Kenneka Jenkins Phony Twitter Account Claims To Tell Story Of Death In Freezer

Kenneka Jenkins didn’t have a Twitter account before her untimely death in a Chicago hotel, but a phony page emerged after her story went viral Monday. The account promised to give details about the 19-year-old’s last moments. Jenkins was found dead inside the walk-in freezer at the Crowne Plaza Chicago O'Hare Hotel and Conference Center Saturday.

“It was Shamaya,” the first tweet on the hoax account read. “I have a confession. I just have to get it off my chest. I'm scared.”

In the tweets that followed, the impersonator said she would tell “the truth” in five hours. “It's started as we were going to the party and... I'm nervous.”

Netizens were quick to identify the page as a phony. “Y’all really out here making fake pages of the girl,” the top comment on the first tweet said.

While it was obvious that Jenkins wasn’t writing from the dead, some people argued that it might have been one of her friends who had evidence of what happened at the hotel. “Or this could be someone that was there in the room telling the world whose fault it was. This could be huge information just this tweet,” the netizen tweeted.

One petition was created to shut down Crowne Plaza hotel in Rosemont. “[The] mother of victim went to [the] hotel to identify her child and was refused to let her inside and employees of the hotel asked her to leave the premises. Cameras are not being shown to [the] victim’s family, [or] how the victim got into the freezer when a camera is across the freezer,” part of the page said. “This petition’s goal is to get Crowne Plaza hotel shut down and get justice for Kenneka.”

The petition had a goal to gain 75,000 signatures. By Tuesday morning, they nearly reached the objective.

A second petition wanted Jenkins’ death to be investigated further and claimed she was killed by her friends. “I believe this girl was intentionally murdered by her friends the night before she was pronounced dead. They are not being charged with murder and should be investigated and charged,” the petition’s creator wrote. With the goal of 15,000 signatures, it garnered more than 13,000 supporters Tuesday.

While police claimed Jenkins was intoxicated and walked into the freezer, her mother, Tereasa Martin, said there was more to the story and that if police would have searched for her daughter early Saturday morning she might still be alive.

“If [police] had taken me seriously and checked right away, they could have found my daughter much sooner,” Martin told The Chicago Tribune Monday. “And she might have been alive.”

Rosemont Police weren’t fazed by Martin’s criticism.

“Anyone can understand how a parent can feel distraught over the loss of a child and feel the need to lash out due to the tremendous pain they're feeling, and we certainly understand that,” Gary Mack, a spokesman for the village of Rosemont, told the Chicago Tribune. “But people can rest assured Rosemont is one of the top, highest trained, most respected police departments in the state of Illinois and does a good job at what they do.”

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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