Mother Of Kenneka Jenkins, Teen Found Dead At Crowne Plaza Hotel: 'The Protest Is Over'
By Stephen Gossett in News on Sep 25, 2017 8:20PM
Kenneka Jenkins / Facebook
Teresa Martin, the mother of the teenage woman whose body was discovered in a hotel freezer in Rosemont earlier this month, said in a video post on social media that "the protest is over," in reference to demonstrations that have been organized outside the hotel.
Martin said in the video that she found out two days prior that funds had apparently been collected during the protests. "I told y'all to keep [the funds] until this protest is over. You know what? The protest is over," she said in the video.
Martin thanked advocates who had shown up to pledge their support, but alleged that some participants did not properly manage money that they raised.
"Everybody hollered... 'for Kenneka,' they had an agenda in the first place. So I'm ending y'all's agendas that's not righteous toward my child," she said.
Martin then offered gratitude to those whose consolation she said was genuine. "For y'all that meant it, and I felt a whole lot of love out there... I thank y'all," she said in the clip.
Some 400 people gathered on Friday night outside the Crowne Plaza Hotel, police said, according to NBC5. The demonstration was in support of justice for Kenneka Jenkins, the 19-year-old woman whose body was discovered in the hotel freezer earlier this month. One person was arrested.
A visitation for Jenkins is scheduled to take place from 11 a.m. to noon Saturday at Salem Baptist Church (752 E. 114th St.), in Pullman, the Tribune reports.
Jenkins' body was found on Sunday, Sept. 10 at around 1 a.m. She left her home the Friday night prior and attended a hotel party. Family then heard from Jenkins' friends at around 4 a.m. on Saturday, when they told her mother that they had lost track of Jenkins. Surveillance video released on September 15 showed Jenkins stumbling into walls, a staircase and through a kitchen area. The case has garnered national attention and became the subject of rampant social-media speculation.
[H/T Sun-Times]