The Case of Kenneka Jenkins: A Study of Systemic Failures, Racial Disparities, and the Unfinished Quest for Justice

The Case of Kenneka Jenkins: A Study of Systemic Failures, Racial Disparities, and the Unfinished Quest for Justice On September 9, 2017, nineteen-year-old Kenneka Jenkins vanished inside the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Rosemont, Illinois. Nearly twenty-four hours later, she was found dead in a walk-in freezer — a space unsecured, unmonitored, and unalarmed. Her death was ruled an accident. But the real story is far more complex. This book is not just about how Kenneka died. It is about how four systems failed her: - Corporate negligence that prioritized convenience over safety - Police response patterns shaped by racial bias and indifference - Investigative processes that accepted institutional narratives over rigorous questioning - A legal system that silenced a grieving mother through settlement rather than accountability Drawing on court records, autopsy reports, surveillance footage, toxicology findings, and peer-reviewed research, The Case of Kenneka Jenkins exposes the cascading failures that allowed a young Black woman to die in circumstances that should have been entirely preventable. It is also a story of resistance. Tereasa Martin, Kenneka's mother, refused to accept silence as justice. Her defiance — "I still don't know what happened to my child's life" — stands as testimony against a system that routinely erases the lives of ordinary Black women. Part investigation, part indictment, and part call to reform, this book situates Kenneka's case within a national crisis: the systemic disparities in how Black women's deaths are investigated, remembered, and valued. For readers of true crime, social justice, and systemic critique, this is both a memorial and a demand: Kenneka Jenkins deserves more than silence. Justice requires more.