The Death of Elisa Lam
Over nine years ago, the mysterious death of Elisa Lam shocked the Los Angeles area and left people with more questions than answers. Elisa Lam’s body was discovered in a water tank on the roof of the Cecil hotel on February 19, 2013, almost three weeks after she was reported missing by her parents.
Elisa Lam was a 21-year-old college student from Vancouver, Canada who was on a solo trip along the west coast. She started in San Diego and took an Amtrak train to Los Angeles where she checked into the infamous Cecil Hotel, also known as Stay on Main. She stayed there for five days up until her reported disappearance on January 31st.
Lam’s parents were the first to raise concern after not hearing from their daughter that day. They reported her missing on the 1st of February, and not much later the Lams contacted the Los Angeles police department regarding their daughter’s whereabouts.
It wasn’t until maintenance workers found her body on the 19th of February after many hotel patrons reported low water pressure and an odd taste from the tap water. Maintenance worker, Santiago Lopez, noticed the hatch to the four-foot-by-eight-foot water tank was open before peering inside. He found Lam’s body lying face-up in the water, her clothes beside her corpse.
Despite her body being found, this has left people with more questions than answers.
Prior to her body being discovered, a three minute surveillance video was released of Lam entering an elevator on the day of her disappearance. In the video, Lam appears to be wearing the same clothes she was found next to in the water tank. She’s seen stepping in and out of the elevator several times after pressing numerous buttons. The elevator door remains open while she peers her head outside as if she’s looking for someone. Many crime junkies have theorized her unusual behavior in the elevator as a result of being followed or possibly something supernatural.
Ultimately, her death was ruled an accident from drowning, but that didn’t stop her autopsy results from fueling more suspicions. Although she had medication in her system to treat her depression, there was no trace of drugs or alcohol. The coroner’s reports mentioned Lam was off her bipolar medication which played a role in her death. This could’ve caused some manic side effects as a result. Some theorize this could explain her odd behavior in the elevator footage. There were also no signs of physical trauma or foul play.
Despite that, it still doesn’t explain how Lam could’ve reached the rooftop and unhatched the water tank. Lopez mentioned how he had to turn off the rooftop alarm before climbing onto the platform where the water tanks were. He then had to use a ladder just to reach the top of the tank.
The hotel’s Chief engineer Pedro Tovar said it would’ve been difficult for anyone to reach the water tank without triggering the rooftop alarms. The rooftop alarm can only be turned off by a hotel employee, but even then it would’ve reached the front desk and notified them about unauthorized activity on the roof. It is possible she could’ve climbed up to the rooftop via the fire escape on the side of the building. Still it would’ve taken a lot of energy just to reach one of the water tanks, especially for someone of Lam’s stature.
Opinions about Lam’s death seemed to be divided whether it was an accident or not. What largely makes this an interesting case has to do with where she died.
The Cecil Hotel has a long history of murders and paranormal activity after being built in 1924. For example, the famous unsolved mystery of the death of the “Black Dahlia” aka actress Elizabeth Short, was linked to the Cecil Hotel. Notorious serial killer Richard Ramierez, also known as the “Night Stalker”, lived on the top floor during his killing spree. The Austrian serial killer, Jack Unterweger lived at the hotel for some time as well.
Due to the hotel’s cursed past alongside the confounding evidence surrounding Elisa Lam’s death, many people have taken interest in the details surrounding her disappearance and death.
Nobody knows for sure what happened to the young woman at the Cecil hotel, but her story has sparked intrigue across true crime communities and inspiration in movies and TV shows, including a short docu-series on Netflix titled Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel.
So, as we approach ten years next year for this case, what do you think happened to Elisa Lam?
