It’s hard to not be skeptical when a docuseries centering the death of a real person, with real friends and family, begins with a conspiracy fanatic likening a deep tragedy like Jenkins’ death to a network drama; but Luciano’s bit was merely a jumping point. From there, forensic specialists, audio-visual technicians, Rosemont police, the deceased teen’s family, friends and local media personalities such as ZackTV1, who has since passed away, took to the screen to share their perspectives on how they felt law enforcement handled — or mishandled — the news of Jenkins being missing, the plausibility of evidence and if ultimately they thought her death was really an accident or murder.
It was a relief to see Pongo remain on the straight and narrow while connecting more dots in the teen’s death for the small screen instead of jumping to dramatic conclusions for shock value. MTV called on someone with relevance to Black communities in Chicago, unlike many national media outlets who send in outside journalists to cover sensitive topics in our city.
On the other hand, though, there are a few things missing in this “True Life Crime” episode — titled “Tragic Accident or Calculated Murder?” — that would have better summed up what the case meant for the Black Chicago community. For instance, it would have been beneficial to see how other activists used the teen’s story to strategize, empower and protect Black women in Chicago.
More lacking was the input of Black women beyond those grieving. Ignoring Black women was a pattern in the events surrounding Jenkins’ death—from security not assisting her best friend Bre Bre in looking for Jenkins to law enforcement delaying her mom’s initial request to file a missing person report. Including Black women to speak on the forensics of the case or discuss the history and impact of folks disregarding women’s voices, could have added an impactful element and necessary perspective to the onslaught of information in the episode.