November 26, 2025
Kenneka Jenkins’ mother speaks out about the alleged “lies” she was told during her daughter’s case.
Two years after a $10 million settlement in the death of 19-year-old Kenneka Jenkins, her mother is speaking out about the “lies” she says she was told during the case.
In a lengthy Facebook post on Nov. 22, Teresa Martin, Jenkins’ mother, said she was “tricked” into accepting the settlement and “pressured” to stay silent about her daughter, whose lifeless body was found in a walk-in freezer at the Crowne Plaza Chicago O’Hare hotel in Rosemont, Illinois, in September 2017.
“I still don’t know what happened to my child’s life. Clothes, shoes, cell phone, hair, and the list goes on,” Martin wrote. “I have been promised lies, as if once this case is over, I was forced to NEVER talk about my child again.”
Jenkins’ death made national headlines after she was found in a hotel walk-in freezer, having wandered into a restricted area following a night partying with friends. The Cook County Medical Examiner ruled it an accidental death from hypothermia, with intoxication as a factor.
Police later admitted the investigation was incomplete, and the family suspected foul play, as her body was discovered 24 hours after they reported her missing. In 2018, her family filed a $50 million negligence lawsuit against the hotel, settling for $10 million five years later. Martin now says she was coerced into accepting the settlement.
“They forced us, had us in rooms for hours, and would not let us go until we said what they wanted us to say. They made us accept what they wanted to give us,” she wrote, adding claims that she was forced to record a video.
Martin also shared her fear of retaliation for speaking out, telling her followers, “I might be back in court,” in her post.
“I will be getting sued because I was tricked [but] they WILL GET ME ANSWERS, give me her clothes and her CELL PHONE and anything that belongs to her when she died that was on her body,” she wrote.
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