UPDATES WITH STATEMENT FROM HOTEL
(ROSEMONT) A 19-year-old Chicago woman was found dead in a hotel freezer early Sunday in northwest suburban Rosemont.
Kenneka L. Jenkins left her West Side home at 11:30 p.m. Friday to go to a party at the Crowne Plaza hotel in the 5400 block of North River Road in Rosemont, according to Rosemont police.
Jenkins’s sister last heard from her via text message about 1:30 a.m. Saturday, police said.
Jenkins was last seen at a party on the ninth floor of the hotel in the early hours of Saturday, police said. She was reported missing at 1:16 that afternoon.
Rosemont police contacted the hotel and made them aware of the missing person complaint, police said.
Hotel staff and management searched the hotel and discovered Jenkins inside a freezer at 12:24 a.m. Sunday, police said.
She was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. An autopsy Sunday did not rule on her cause and manner of death pending further investigation by authorities.
In a statement Sunday, Crown Plaza General Manager Cher Jacobsen said the hotel’s staff would continue to work with authorities in the investigation.
“We are saddened by this news, and our thoughts are with the young woman and her family during this difficult time,” Jacobsen said.