Crime Stories

Case of Elisa Lam

As Elisa Lam stepped into the Cecil Hotel elevator and pressed numerous floors, she seemed to have heard something that spooked her; she nervously peered outside, jumped back in and hid in the adjacent corner as if she saw something terrifying. The surveillance footage from the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles, California captured Canadian university student Elisa Lam acting erratic and strange on January 31, 2013 before she seemingly vanished into thin air. She checked into the hotel days prior to her disappearance and was seen alone the entire stay. Hotel staff recalled her being friendly and outgoing as she discussed her future traveling endeavors. However, a week after she was last seen, her body was found floating inside of a water tank on the roof of the hotel; the staff discovered her body after hotel patrons began complaining of foul tasting water...That's not the weirdest part, though. The tank she climbed into was over eight feet tall and had no ladder to access it; how on earth did she got on top of the tank to open the latch? The latch itself was made from steel and extremely heavy when opening from the outside; it's possible that the latch was left open by a worker who forgot to close it behind them when checking the water supply. Oddly enough, Elisa's body was found naked with her personal belongings floating next to her and the latch closed behind her... When canines were brought in to track her scent in the initial search for her, there was no trail of her scent being found leading to the roof- so how did she get up there? Theories abound: Some suggest that she crawled up there from an easily accessible fire escape on the outside of the building or she managed to get ahold of a master key to unlock the always locked and secured roof. That still doesn't explain why the elevator door remained open for minutes while she was inside of it waiting for it to close; the only way this is possible is if someone was standing on the other side of the door or if a worker was manually holding the door open.The history of the hotel makes this case all but more creepy; there have been nearly a dozen unexplained and violent deaths attached to the Cecil Hotel and its dark past is also the inspiration for the hotel in season five of American Horror Story: Hotel. The hotel was built in 1930 during the Great Depression and its location was in the thicket of poverty stricken areas. The first death in the hotel was in 1931 when a guest killed himself in his room with poison capsules. After numerous suicides happened throughout the following 20 years, by the 1950's it earned itself the name "The Suicide." In 1947 Elizabeth Short, A.K.A The Black Dahlia was last seen alive at the hotel before her mutilated corpse was discovered in a park near the hotel. In 1964, a long-term resident of the hotel was found raped, beaten, and murdered inside of her room and her killer was never found. One of the most famous killers to have visited the Cecil Hotel was the infamous 'Night Stalker' Richard Ramirez; he stayed there for a few weeks during his reign as a serial killer in California.When Elisa's past was brought to light, it became obvious that she struggled with mental health issues: She was on numerous prescription medications for mood stabilization and depression and began making odd blog posts in the months leading up to her death. Without her medicine she would often have 'episodes' of mania and do off the wall things. When her family is asked what they believe happened, they seem confident in the fact that Elisa was mentally unstable on the night of her death after not taking her medicine and accidentally fell into the tank and died there.Due to the hotel earning the moniker 'The Suicide,' the hotel was renamed to 'Stay on Main Hotel' in 2013.What do you believe happened to Elisa?

Source/Credit: ColdCase