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The Case of Elisa Lam

In my opinion, the case of Elisa Lam is one of the most bizarre and creepy mysteries of all time. Whilst an official ruling was made by the L.A County Department that her death was “accidental due to drowning” , there is so much more to the story that I believe suggests otherwise. It is for this reason that many determine the case to be unsolved.


Let me start by outlining the main details of the incident. Elisa Lam was a 21 year old student from Vancouver, Canada who was travelling in L.A and staying at the Cecil Hotel in February 2013. She unfortunately suffered from severe bipolar and depression and was taking medication for these disorders. Initially, Elisa was staying in a hostel-like room with many other guests, but was soon moved as her roommates complained Lam was exhibiting disturbing behavior. Approximately 19 days after being moved to her own room, and not being seen for a while, Elisa Lam’s severely decomposed naked body was found in one of the large water tanks located on the roof of the hotel. How’d they find her body? After multiple guests at the hotel complained of the water pressure being weak, coming out black or discoloured before later normalising, and tasting odd.




To further understand the case, I’d like to make clear the key points outlined in the Police Report:
“The body of Elisa Lam had been decomposing in the water tower for 19 days. She was found naked, with her belongings floating beside her and covered in a ‘sand-like substance.’ There was no suicide note.
The door to the roof was locked and alarmed, raising questions about how she could get on the roof in the first place. Additionally, you needed a ladder and a strong arm to climb the tank and get inside. There was no ladder on the scene, and Elisa was 5.5ft and weighed only 121 lbs.”  
“On February 21, the coroner's office reported that they had found her death to be an accidental drowning, with bipolar disorder as a significant factor.”
“[Pathologists] had a rape and fingernail kit done, but found no evidence of physical trauma or sexual assault.”
Also identified in the report and autopsy, was the fact that no recreational drugs or prescription medications were found in her system.
Now it gets even weirder. Let’s go over the elevator footage. So, this footage was obtained from the hotel showing Elisa exhibiting extremely odd behaviour the night she went missing. It is quite unsettling - although nothing graphic occurs during, viewer discretion is advised.


Her behavior in the video is erratic, strange, almost occultist in places. From it, I’ve come to one or both of the following conclusions:
1. Elisa was being followed (probably by the person who may have killed her, if she was killed).
2. Elisa was on drugs, which would both explain her bizarre behavior and make her vulnerable to any of the loons habituating the seedy hotel or its downtown Los Angeles environs.
The hand movements she starts to display when she stands outside the elevator are completely bizarre. This is why I strongly believe drugs were involved, despite official reports. I just don’t think that behaviour is normal or human at all. On that note, other people have concluded from this video that perhaps a supernatural factor was involved. This I can somewhat get on board with but nonetheless, let me discuss the evidence.
The Cecil Hotel has a dark history, to say the least. Located in skid row of downtown L.A, the hotel began with a shifty reputation. This quickly moved to downright scary when it started to be home to serial killers and suicides. To summarise:
  • Satanist and serial killer, Richard Ramirez lived at the hotel while he terrorized the streets of Los Angeles in the mid eighties. It’s believed he murdered 13 people while staying at the hotel.
  • Austrian serial killer, Jack Unterweger, also stayed at the hotel in 1991. He murdered three prostitutes during his time there.
  • The hotel has been a suicide hot spot since the 1950s.
  • In an unsolved murder in 1964, Pigeon woman, Goldie Osgood, who enjoyed feeding the birds in a nearby square, was found dead in her room. She had been stabbed, strangled and raped - and then had her room ransacked.
  • The Cecil was also reported to be one of the last places Elizabeth Short “The Black Dahlia” was seen before her death.
Get the picture? Pretty creepy. Anyway, there have been a lot of ghost sightings all around the hotel and when combined with this information it seems pretty plausible to anyone who isn’t a total skeptic. I also feel that paranormal factors could have been at play along with drugs. Perhaps the use of hallucinogenics made her see evil specters or demons that contributed to her death. And that’s not just me, a lot of ‘online sleuths’ have been cited to believe this also.
So how can I be so sure that drugs were at play if official reports state otherwise? Let me discuss why the official reports may have been tampered with or involved in a cover up.
  • After an initial media blackout on the case, the autopsy was postponed multiple times.
  • Then the toxicology report gets postponed too.
  • Later the coroner comes out and hurriedly states the death was accidental.
  • Evidence surfaced showing the elevator video to be edited due to inconsistencies with time stamps, thus leading some to believe there was a potential cover up.



It’s not much to go off, but it just doesn’t add up to me. In the end, I think the public never got the whole story about this case and we probably never will. The circumstances surrounding Elisa’s death and the case proceedings leave me skeptical  and that’s why I think the official ruling is incorrect and why the true nature of the death of Elisa Lam remains unsolved.
By Bronte Tomaino 44914784

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