Morbid - Doris Duke and the Murder of Eddie Tirella

Episode Date: April 20, 2023

On a cold October afternoon in 1966, billionaire heiress Doris Duke returned to her palatial Newport estate in the company of friend and interior decorator Eduardo Tirella, stopping her car just outside the large iron gate that barred entrance to the driveway. Having offered to open the gate, he stepped out of the car and walked toward the gate, when the car began rolling forward, knocking Eduardo to the ground and crushing him under the two-ton weight of Duke’s station wagon. Within four days of Tirella’s death, the Newport Police had closed the case, calling it an “unfortunate accident,” but the residents of Newport, Rhode Island weren’t as convinced. Thank you so much to the remarkable David White for research assistance!ReferencesDuca, Rob. 2021. "Newport police closed Doris Duke case, again." Newport This Week, November 24.Duke, Pony, and Jason Thomas. 1996. Too Rich: The Family Secrets of Doris Duke. New York, NY: Harper Collins.Lance, Peter. 2021. Homicide at Rough Point: The Untold Story of How Doris Duke, the Richest Woman In America, Got Away with Murder. Auburn, NH: Tenacity Media.—. 2021. The triple 'murder' of Eduardo Tirella, gay confidant of Doris Duke. November 29. https://www.advocate.com/commentary/2021/11/29/triple-murder-eduardo-tirella-gay-confidant-doris-duke-newport-rhode-island.—. 2021. "The Doris Duke Cold Case Reopens: The Only Known Eyewitness Speaks for the First Time." Vanity Fair, August 5.Mansfield, Stephanie. 1992. The Richest Girl in the World: The Extravagant Life and Fast Times of Doris Duke. New York, NY: G.P. Putnam & Sons.New York Times. 1964. "Divorce suit filed against Doris Duke." New York Times, January 11: 14.—. 1935. "Doris Duke is wed to J.H.R. Cromwell." New York Times, February 14: 23.—. 1966. "Duke estate death ruled an accident." New York Times, October 12: 25.Newport Daily News. 1967. "Crash victim's kin asks $2.5 million of Doris Duke." Newport Daily News, December 8: 1.—. 1966. "Death of Miss Duke's friend ruled 'unfortunate accident'." Newport Daily News, October 10: 1.—. 1966. "Doris Duke kills friend in crash." Newport Daily News, October 8: 1.—. 1966. "Press blasts police chief Radice on handling public information." Newport Daily News, November 3: 1.Schwarz, Ted, and Tom Rybak. 1997. Trust No One: The Glamorous Life and Bizarre Death of Doris Duke. New York, NY: St. Martin's Press. Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash KelleyListener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra LallyListener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, weirdos, I'm Ash, and I'm Elena. And this is a mini morbid, kind of. Mini, mini, mini, mini, mini, mini, mini, mini, mini, mini. Minimorbid, mini. Mini morbid, mini. But it's like a full-length one now. It's like a full-ish length because it's Ash-centric. So it's like a long mini. Yeah, exactly. And this one's an important one. This is a very important one. But before I tell you what it is, we do just quickly. want to tell you about some dates for the tour. Yeah, it's important we just run through these real quick because, you know, with the COVID just floating around, it's messed up a ton of dates. So we just want to make sure everybody has it all in one place. Nobody's confused about their tickets or anything.

So just bear with us. We're going to do it real quick. And like we've said before, if you had tickets for one show and the date got changed, that is still your ticket. You still have tickets for your show. So with that being said, on August 11th, we're going to be at the Punchline Comedy Comedy Club in Philadelphia. Woo, but that is actually going to be changing. Yes, that will be changing. It's not going to be August 11th. We just don't have a date for you.

But right now, so we won't be there August 11th. No. But that was fun anyways. But you know what? So keep an eye out. If you have a Philly ticket, that's going to change. Got to change. Subject to change. Actually, all of these are subject to change, pretty much.

I know, because honestly, these dates are locked in right now, but we all know what's going It's going to happen in the fall. COVID could just come roaring again, but we don't know. It just doesn't know. September 16th, 2020, we'll be at the D.C. Improv in Washington, D.C. Monuments. September 23rd, we're going to be at Zanis in Nashville for an early and a late show. Fingers crossed, guys. I'm crossing my things. September 24th, we're going to be at Stand Up Live in Huntsville, Alabama. I want to be with you, Alabama.

Me too. Then we have two shows at Talia. Hall on October 11th in Chicago. I'm so excited for that one. Today's case is kind of close to Chicago. Chicago. Well, then November 10th, we're going to be at the Comedy Zone in Charlotte, North Carolina. Shallet, we're coming. 11-11, make a wish because it's November 11th, and we're going to be at the Good Nights

Comedy Club in Raleigh, North Carolina. Ooh, good luck. Yay. And then... What's three? Is that March? Yes. I hate myself.

What's three? March 26th we're going to be at the Wilba Theater in Boston. Guys, come on. Buy tickets to that one because we'll be there by March. For sure. March COVID's going to be a distant memory. We're all going to be like, fuck that guy. Exactly. Everyone buy tickets to the Wilba show because it's going to be great.

It's going to be so beautiful. So great. And then one last show on January 27th, we are going to be in Greenwood Village, Colorado. So if you have a ticket for that, you probably got an email that it changed. to January 27th. That is currently like the placeholder, so hopefully it's then, but subject to change. Yeah, just like all these dates, that's the date right now, but everybody keep an eye out. We'll try to keep you abreast of the situation. I don't like that at all. We're going to keep you, you know, informed about this whole thing as we hear it. So just keep an ear out, keep an eye out,

we'll let you know. We'll keep you a chesticle to the situation. You'll be a chesticle of the situation. Perfect. And now, because this is a quote unquote mini, No more bid. No more business. No more business. Okay. Well, this week I'm going to be talking about an extremely important case. What is it? I'm going to be talking about Kanika Jenkins. This is a wild case. Wild case. Before I start this case, I want to say that I am completely in the middle. I have not made an opinion yet. Yeah, it's a really hard case. It's a very hard case. It's really hard. So before I start anything, I want to say that I fullheartedly can see both sides.

I can see thinking she was murdered. Maybe she was. I can see thinking maybe she just ended up in the freezer somehow. An accident. On accident. I can see that. I can totally see both sides. And I think, I mean, I respect both sides.

Tell me what you think. Keep it respectful. Yeah. We, um, the reason we're kind of saying this at a time is this is not going to be another Kendrick Johnson issue where we were pretty clear that, you know, we formulated an opinion, but we also said, we don't know. Right. And we said, you know, have a nice discussion. And some people were straight up assholes in the comments. So we welcome debate that is respectful. But if you start to like come and say, we didn't do our jobs or we're stupid or something, I'm just going to shut the

comments off and block people who say that. We both put a lot of work into our research. And like, I mean, I double fact-checked. I watched videos on this like 42 different times. And it's one thing to say, hey, I found this bit of information about this that you missed. That's awesome. I love that. I welcome that. Bring it. Bring it for sure because I want it. So just be respectful because we are respectful of you. So, you know, and honestly, the majority of people, especially on the Kendrick Johnson episode, were super respectful if they had additional information or if they just straight up disagreed, which you have every right to. You're allowed to disagree. Because there's obviously no actual, like legal conclusion to this yet because it has been reopened.

So maybe we'll get a legal conclusion. But I just wanted to put that out there that we welcome respectful debates and we expect it especially during, right, because I said expect it. And I was going straight for it. But we expect it especially during, you know, cases like this where it's like high. In such a heightened time. Yeah. And high emotions.

There's a lot going on. So everybody be nice. That's all we're asking. Okay. So with that being said, Kanika Jenkins was a 19 year old girl living in Lawndale, Chicago. Chicago. Chicago. She was super hardworking. She had two jobs and she was planning on going to nursing school. For that young to have two jobs is pretty impressive. Pretty badass. Yeah. Everyone around Kanika said that she just loved to laugh. And if she was around you and you were in a bad mood, that was just not going to happen. I love people like that. You can't be in a bad mood around me.

Like, I'm going to make you laugh. I'm going to turn that frown upside down. She was. Everyone says she was sweet, loving, really great person, and everybody wanted to be around her. Oh, that makes me sad. Most of all, people say they miss her voice and her laugh. Oh, that's how I feel about my grandmother. So I feel like it's like, whenever somebody says I miss their voice, it always like hits me.

Her best friend is in an interview. Actually, Neve from Catfish started this like true crime show, I think like a year or two ago. on MTV. It was like true life, true crime. Oh, really? And this was the first episode. I didn't know that existed. Yeah, it was a pretty good episode, but I didn't get a lot of stuff from it. Sounds kind of like a rip-off of BuzzFeed, unsolved. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know. I'm just saying. Well, just sprinkle that in there. Yeah, you know, well, Neve is problematic, so. Yeah, so that's good. Well, we like Ryan and Shane better. Yes. Well, this was the first episode. So I think a lot of people know the overview of this case. And I think, like I said in the beginning,

it's really easy to come to many different conclusions. For sure. And I think it's really important to look at all the theories surrounding Kanika's deaths so that you can come to your own conclusion. Yeah, for sure. Just facts, facts, facts, facts. And there's also just a lot to look at it in this case, to be honest with you. Yeah. Because Kanika was found dead in a freezer.

Which already, it's like what now? Suspicious as fuck. Like what? It's like the Phoebe Hand's juke thing. Exactly. Whoa, whoa. This is a weird scenario right off the jump. Right.

Exactly. That one was like cut and dry 100%. Well, and we're going to be updating that one soon too. Yeah, we got it. So, yes, she was found in a freezer on the property of the Crown Plaza Hotel on September 10th, around midnight. And before that, she had been to a birthday party in one of the hotel rooms. Okay. So this hotel was located in Rosemont, Illinois, which is like a little less than a half hour from Lawndale where she lived. Okay. It really wasn't that crazy that she and her friends were heading to this hotel party because this is something that they did fairly often. Yeah, hotel party.

Hotel, motel holiday is. Rosemont, first of all, is a pretty wealthy suburb, and it has a ton of hotels. Like, if you look it up on Google, it's like offers like this, this, and like many hotels. We have tons of places to stay. Stay here. It's great. And it's a much safer place to hang out. But Rosemont's black population is only about 3%. Oh, wow. And I think that's pretty important to keep in mind. Absolutely it is. Especially as we go over the details of some of this case. So Lawndale, where Kinnika and her

friends were from is one of the most dangerous places to live. Okay. And I think she was on the west side, which is like specifically more dangerous. Okay. So just like a lot of crime. Yeah, it's not safe because there's various shootings, there's assaults. If I actually looked at it, you know how you can look it up and see like how many like shootings and assaults are in a certain place? It was just like tons and tons and tons. Yeah. It's sad. But that, I mean, I think they were doing the right thing by going to another part of town. Like they were trying to stay out of trouble. Yeah. They were trying to They're trying to stay at a home's way. In a safe place.

Yeah. Right. So they're going to this party on September 8th. They show up technically on September 9th because it's like 1.15 in the morning. Oh, okay. So I'm going to say September 9th. Yeah. And they head up to the room where they're going to be celebrating their friend Irene's birthday.

Okay. Now we're going to talk a lot about Irene later on. Hmm. So over the course of the night, uh, Kineke went on Facebook live a lot and so did her friends, which I didn't even know there was like a live feature on Facebook. on Facebook. I actually didn't either. So that's really impressive. It is. And it's weird that cases now are starting to have this element to them. Yeah, a lot of them are. People using Facebook live and crimes happening like while it's happening or just being able to have that like breadcrumb trail.

Right. Yeah. So yeah, I'm going to get more into that too, like crimes happening while the Facebook live is because there's a lot of wonderings around if this was happening while it was being broadcasted on Facebook live. So we should do a whole episode. on Facebook live. Facebook live. Yeah, that's a good idea. Or just live, like, on the internet. I like it.

Yeah. It's a good idea. I look at his brainstorming in the middle of it. Right. Well, in one video, Irene is on Facebook Live. And although there's a lot of background noise, you can definitely hear Kanika saying, girl, I'm not drunk. Hmm.

Okay. So I usually would someone says that. I literally, I literally have that in my notes. Irene later says that Kanika was very drunk, actually, and that they were, like a turn-up crew is what she says. So it wasn't that weird that Kanika was like super drunk. Okay. Well, they were having a party. They were having a, it's a birthday. In a hotel. Right. That's the whole point is that you're in a safe place that you can go crazy. Exactly. So Irene says that that's how you knew that Kanika was drunk when she was saying that she wasn't. Which, and I literally,

I wrote down. I was like, honestly, I think that's the case with everybody. Yeah. That's how you know I'm drunk. That's the universal sign of I'm drunk is I am not drunk. Girl, I am not drunk. I am not drunk. So there's a lot to unpack with the Facebook live videos, but we're going to get to that in a minute. Okay. So Kanika and the four friends she went to the party with decide to call it a night and head home around 3 a.m. Okay. While they're heading out, Kanika realizes that she left her phone in the hotel room. So I've seen two variations of what happens now.

In one scenario, her friends leave her in the hallway and they head back up to grab her phone. Okay. And then in another scenario, they're already outside and Kanika goes back in. to get her phone. Okay. So either way, there's security footage of Kineka by herself, like wandering through the hotel room. So at one point, she's alive. She's alone. She's alone. Yeah. For a good period of time, she's alone and alive. Okay. And she's actually on security footage, and she is, like, very clearly, like, very inebriated. Like, should not have been left alone. I was just going to say, so she shouldn't have been left alone. No, rule of thumb, and I'm not saying

her friends did anything wrong here. I'm not trying to make anybody feel guilty. But if your friends are super drunk and like you're super drunk, stay together. Yeah. Do not split up. Don't let your friend go home with someone. No. Don't let your friend go in somewhere alone. Because they're going to be, they might be mad at you in the moment, but they're going to,

they're going to get it when, you know, the haze clears. I think we've been like, no bitch, you can't do that. Yeah, you can't. And your friends like, fuck you. And then the next morning they're like, oh, my God, thank you for not letting me do that. Exactly. When they, when they wake up alive the next day, they're going to thank you for it. Right.

So like I said, she was not in a state to be left alone. Like, you can turn up as much as you want to, but stick together. Stick together. So around 3.30 a.m., Kineka's friends are like, okay, we still haven't linked back up. Like, where is she? She's been gone and unaccounted for her for a half an hour as far as they're concerned. Yeah. So they're like, where is she at?

And at this point, you see them on the hotel security video looking for Kinnika. Like, they're wandering around the hallways. They're like, they went up to the front desk and they asked if they could see the security footage. And the guy's like, no. Like, no. And like basically, Kanika's best friend, Bree Bree, she said that nobody wanted to help them. Like, nobody at the hotel wanted to help them. The security guard was like, you need to get out of the hallway. Like, get the fuck out of here. They were probably just like your drunk girls go away. Right. Exactly. It's like, good job. And I don't think it helped that they were in a suburban community. Like white area. A white area, unfortunately. Oh, no, I'm sure that didn't. I think they were. They were. They just were.

I was just what happened. I was going to say that literally is what happened. Right. So they decided to call Kanika's mom because something is clearly wrong. Yeah. Because now it's 4 a.m. So they call her mom at 4 a.m. And they tell her the situation and they explain to her that they have Kanika's keys and now they have her phone. So I'm assuming that the scenario where they went back to get her phone is what happened. Right. Yeah. So Kanika's mom is named Teresa. Okay. So when they call Teresa, she hops in her car ASAP and heads over there. Or Teresa. She goes into the hotel and she's like, I need to see the surveillance tapes.

Like, that's going to tell me where she is. Yeah, you don't stop a mama. No. The staff tells her that if she is going to see the surveillance tapes, that she needs to have a missing person's report. That's the only way they can hand them over. So she's like, cool, let me go get one. I'll go get one to wait here.

Yeah, like, don't move. So she calls the police and she tells them the situation. Oh, no. Now, this is a case where I really hope the operator has like a little hindsight these days and wishes that they handled this a lot. differently. Oh, this is going to make me angry. Because I'm, I already was hyped up when I was getting this research together, but now I'm still, like, hyped up. Oh, okay. So, yeah, she explains the situation, and she literally tells the operator, like, it's, this is not right. Like, I don't feel

right that this is not like Keneke. Yeah. And the operator goes, well, you know, she might be running around with friends or maybe she passed out at a friend's house. Like, let's give it a couple hours. And if she still hasn't turned up, call back. It's like, no, I, for one, I just told. you that this is not how she is. And too, it's her friends who are telling me that she's nowhere to be found. So she's not with them. So she's not with her friends. Like what? So she's like, okay, well, can I file a missing person's report anyway? Like, I don't care what you have to say. Like, fuck off. Like, you don't get to make this decision. No, this is not about you. So he's like, well, that could take a bit to get filed. And then the security footage, it's going to take a while to

get that from the hotel and have the police go over it. So why don't you just wait a few hours and just like, he literally tells her to try and relax. So your solution to this is like, well, it's going to take a while. She'll turn up. So like, fuck it, right? Yeah, it's going to take a while. So let's wait a while. You know what?

Paperwork is paperwork. And like, your kid will probably show up at some point. And it's like, you're telling her not only to like that her kid is probably just wandering around. She's like, oh, I'm sorry, do you know her or passed out? And then you're telling her to try to relax. Yeah. And literally, I quote you, was like, it might take a bit.

it might take a bit. Like, why don't take this a little more seriously? And it's like, I don't care if it's going to take a bit. Right. I want to file the fucking report. Like, oh, I'm sorry, 911 operator. I'm so sorry to disturb you. My bad.

Sorry that I have to put paperwork on your desk. Yeah. Oh, shit. So she's like, okay. Why, in a missing person's case, would you just wait a few hours? Yeah. We all know that that's the most crucial time is like the first few hours. Yeah, it doesn't make sense.

It's really shitty. But okay. Okay. So Teresa calls back in a couple of, hours when her child still hasn't turned up because as we all know at this point, she's passed out in a freezer and at this point it's probably dead already in the freezer, which is awful. So the police go to the hotel for the first time around 1 p.m. on September 9th. So she's been missing since basically 3.30 and they just show up at 1 p.m. when she, the first phone call that she put

into them was at 7. 7 a.m. That's crazy. So why did it take that long? So she was finally, able to file a missing person's report just a few hours earlier than the time that they showed up. I think it was like around like 10 or 11. So the police got there. They go. They do a search. And nothing turns up. Like they're looking around looking for Knieka. They don't see her. And they're like, okay, like we're going to come back. But like, let's look at other possibilities. And she's like, no. So they leave. And Teresa starts going door to door, like knocking on doors. Good for her. Yeah. So then the fucking hotel has the audacity to call them. police on Teresa because they're that they're saying that she's disturbing the guests.

Yeah. She's going to disturb this whole fucking place until she finds her kid. Right. Exactly. Like, I'm sorry. Are you mad at her? I would have turned that place inside out for my kids. So it's like, really? And she was. I give this woman so much credit. And my heart like genuinely breaks for her because you can see her like knocking on the doors like just searching desperately. No, that really hurts. That like makes my stomach hurt. Just thinking. about that. Yeah. So the hotel calls the police on her. They show up. And then while they look over the footage of like they're trying to figure out, they can see a can ink on the footage and then all of a sudden she just like disappears or something. A manager finds her in the freezer. Now at this point,

she's dead. This is at 12.25 a.m. on September 10th. Wow. So that's 21 hours after she went missing. Wow. 21 hours. And I'm sorry, but this all could have like if they had started. this search earlier, they perhaps could have found her and like maybe she could have been treated for hypothermia at this point. Like, she might have still been alive. Well, and a whole hell of a lot happened in that, like, we don't know what happened. It's all time that's unaccounted for. Exactly. So there's a lot of opinions about the demeanor of the employee that found Kanika's body. And I think it's weird. Yeah. Personally, I just think it's super weird because he's not running back around the corner like with a freaked out look on his face. He's just walking back.

around the corner to, like, go get the police. He's walking, like, somewhat quickly, but he doesn't look disturbed at all. Yeah, that's a little weird. And if you... Obviously, you can't, like, you know... I can't judge how somebody reacts to something. We always try to say, like, we can't judge reaction because everybody reacts differently. But, like, when you find a dead body in a freezer, well, and especially the way that her body was found, like, if you type in her name to Google, it pops right up, just FYI. Oh, I know. She's, like, curled in the corner. One of her shoes is off, Like her shirt is like ruffled up a little bit. I think she was wearing like a little bit of a crop top.

But she's very much in like an alarming position. Yeah. And it should be alarming to open a freezer and see a dead body. Dead human being. Right. So he calmly goes to get the police and tell them. So now the police and the medical examiners have to investigate whether this case involves foul play or if this is just a horrible accident.

So the M.E arrives at 308 a.m. And I wanted to ask you, is that weird? because they found the body at 1225 and the ME doesn't get there until three hours later. Oh yeah, that's a long time. Yeah, like that's ridiculous. Yeah, that's a long period of time. Why did it take that long? That's the same thing that happened in the Kendrick Johnson case.

Right, because it was a period of hours before they showed up. And it's like, that's not normal protocol. Yeah, you're on call for a reason. And that's just not how you handle things. And you're losing valuable information. Right. With those hours, you are losing a lot of information that you could get by showing up. Well, and at this point, they opened to the freezer.

So she's also, for lack of a better term, thawing out. Yeah, exactly. So this is already, her body temperature and decomp and all that is already being skewed by this freezer. Time of death. It's already, you know, it's going to stop like liver mortis. It's going to stop like rigor mortis. Because basically it's like preserving her.

It's literally preserving you. And so it's going to stop all these natural things from happening that help you date death, time of death. And now they're opening the freezer. So that's starting to thaw it out. So now we're accelerating. slightly, but that's also skewing it. So we've already, we're already skewing a skewed thing. Exactly. And it's like, I think of like when we, because I do like rapid autopsies for research

purposes. I've seen you get called in. You have to fly in. Yeah. We have to be in there by, I mean, at the very, I mean, two hours is pushing it, getting in there. Yeah, I would assume so. And so we like to be in there within the hour and starting that autopsy. Right. So hours is just not. It's unacceptable. It's just not acceptable. It's like, what were you doing? Like, it's, the morning. Your whole job is getting called into death scenes. Like you weren't at dinner. It's like 12 p.m. or 12 a.m. You just sit up, put your clothes on and go. Your scrubs on, time shoes. Get at the dough. So, yeah, they arrive at 3.08 a.m. and then they transport her body around 5. What are your thoughts on that? Uh, trans. I mean, because what time did they get there?

They got there at 308 and they transfer her. I think it was at 5.15. I mean, that's, that seems like a long time. but if they're, you know, doing stuff at the scene. Like assessing the scene. I guess that could make sense. I thought it seemed like a long time, but that's obviously not my profession. It's not a hard place to get a body out of. If it was like a difficult area, like sometimes in like the woods or in like water or something, it'll take a long time because you're trying to get them out of where they are. Right, but she was like right there.

Yeah. This is just an easy. I don't know. Seems like a long time to assess it at a scene. That's what I thought. Well, Teresa and Kanika's sister Lenore are able to see. her body before they transport it. I love that name, by the way, Lenore. Lenore is such a cool name. There used to be a client at the salon I worked at, and her name was

Lenore, and she was the sweetest woman ever. It's just a cool name. It's a cool ass name. Sorry, that was such a side note. Well, so the toxicology report comes back, and this is weird, and I bet you'll have more to speak of on this than I will. But her blood alcohol level was 0.1. Oh, wow. Which is a lot higher than the legal limit, which is 0.08. She was turning up. And topiramate and alcohol were found in her system. Hmm. So I'm not sure if I'm saying that right. I looked it up.

Topiramate is a drug that can treat migraines and treat epilepsy. Oh, okay. Kineka didn't have epilepsy. I was going to say, and if you have migraines, you know that you can't take your medication. You can't drink with it. Right. From someone who has migraine. In fact, had a migraine all last night.

Exactly. It's literally just coming out of the haze of a migraine. Right. You definitely can't. Good thing it was my case and not yours. I know. Thank goodness, because I'm still in like that woozy migraine area. But yeah, no.

Well, and it's just weird that it was like to pyramid in her system because that's not a party drug. And Irene, the friend from before, said that some of the people at the party did occasionally take pills. But Kanika was not into that. She didn't like how they made her feel. And she, I think they said like maybe she tried it once and she was like, no, thanks. I'm good. And I can tell you every migraine. medication I've taken besides excedrin migraine.

Yeah. Has made me feel really woozy and yucky. It's not by any means something you would take to feel good. No, they don't make you feel good. So it's not something she would take recreationally. No, it's not a party drug. The only thing I could think of is if she did is a migraine medication that she maybe, I mean, she was younger.

Sometimes younger people don't listen to the rules of like you can't drink on this. I've seen plenty of people. I definitely drink and how not think so. Yeah, exactly. So maybe she just didn't. Maybe she had a headache and she took it and then... But I wonder how she got that instead of... Like, you think the typical headache, like, a 19-year-old is going to take, like, Advil or, like, aspirin or a leave or...

Well, maybe she was prescribed it. And her mom didn't really have anything to speak of on that. I was going to say, because she didn't say that she suffered from migraines? No, like, this wasn't something that was prescribed or... No, epilepsy, no migraines. Okay. Yeah, it was weird. You wouldn't take a migraine medication unless you have migrants. Right. You would just take, like you said.

Well, so this leads to the question was she drugged at the party that she was at. And again, I say that it makes you feel losing. That would be a good one to drug with because my last migraine medication, I literally couldn't function for a little while after I took it. Well, they told you like not to drive and not to do anything. There's no way I could have. And then the other thing is that alcohol and opiumate when together, they heightened the effects of each other. Oh, yeah. So that's why she was so like.

Which alcohol is a depressant. Right. So. Well, and that's why she was like, I'm not saying this in like a mean way. She was barely able to walk. Like at one point, she like walks a little bit into like a side really. and almost trips over it and has to level herself up. Yeah.

So those two things together were probably just making, that she's drugged. Heightening the experience like 100%. Yeah. That's very, that's interesting. I didn't know that little detail. That is weird to me. And all of her friends agree, like, because Irene was saying like, yeah, she tried it once and she didn't like it.

All of her friends and family agree that it was not her deal to take pills. And she, remember, she wanted to go to nursing school. So she wouldn't have drank and taken a migraine. medication. Yeah, that's true. And again, it's just, that's not something you take to turn up is a migraine medication. No, definitely not. So the cause of death after investigation is reported accidental. It's ruled accidental. It says that Kaninka died of exposure into the elements, the freezer. Yeah. And that the alcohol intopyrimate in her system were basically contributing factors. Okay. So all the people at this party got cleared by.

law enforcement. Okay. Which I don't really know how they cleared all these people, but like go off to me like go off, sis. It seems to be like maybe something happened at this party, but we're going to get there. Yeah. So Kanika's funeral drew hundreds and hundreds of people. If you, you can see it online. I watched like a little tidbit of it and then I'm not going to lie to you. I started crying because it was like people are so, so, so sad. Because from what you said, she was like a I was so loved. And people that didn't even know her were coming to the funeral. Oh.

So, and the people that didn't know her that were coming to the funeral, some of them were, like, going up to her mom, Teresa and, like, offering explanations for what happened. And it's like, there's a time and a place. And the funeral is not the time or the place. Like, that's not it. Yeah. It's like, take a seat. No, exactly.

Take a seat several seats back. Like, do not walk up to. Just take a seat in your car and drive away. Yeah. Because I do not walk up to a grieving mother and sit there and tell her. what happened to her kid. Like, I'm cool that you want to save the day, but can you fuck off for a minute? Like, read the room. Right. So the funeral happens. So many people came. And then Kanika's friends and family, and they all start to talk. And they're like, we don't think that she just stumbled into that

freezer laid down and died. Like, we don't buy that. And the pictures from the freezer that the family saw and that the public can see are definitely strange. And I could see why somebody would question, like what the fuck happened. Yeah. So one of Kanika's shoes is completely off, which is leaving one of her feet bare. And on that bare foot, on the side of like closer to her heel underneath her ankle, there's like a pretty significant scrape that was bleeding. Okay.

So she has a bloody foot. Her shoe is off. Behind her is like a hair tie. And then in front of her is a tube of lip gloss. Okay. So there is this thing, I think it's called paradoxial undressing. Yep. So people thought... Like in the Diet Love Pass. Yeah, that's what it reminded me of. People thought that maybe she was starting to do that by taking the shoe off. And then like she just kind of passed out due to like the drug in her system and everything. That I don't buy. I don't buy the paradox ceiling dressing. What I do think happened is that maybe she stumbled into the freezer and the door is really heavy. So it is, it is weird to think that she stumbled into this freezer and was able to open the door. That is something that strikes up question. And her mom is like, I don't think that she was going to be able to open that door.

It just seems like a strange thing for a drunk person to do is like really struggle to open a door to get somewhere. Usually they just try to like fall into whatever they can. Right, exactly. So I mean, maybe she did fall in by accident. Yeah. But what I think is that like, you know how like, have you ever tripped over a door kind of like and the door kind of like pulls your shoe? Yep. I think her shoe, she tripped over the door and her foot got caught in the doorway, pulled off her shoe and also scraped like her ankle.

because the door was like metal. It was probably sharp on the bottom. Or it scraped when she was dragged into the freezer and it fell off in the same way. Exactly. You could see both. You could see both. Yeah. Both of those make total sense.

They make total sense. And so because of the way her body was found and the way this case was handled from start to finish, people were outraged because they were like, no, like she didn't just fall in there. Like people thought she was carried in there. They're like, why was her shoe off? And there needs to be more significant investigation into it. And there just really wasn't. Also, I forgot to mention her hair was also slightly matted, which you could explain because

she was in a freezer and then they opened the door so it started to melt. So maybe like her hair got wet and matted that way. Okay. Or there is the possibility and some people think that she was raped. So your hair would get matted that way. Absolutely. So that did they check? I didn't find anything saying that they did check, but there's no information that she was raped.

Like there's no either way. So there's a possibility that that wasn't even checked. Right. And because it was ruled accidental, they wouldn't have checked. So people are pissed. Protests start going on outside of the hotel. People online start offering up all these theories that it was a hit that was set up by her friends, that she was found in the Fraser because somebody wanted to sell her organs on the black market. Damn.

And that was the best way to keep them fresh. people say like I said that she was raped at the party and people also wonder about the potential that maybe a security guard tried to assault her and she fought back. Yeah, that seems like it could be a possibility. And they think maybe she fought back and something went wrong and he threw her in the freezer and dipped. And like you just said, that could explain why her shoe and her foot was scraped and why her hair was matted. Yeah.

Both of those things make sense. They make perfect sense. Now this is where it's going to get like, super super intense. So we're going to talk about some of these theories in depth. And then I want to go back to some of those Facebook videos. Okay. So there's the video of Irene where you can, like I said in the beginning, you hear Kanika saying like, girl, I'm not drunk. Okay. Right after that, somebody says something like along the lines of, okay, like just enjoy yourself, Kanika. So obviously something was up at this party. And she, you hear her say back, I am enjoying myself. Yeah. This is a strange interaction. Right.

Then at another point in the video, Irene mentioned something to somebody in the background about $200. And there's been countless theories about what the fuck this $200 was about. So was it for Kanika's organs? Was it the price of the hit? Like, people wonder all about that. Huh. The only interview that Irene has ever done is with this guy. He's a YouTuber named Zach TV.

Okay. And she explains that the $200 comment was in regards to the price of a lost part. parking ticket. So at this hotel, if you lost your parking ticket and you had to get your car out of the garage, you had to pay a $200, like, fine, basically. Okay. So, and it followed up. Like, if you looked at their rules of regulations, that's, they did charge $200. Yeah, because I've seen hotels charge a shit ton for that. Which is a little bit of a ridiculous fee, if you ask me. A little bit of price gouging, but okay. But okay. Um, so that could potentially explain away that. And I think that's a pretty good explanation, but I don't know. I still don't know. Yeah. I also, this is just,

Just a side note, I think it's important to say. Zach TV later died in a drive-by shooting. Oh, shit. He was shot in the head and the neck. Oh, my God. That's so sad. Really sad. Wow.

People on YouTube and on other sites, they've also slowed down the audio in some of these videos, and they cancel it like the background noise. So in one of the videos, you hear somebody say, I think it's Irene. They stupid. They end they're raping that girl. Oh. Yeah. So I watched.

Are you kidding me? dead serious. But I watched one of the videos where they slowed down, like, the audio and they tried to, like, bring the noise levels up. And you do hear they stupid. But I didn't hear the part where they said they and they're raping that girl. Like, I listened to it over and over and over again. And I couldn't hear them. And I couldn't hear it. It's like an EVP. It's hard to. Yeah. But if anybody else listens to that and they hear it, like I want to know. Like if any of our listeners listen to it. I want to listen to it now. I haven't listened to it. I'll send you the video. Yeah. I'm not saying it's not there. I'm just saying I can't hear it.

Huh. So if you go on to the YouTube and watch the video of Irene, there's all kinds of different time stamps in the comments where people hear like fucked up eerie things in these Facebook live videos. Shit. In the beginning, you hear a male's voice, and I heard this, say, we about to murder somebody. Which is like, that could be, we're about to murder somebody or it could be like, you know what, you're annoying me. I'm about to murder you. That can also be very ominous. Yeah. then at another point in the video you hear someone say help me and then Irene turns the music up like real loud I definitely heard a so people say that you hear help me I heard a squeaky noise that could have sounded like help me but I didn't hear it very clearly say help me okay now again

I'm not saying it's not there I want everybody if you feel like you want to go listen to it and tell me what you hear yeah I want and I want you to watch and I want you to watch you to I'll watch you and see what you hear. And then turning the music up right after that is very... That's the thing that made me feel weird. And you definitely hear something there. And it's like in a like scared voice almost. Oh, yeah.

There's also, now this freaks me the fuck out. There's also a point in the video where someone is holding the phone, but Irene is still in the shot. And she goes to hit a blunt. And it kind of looks like she's saying after she exhales, help to the camera. But she doesn't say it out loud. It looks like she mouths the word help. And that I saw clear as fucking day.

Really? Yes. Like clear as day. If I show you and you don't see it, I'm going to lose my mind. And to me, that is significant because it's not just a video being taken. This is Facebook live. So she's hoping someone seeing that. Right.

And then other people were saying because she's wearing sunglasses in the video. They are inside, but she's wearing sunglasses. And you can kind of see. Some people think the reflection is of Koneka. It's so hard for me to tell in the video. But there's Kanika, and some people say that it looks like a guy in a red sweater is above her. And at some point, she says, she gets mad at him for something. I think she said, like, you slapped me or something like, I'm out.

She says something along those lines. Canika says that? Oh, that's huge. And then the guy says, are you going to ride with me or not? Oh, that's, to me, this is already, like. So there was. Some shit is going down here. Weird shit going down at the party, for sure.

And it doesn't look like Kanika is having. A smooth time here. No. And the thing that I did hear Clear as day is somebody said, just try to enjoy yourself. She's like, I am enjoying myself. Like, fuck off, basically. See that? And I saw Clear as motherfucking day, Irene look at the camera and mouth the word help.

And you know what? In regards to, like, possibly her being drugged, which to me makes sense. Yeah. It makes sense that she was drugged. I think she had to have been drugged. I think someone drugged her. And for her to, like, because when you think about it, when you're saying to someone like, you're really drunk and they're like, I'm not drunk.

Your reaction would be like, all right, just like be careful. Right. You know what I mean? Like, just like take care of yourself. Saying just try to have fun is rapy. It's super rapy. That's being like, it's a girl that says it to her. But who knows if the girl's in on it.

Wasn't on it. Right. And it's like, there's a lot of girls that help dudes do this shit. Mm-hmm. And so if for somebody to say that, it's almost like being like, loosen up. That's exactly what it sounded like. Just loosen up and let it happen. And it sounded annoyed.

Like, it was like, Jesus Christ, can you go? Like, have a good time. Like, you know what I mean? at least. Obviously, this is all us speculating on a thing that we were not attending. Right. But to me, that's what it looks like. It's definitely. And again, I'm not saying I was there and I know for sure. No, me either. This is my take on it. Because like I said, there's some things that I didn't hear that other people did hear. So I just, there's definitely some weird shit. This is weird. Yeah. And the drugging thing, as far as I don't see another explanation. I don't either. If she didn't have migraines, you're not taking migraine medication.

You're just not. It's not only just in a migraine medication. It's an epilepsy medication. Yeah. Like, she didn't have epilepsy. Yeah. No. So, Kanika's family thinks that there's more footage on the security camera and that somehow

it was fucked with. That's always the way, man. Always the way. They always only give portions. Because the last footage is Kanika walking like around the corner to the freezer. And her mom says that when she was there, she saw cameras pointing toward the freezer. But that they told her there's no cameras that point her at the freezer. It's what she was looking at was like sprinklers or like fire things.

Okay. So I'm like, I mean, I definitely have confused them for cameras before. But I think Teresa knew what the fuck she was doing while she was there and I think she saw cameras. Yeah. But there was an expert that weighed in and said they reviewed all the files that were sent like to law enforcement and they were ETC files, which are basically impossible. to send if they're edited. Oh, okay. So some people think it was edited. Some people are like, it would be near impossible to send an ETC file edited. And I don't know anything about that. I don't either. And basically

it's very black and white. Like you either know about it or you don't. Yeah. So if anybody knows about it, let us know. Nicely. They also say that, like I said before, how would she be able to push that door open if she was. That's definitely one of the things that's confusing me because like, unless she maybe like fell into it. Like, but even that, it's like, that's a heavy door to just like stumble into you. When you're drunk or like in a state, which she was in a drugged state as well, it's like you're not looking to like exert force upon things. You're looking to just flop onto something. A hundred percent. Like you're looking to flop into bed. You're literally looking to just fall into something and have it open. You're not looking to. You're not looking to just fall into something and have it open.

You're not looking to, like, have to put forth any kind of force. And then the other thing is that there was an emergency latch on the inside of this freezer. So it's as simple as just pushing the latch. Now, if you're drugged and drunk, you're not going to be able to put that together. And it was also super dark in there, like when she was in there. Oh, that's really scary. Yeah, fucking terrifying. If she was alive in there, that's really, that's like a whole other layer of terrified.

Well, so people question, like, why wouldn't she have pulled? that latch, but that's what I say. I'm like, if it's dark in there and you're drugged and drunk, you're not going to see it. You might not even see it if you were sober and in a panic. And if you were put in there, who's to say that somebody's not on the other side of that door holding it fucking shut? If there's no cameras pointing towards it. It locked toward the outside, or it locked from the outside. Yeah. So on the opposite side of that, people say that the most likely sequence of events is that she wandered down there, she stumbled into the freezer, she didn't know what she was doing and that she tripped over the door and that pulled off her shoe like how I was saying

earlier. That's basically like the argument for she, she, this was an accident. That's what the argument is. And she didn't have any like blunt force trauma. She didn't have any head injuries. Not that they said in the autopsy that was released, but. Because it feels like if she if she just like fell into there, she would have like a bump on the head or something. Exactly. And she only had on the autopsy, it only states about one bruise, and it was on her leg. Okay. So, yeah, so that's, that doesn't, I mean, obviously, stranger things have happened, but, like, to me, right, if you're falling into a freezer, you're going to hit your head. You're going to hate your head on something.

Especially the way that she was positioned. She's face down when they find her. And it doesn't feel like if you're that drunk that you're falling over something, you might not be able to put your hands out. And if you did put your hands out, you'd probably hurt your hands. Right, exactly. So the autopsy is very, like, minimal. which is weird. It's because they did what they did in Kendrick Johnson. You go in, you make an assumption about the case, and you work off of that assumption. You're not looking at it to tell you.

When you're an investigator or like an Emmy or something like that, you should go into a scene and you should let the scene tell you what's happening. Before you go into it thinking what happened. Exactly. This looks like this. You go, no, you tell me what happened. You're the whole vessel for like a dead person to speak. But do you think these... Not for nothing, do you think these cops really cared about this black girl that died in Rosemont?

No, it definitely doesn't sound like it. Where there's a 3% black population. This is real frustrating. It's fucked up. So that's basically all the facts. So there's a lot of back and forth, like I said the beginning about, was this murder? Was it a setup? Or was it just a tragic accident?

Yeah. So at the end of the day, no matter what it was, it could have been avoided. Yeah. Oh, 100%. If law enforcement had acted faster, they would have got down to that freezer. The hotel would have been searched. That's how they would have got down there. And they potentially could have saved her. Yeah. I'm not saying that she was still alive, but you don't know. And that's the whole reason of why you're there is to act fast. It's a fucking emergency. And to look at it from all angles. And this just wasn't treated like an emergency at all. It definitely wasn't. I quickly want to go over two things to explain why these theories seem so wild. Because people are like, it's ridiculous that they thought her organs were going to. I don't know. I quickly want to go over two things to explain why these theories seem so wild. I'm going to be like, it's ridiculous that they thought her organs were going to. I don't. I don't. I don't know. I going to be sold on the black market. Like, it's ridiculous. That makes no sense. It's really not. People hear that and they immediately go to like, that's nuts. You're crazy. And it's like, no, it happens. It does happen. And it's really not as crazy as some people think that it's like a

setup or anything like that. It's not weird to take it that far because there have been instances where people of color were not completely taken care of and they were medically misled. Yep. So with that, I quickly just want to talk about the most famous case of this, which is the case of Henrietta lax. Ooh. So when you learn about Heela cells in school, you learn that these cells were basically donated by Henrietta. Yeah.

That's not the case. Hmm. So researchers noticed the cells from a cancerous tumor on Henrietta's cervix. She went in because of vaginal bleeding. And basically they found out she had a tumor on her cervix and it was malignant. Okay. So the researcher that found this, they're looking at the cells and they're realizing, wow, these are like, they're like so rapidly increasing in numbers.

Like this, I've never seen anything like this. And ultimately it leads to helping get a polio vaccine. Yes. So Henrietta didn't know that they were taking these cells and she never gave consent for them to take them. That's fucked up. They also brought her children in for blood work and like they weren't told the real reason for why they were doing blood work.

Yeah. It was done in the children and they basically were told that they just, just weren't told the real reason for the blood work. And then Henrietta dies in 1951, and the family never received any kind of compensation for all that she did. All that she contributed unknowingly to modern science. And they made it seem like she just donated it. And she was like such a great woman for doing that. But it was like, no, she didn't know. You didn't even give her a chance. Right. Like she probably would have, but you didn't even give her a chance. And it seemed that she was basically just used for the experiment. And it's fucked up. Also, another interesting point is,

that for a while she was misidentified. And I'm just going to leave you with why you think she was misidentified because they started calling her Helen Lane. Huh. That's real shady. Real shady. Real shady. And then really quickly, just to wrap up here, another instance of people of color being taken advantage of is the, I need to look up this pronunciation, actually. I looked it up. It's the Tuskegee experiment. We did our research. It did my research on spot. So this experiment began in 1932. The experiment was, or it included 600 black men, 399 were infected with syphilis, and 201 were not. I remember reading about this.

This is actually the first I've ever heard about this. And I read it and I was like, what the fuck? What now? And this is just a very brief overview, just like kind of as an argument. Yeah. But you should look further into this because it's so fucked. The study was for the purpose of understanding the natural history of untreated syphilis. but these men were not aware that they were not being treated.

Wow. They were given placebo drugs and told that they were being treated for bad blood. Oe they. Which it's like, no, that's not the case at all. Like, whoof. And the study was supposed to last six months, but it actually went on for 40 years and ended. That's a big difference. A big jump there and ended in 1972.

Damn. So that's when the first news articles came out, like scrutinizing the experiment. and they're basically like, yeah, you can't do that. Like, these people don't realize that they're not getting treated. Ethically, this is questionable. This is going to cost us a lot of money. Yeah. And it did because it led to a class action lawsuit, which was held by Congress on behalf of the victims.

And in 1974, a $10 million settlement was reached. Damn. But it's like, that doesn't even matter because at this point, countless black men had already lost their lives and put their families at risk because syphilis is like. like insanely contagious. Yeah. Cephylis is no joke. Yeah. So I just think it's important to put those two things in there for like if you're like, it's so crazy that this happened. Yeah, because you're like, no, it's not. Nothing is that crazy when it comes to like people of color's point of view because it's like this has happened to them over and over again and nobody takes things seriously.

Exactly. That's the thing. That's what everybody's screaming from the rooftops right now. It's like, no, this is not insane to think this is happening to black people right now. No. So that is the case of Kanika Jenkins, and I think that you should have a nice discussion about what you think. Yes. I think that I don't think I missed anything, but if I did, hit me up. Tell me nicely. I'd love to hear more about this if you have anything that I didn't mention. This case is wild. And it's closed. It's a closed case. That's even worse. Yeah. Because I'm going to be honest, after hearing everything laid out, the accident thing doesn't sit well with me. No, I definitely think that there's more to the story. I can see, you know, see, looking at it quickly and thinking maybe it was a tragic

accident, but I don't, it's something about that, that migraine and epilepsy drug just doesn't, in the party, the party, the videos, some weird shit being inside in those videos. The fact that Irene won't give another interview. The fact that she won't give another interview and the fact that she's saying help or like mouthing help. I swear, I saw it. I swear. It's something's weird. It's something strange. Yeah. That's all I'm saying. There's something strange. I think it's worth it. another look. Oh, and I meant to mention, Teresa did file a wrongful death suit, and it's still in litigation. Good. Hopefully, that'll come out the right way, because if anything, at the very least, it deserves a second look. Of course it does. It does. Let's fucking reopen this case.

Yeah, take a look at it, man. Why not? What's the, if you believe wholeheartedly that it was an accident, cool, prove it to me again then. Yeah, just show me. Make me believe. Make me believe you. Because I'm not convinced. I'm not convinced. I'm not convinced. But again, we weren't there. We're not saying that we know better than anyone else. No. It's just, this is how I feel. It's strange to me.

And please, we really do encourage, you know, respectful debating about this when we post it. Keep it nice. Don't call anybody stupid. Don't be mean to each other. Let's just listen a little bit. Even though we just talk to you for like 55 minutes. Yeah, let's not stop talking, but let's quiet down a little. Let's just take a moment.

Yeah. Just listen to what people of color have to say. Well, I'm definitely going to post some of the images of the crime scene, so I'll put a little warning before it. But if you'd like to check some of that stuff out and see what you think about it, hit us up on Instagram. At Morbid Podcast. You can also follow us on Twitter. At a Morbid Podcast. Send us a Gmail.

Morbidpodcast at gmail.com. And we hope you keep listening. And we hope you. Keep it weird. But not so weird that you Facebook live if you're doing something shady. Yeah. Yeah, that's just fucking weird. You're weird if you've gotten in a good way. Bye.