Death of Elisa Lam

Death of Elisa Lam

In February of 2013, Elisa Lam was found dead in a water tank at the infamous Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles. To this day, nobody knows how she died or how her body got inside the sealed tank, and the surveillance footage is possibly the most disturbing real video ever captured. ⠀

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Watch the video and read the official report by clicking the link in our bio. 

On February 19, 2013, the body of Canadian tourist Elisa Lam (Chinese: 藍可兒; born Lam Ho-yi) was recovered from a large cistern atop the Stay on Main hotel in Downtown Los Angeles, where she had been a guest. She was last seen alive on January 31 and was reported missing by her parents on February 1. Her body was discovered by a hotel maintenance worker investigating complaints of flooding and low water pressure

Interest in Lam's disappearance increased on February 13 when the Los Angeles Police Department released security camera footage of her behaving erratically in a hotel elevator on the day she was last seen alive. The video went viral.

While an autopsy performed on February 21 was inconclusive in determining the manner of Lam's death,[6] the Los Angeles County Coroner's office subsequently ruled the death an accident with bipolar disorder being a significant contributing factor.

Guests at the Stay on Main sued the hotel over the incident and Lam's parents filed a separate suit later that year; the latter was dismissed in 2015. Some of the early Internet interest noted what were considered to be unusual similarities between Lam's death and the 2002 horror film Dark Water. The case has since been referenced in international popular culture and been the subject of several creative works.

Disappearance 

Lam contacted her parents in British Columbia daily while traveling up until the day she disappeared. On January 31, 2013, the day she was scheduled to check out of the Cecil and leave for Santa Cruz, her parents did not hear from her and called the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD); her family flew to Los Angeles to help with the search.

Hotel staff who saw Lam that day said she was alone. Outside the hotel, Katie Orphan, manager of The Last Bookstore, was the only person who recalled seeing her that day. "She was outgoing, very lively, very friendly" while getting gifts to take home to her family, Orphan told CNN. "[She was] talking about what book she was getting and whether or not what she was getting would be too heavy for her to carry around as she traveled," Orphan added.

Police searched the hotel to the extent that they legally could. They searched Lam's room and had dogs go through the building, including the rooftop, but the dogs were unsuccessful in detecting her scent. "But we didn't search every room," Sgt. Rudy Lopez said later, "we could only do that if we had probable cause" to believe a crime had been committed.

On February 6, a week after Lam had last been seen, the LAPD decided more help was needed. Flyers with her image were posted in the neighborhood and online. It brought the case to the public's attention through the media.

On February 13, after another week with no sign of Lam, the LAPD released a video of the last known sighting of her taken in one of the Cecil's elevators by a video surveillance camera on January 31.

In approximately two and a half minutes of footage, Lam, alone, makes unusual moves and gestures. She appears to press every button on the elevator panel, peers into the hallway, then leaves the elevator at one point while its doors remain open. When the doors fail to close after she returns, she leaves; the doors close later.

The video drew worldwide interest in the case due to Lam's strange behavior, and has been extensively analyzed and discussed.

 It was reposted widely, including on the Chinese video-sharing site Youku, where it got 3 million views and 40,000 comments in its first 10 days. Many of the commentators found it unsettling to watch.

Several theories emerged to explain her actions. One was that Lam was trying to get the elevator car to move in order to escape from someone who was pursuing her.

 Others suggested that she might be under the influence of ecstasy or some other party drug, but none was detected in her body. When her bipolar disorder became known, the theory that she was having a psychotic episode also emerged.

Other viewers argued that the video had been tampered with before being made public. Besides the obscuring of the timestamp, they claimed, parts had been slowed down and nearly a minute of footage had been removed. This could have been done to protect the identity of someone who otherwise would be in the video, either related or not to the disappearance.

During the search for Lam, guests at the hotel began complaining about low water pressure. Some later claimed their water was colored black and had an unusual taste. On the morning of February 19, Santiago Lopez, a hotel maintenance worker, found Lam's body in one of four 1,000-gallon (3,785 L) tanks located on the roof providing water to guest rooms, a kitchen, and a coffee shop. Through the open hatch he saw Lam lying face-up in the water. The tank was drained and cut open since its maintenance hatch was too small to accommodate equipment needed to remove Lam's body.

On February 21, the Los Angeles coroner's office issued a finding of accidental drowning, with bipolar disorder as a significant factor. The full coroner's report, released in June, stated that Lam's body had been found naked; clothing similar to what she was wearing in the elevator video was floating in the water, coated with a "sand-like particulate". Her watch and room key were also found with her.

Lam's body was moderately decomposed and bloated. It was mostly greenish, with some marbling evident on the abdomen and skin separation evident. There was no evidence of physical trauma, sexual assault, or suicide.

 Toxicology tests showed traces consistent with prescription medication found among her belongings, plus nonprescription drugs such as Sinutab and ibuprofen. A very small quantity of alcohol (about 0.02 g%) was present, but no other recreational drugs.

 Investigators and experts have however noted that the concentration of her prescription drugs in her system indicated that she was undermedicating or had stopped taking her medications recently.