Missing 15-Year-Old Girl Found Dead At Evanston Holiday Inn, Cause Unknown

EVANSTON, IL — Investigators are working to figure out what caused the death of a teenage girl who was found dead in an Evanston hotel room over the weekend after she was reported missing.

Nyasia Jennings, 15, of Chicago, had been reported as a runaway shortly before she was found dead Saturday morning, police said.

The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office is awaiting results of toxicology testing to determine how she died.

Police and paramedics were called to the Holiday Inn, 1501 Sherman Ave., around 11:15 a.m. for a report that someone may be dead on the 6th floor of the downtown Evanston hotel.

A member of the hotel's cleaning staff found the girl's body in a room before hotel management called 911, police said.

There were no persons of interest, no one was taken into custody at the scene and the hotel remained open after the discovery of the teen's body, according to police, who are investigating whether Jennings was alone in the room or whether there were any witnesses to her death.

Evanston police asked anyone with any information about the investigation to contact detectives by phone at 847-866-5040 or by sending a text message to 274637 with "EPDTIP" followed by information.