February 19, 2013

Guests at the Cecil Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles reported that their water pressure
was low, coming out black, and had a weird taste. When the hotel maintenance worker
went up to the water tank to check it out, he found Elisa Lam.

Hotel Cecil

Background

Elisa Lam was the daughter of immigrants from Hong Kong. She was born on April 30,
1991, in Vancouver. Lam was also a student at the University of British Columbia in
Vancouver.

Elisa was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and depression. She was taking four
medications for these illnesses. She did not have any history of suicide ideation or
attempts; she had gone missing for a brief time though.

On the 26th of January, 2013, Elisa checked into the Cecil Hotel during a trip to
California. She was originally supposed to stay in a shared room with roommates she had
not met before, similar to a hostel. She was relocated to a different room on her own
because her roommates complained of odd behavior. There are no reports of what this odd
behavior consisted of.

Lam had had daily contact with her parents over the phone. They reported her missing
when she missed their calls on February 1st when she was supposed to check out and
leave for Santa Cruz. She was last seen in the hotel on January 31st. Her belongings had
been left in her room, including her ID, wallet, and computer.

Elisa Lam

Elevator Footage

The surveillance footage from the elevator on February 1st has become a pop-culture
phenomenon. She got into the elevator and pushed buttons. One of the buttons is thought
to be the door open button, the doors didn’t close automatically. She repeatedly gets in
and out of the elevator while looking around, hiding in the corner, waving her arms, and
gesturing (like she was talking to someone). The doors remain open this whole time.

The footage is about two and a half minutes long and has been analyzed by people
worldwide because of her strange behavior. Many people have found the footage to be
extremely unsettling.

Finding Elisa Lam

During the time that they were still searching for Elisa, guests started to complain about
the water. On February 19th, 2013, a maintenance worker looked in one of the 1,000-
gallon water tanks on the roof that supply water to the guest rooms, a kitchen, and a
coffee shop.

“I noticed the hatch to the main water tank was open and looked inside and saw
an Asian woman lying face-up in the water approximately twelve inches from
the top of the tank.” (Biography)

There was Elisa Lam.

       During the search for Lam, the roof had been searched, along with the rest of the
hotel, by police with a K-9. No one checked the water tanks.

The Investigation

Elisa’s body was moderately decomposed and bloated. Her skin mostly had a gree-hue.
There was no evidence of physical trauma, suicide. or sexual assault. The sexual assault
aspect surprised many because she had been found naked. Clothing that matched the
description of what she was wearing was floating next to her. There was a “sand-like
particulate” coating her clothing. Lam also had her watch and room key with the
belongings they found with her.

The toxicology test only found traces that were consistent with her prescriptions,
nonprescription drugs (ibuprofen and Sinutab), and .02% alcohol. No other recreational
drugs were seen in the report. The experts did note that the concentration of the
prescription medication in her system showed that she was “under-medicating or had
stopped taking her medications recently” (Wikipedia).

No one is sure how Elisa got onto the roof in the first place. Entry to the roof was strictly
employee-only. The interior stairs had an alarmed and locked door. The only way for her
to get up there without alerting anyone was for her to go out of a window and climb up
one of the three fire escapes.

The next question is, how did she get into the water tank? She would have needed a 10-
foot ladder to reach the lid, which weighed 20 pounds. She then would have had to get
into the tank and close the lid after her. All of this while naked and holding clothes, unless
she got undressed in the tank. Could she have done this all alone?

The investigation report did not offer an explanation as to how she got into the tank.
       The final ruling of the autopsy was that it was an accidental drowning. The coroner
cited her bipolar disorder as the main factor.

The autopsy report has been criticized and its findings brought into question due to the
lack of information. It does not mention the results of the rape and fingernail kits, that is,
if they were even processed at all. There was also a record of blood that pooled under the
skin in Elisa’s anal area, not to mention her rectum was prolapsed; some suggest this was
a sign of sexual abuse. Others suggest it was just from bloating during decomposition.
The coroner themself held no strong opinion on the nature of her death, remaining
equivocal about their conclusion that it was an accident.

The Water Tanks at Hotel Cecil

Theories

Murder

One theory is that Elisa was trying to get away from someone. Her odd behavior in the
elevator looked like she was scared of being caught, being sure to stay vigilant and peek
around corners. This person could have killed her. It would explain how she got into the
tank and the injuries to her lower half.

Others say her behavior in the elevator just showed that she was frustrated with how slow
the elevator was being.

Some people don’t think that this is plausible because it is “difficult for someone to have
been able to do that and not leave prints, not leave DNA or anything like that” (Smail).

Her Tumble blog had been updated since her death. The platform does have an option to
queue up a post to publish at a set time, so it is possible that this was the cause. The thing
is, her phone was never found. It is unknown if the updates to her blog were from the
queue self-publishing posts she had set, or if the thief/possible murderer was doing it.
Drugs

There was no trace of any illicit drugs in her system, this is not dissuading people from
sticking with the drug theory though. Some are suggesting that the drugs could have
broken down during decomposition, or that the drugs she took were ones that are tested
for in a typical toxicology screening.

Some had thought that she may have been on ecstasy and various other party drugs. Her
strange behavior in the elevator and with her roommates is leading people to believe
alcohol or drugs are the only explanation.

Suicide

On her Tumblr blog, Elisa had often written about her anxiety and depression. The
coroner had reported that the circumstances did not support suicide as a possibility in
Elisa’s death. She did not intend to harm herself.

Supernatural

There are even theories about Elisa communicating with and being killed by the dead.
This is mostly brought upon by her weird behavior in the elevator.

The hotel has a bad history, even before Elisa. Serial killer Richard Ramirez (the night
stalker) stayed in the hotel from 1984-1985, it was also the last known location of
Elizabeth Short (the Black Dahlia) who I have talked about on this blog before, Jack
Unterweger (an Australian serial killer) stayed at the hotel in 1991, as well as the 19 other
deaths that have occurred in the hotel since 1927. Side note, I would seriously recommend
looking at the history of the Cecil Hotel, it’s kinda crazy how many people have died
there in weird ways.

All of the deaths in the hotel have led people to believe that Elisa was hiding from a ghost
and that the gestures she was making while in the elevator were from her talking to a
ghost.

Accident/Psychotic Episode

By far, the most supported theory is that Elisa Lam was just the victim of a terrible
accident. The theory of her having a psychotic episode only popped up after it was
released that she had bipolar depression and depression. There was evidence that she was
under-medicating or had stopped taking her pills altogether. The improper dosage could
have definitely led to the expression of severe symptoms that were previously under
control.
 “My opinion is that she fell off her medication, and in her state,
she happened to find her way onto the roof, got into the tank
of water,”

“At the time, I think that water tank was maybe full. But as
people used the tank, used water, unknown to her, the level
was dropping to a point where she could no longer reach out
and escape, and she died that way.” (Smail)

After

Elisa Lam’s parents filed a wrongful death suit against the hotel. They claimed that the
hotel failed to “inspect and seek out hazards in the hotel that presented an unreasonable
risk of danger to (Lam) and other hotel guests” (Wikipedia).

They sought unspecified damages and burial costs.

The hotel fought back. They argued that they couldn’t have known that someone would
have entered the water.

The suit was dismissed because how Elisa got into the tank was unknown, so there was no
way to know if the hotel could have prevented it.

What is your opinion on the case? Which theory do you think is the most realistic? Did
Elisa Lam have a psychotic break? Or did a murderer get away without any suspicion?

Sources –

https://www.bustle.com/entertainment/elisa-lam-death-theories-crime-scene-netflix

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Elisa_Lam

https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/elisa-lam

https://buzzfeed-unsolved.fandom.com/wiki/The_Bizarre_Death_Of_Elisa_Lam

https://www.womenshealthmag.com/life/a35493301/how-did-elisa-lam-die-cecil-hotel-
theories/

https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/reports/a35488625/elisa-lam-theories-cecil-hotel/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deaths_and_violence_at_the_Cecil_Hotel

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cecil_Hotel,_L.A.jpg

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2013/06/20/body-in-water-tank-ruled-accidental-
drowning/2443061/

https://www.womenshealthmag.com/life/a35493301/how-did-elisa-lam-die-cecil-hotel-
theories/