. But the footage does not show how Jenkins ended up in a freezer, where her body was discovered the next day.
Rosemont police have released nine video clips showing Jenkins walking through the hotel in the hours before her death. She can be seen walking unsteadily through the hotel’s kitchen before disappearing around a corner.
Jenkins died from hypothermia due to cold exposure in a walk-in freezer and alcohol and topiramate intoxication were “significant contributing factors,” the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office said. No sign of any date rape drugs were found after toxicology tests, the office said.
Jenkins’ family has continued to press for answers on how the teen got into the freezer.
Adam said numerous requests for all videos and photos showing Jenkins going into the freezer on her own have “not been forthcoming.”
A series of police reports were released last week in the investigation, but attorney for the Jenkins family said more information was expected to be released by police Friday.
Police released the following timeline Friday from when Jenkins left her home to the time autopsy results were released:
Friday, September 8th
11:30 P.M Ms. Jenkins leaves her home on the west side of Chicago.
Saturday September 9th
1:13 A.M. Ms. Jenkins arrives at the Crowne Plaza Chicago O’Hare Hotel, 5440 N. River Road, Rosemont, IL to attend a private party in a hotel room.
3:25 A.M. Ms. Jenkins is seen on CCTV exiting a lower level elevator.
3:32 A.M. Ms. Jenkins is last seen on CCTV as she moves through a 1st floor kitchen.
7:14 A.M. Rosemont Public Safety receives a call from Teresa Martin (Ms. Jenkins’ mother) saying that she can’t find her daughter.
12:46 P.M. Ms. Jenkins’ sister arrives at the Rosemont police station to file a Missing Persons report. Ms. Jenkins is then entered into a Law Enforcement database for missing persons.
At this time, officers respond to the Crowne Plaza Hotel to investigate the missing person. Initial information obtained and searches conducted within the Crowne Plaza hotel did not indicate whether or not Ms. Jenkins left the Crowne Plaza Hotel.
8:29 P.M. Officers respond back to the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Further searches are conducted as more CCTV is reviewed. Searches of the Crowne Plaza Hotel continued throughout the night. More resources were deployed to search the hotel as additional information was obtained through the CCTV.
Sunday, September 10th
12:25 A.M. Ms. Jenkins’ body is discovered by a Crowne Plaza Hotel employee. Ms. Jenkins was pronounced dead at the scene by a Resurrection Hospital doctor via Medical Control.
3:08 A.M. The Cook County Medical Examiner Investigator arrives.
5:10 A.M. Ms. Jenkins’ body is removed from the Crowne Plaza Hotel and transported to the Medical Examiner’s Office. Ms. Jenkins mother and sister are able to view the body of Kenneka Jenkins prior to being removed.
Friday, October 6th
The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office releases the Autopsy Report which lists the cause of death as hypothermia and the manner of death as accidental. Alcohol and a prescription drug are listed as contributing factors to her death.
