Kenneka Jenkins Conspiracy Theory Says Hotel Is In Organ Trafficking Ring
Conspiracy theories about how Kenneka Jenkins died ran rampant after she was found dead in a hotel freezer on the outskirts of Chicago over the weekend. The teen attended a party at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in the Village of Rosemont, Illinois, but never returned. She was found in the walk-in freezer in a desolate part of the hotel nearly 24 hours after she went missing.
Since then, one of the main theories is that Jenkins was set up by her friends, Monifah Shelton and Irene Roberts, to be raped and killed. Police said there was not enough evidence to indicate Jenkins’ death was a homicide and did not name Shelton or Roberts as suspects.
Still, the conspiracy theories continued to swirl. The latest rumor was that Jenkins was a victim of an organ trafficking ring — that's why she would found in a freezer, they said. While some people found the accusation dubious, others were convinced. Some of their comments have been posted below:
The hotel didn't respond to rumors that they were involved in an organ trafficking ring.
Convinced as some netizens might be, it doesn’t mean the amateur sleuths are on to anything.
“There are literally dozens of conspiracy theories that have been offered and countless people who are attempting to play detective and solve the case as to what happened over there,” Gary Mack, a spokesman for the Village of Rosemont, told the New York Times in a Wednesday phone interview. “Our police officers are leaving no stone unturned as far as trying to put all the pieces together.”
Jenkins’ mother, Tereasa Martin, openly criticized police and said someone at the hotel killed her daughter.
“They think that she walked into a cooler, intoxicated, barely able to hold herself up,” she said about authorities, noting doors to walk-in freezers are heavy and hard to open. “I believe it was foul play involved.”
Martin begged for anyone who knew what happened to her daughter to speak up. “Please, please, please, I beg you, let me know something,” she said. “Help me.”
“Help me” is apparently what some netizens heard Jenkins whisper in a video Roberts posted to Shelton’s Facebook page the night of their friend’s death. As of Thursday, the clip amassed millions of views before it was ultimately removed from her page.
While social media users wanted justice for Jenkins, their amateur detective work was hindering the investigation. “It's unfortunate that some of that stuff's convoluting the investigation because all those leads have got to be followed up on,” Rosemont Mayor Bradley Stephens said Wednesday. “As I'm sure you've seen, there's a lot of different, conflicting speculation out there, so (police) are doing their best to come to a quick resolution, obviously. I think everybody wants to know what happened.”
Jenkins’ mother was shown the surveillance video of Jenkins, but police did not release it to the public. “We're trying to be as understanding as we can to the mom and to be as compassionate as we can,” Rosemont spokesman Gary Mack told the Chicago Tribune Wednesday. “Now that our detectives have had the chance to look at it, we're hopeful it will be helpful to her.”
Mack wouldn’t reveal the contents of the video. It’s unclear how authorities found Jenkins’ body and they would not reveal if there were any lacerations discovered.
The hotel has offered to pay for Jenkins' funeral, spokesman Glenn Harston for the Crowne Plaza told the Chicago Tribune Thursday. “Our hearts go out to Kenneka's mother, her family and friends,” Harston said. “We hope covering the funeral costs provides a small bit of relief for them.”
A cause of death was still pending.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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