Chris Jenkins 21 Murdered 2002 MN
Posted on Sat, Nov. 18, 2006 Student's drowning now called homicide Christopher Jenkins, 21, left bar on Halloween '02, found later in Mississippi BY TAD VEZNER Pioneer Press University of Minnesota student Christopher Jenkins, 21, of Eden Prairie, Minn., was last seen leaving a Halloween party Oct. 31, 2002, at the Lone Tree Bar & Grill in Minneapolis.The apparent 2002 Halloween night drowning death of a University of Minnesota student has been reclassified as a murder, Minneapolis authorities announced Friday. Lt. Greg Reinhardt, a police spokesman, said the death of 21-year-old Christopher Jenkins is now listed as a homicide. A grandmother of the victim said police told Jenkins' parents that a suspect was in custody. Police refused to confirm any such details. "We knew from Day One (the death was not a suicide)," said Rose Sweet of Watertown. "It's been hell for four years." Reinhardt said more information would be made available Monday. In late February 2003, Chris Jenkins' body was pulled from the Mississippi River near St. Anthony Falls in downtown Minneapolis. The University of Minnesota senior was last seen being kicked out of the Lone Tree Bar & Grill at 528 Hennepin Ave. as midnight approached the previous Halloween. Although his car was parked just south of the Warehouse District bar, he was last seen walking north, clad in an American Indian costume for Halloween. Chuck Loesch, a private investigator hired by the family, theorized at the time that Jenkins was walking to his apartment near Dinkytown, eventually having to cross the Mississippi River. Jenkins' disappearance sparked a communitywide search. Hundreds of volunteers, including many University of Minnesota students, scoured the downtown area, to no avail. Loesch said doctors spent seven hours on the autopsy and didn't find any obvious signs of foul play, but also did not find any reason to conclude the death was by natural causes. The exact manner of his death had been listed as "undetermined." Steve Jenkins said in 2003 the blood-alcohol concentration in his son's heart tissue was only 0.12 percent. Tests also found a high level of the date-rape drug known as GHB in his son's system, though Steve Jenkins added that medical examiners told him the body could produce the substance naturally. Police had never classified the death as a crime. Chris Jenkins grew up in Eden Prairie. His family later moved to Wisconsin, but he opted to attend the U and its business school. Steve Jenkins and his wife, Jan, who moved back to the Twin Cities from the Milwaukee area after their son's death, have long lamented a lack of answers. At a press conference days after his son's body was found, Steve Jenkins said he specifically wanted to know whether his son was escorted out of the bar and how he ended up outside without his wallet, cell phone and coat. "We as parents deserve to know what happened that night," Steve Jenkins said. http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/16042647.htm