Warning: Graphic content, readers’ discretion advised. This story contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some readers discretion advised.
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
Lam ho hi.better known to her peers at the university of british colombia amd popular culture at large
as lisa lam. was a bright thoughtful and imaginative student
her interests in fashionand talent for writing were weighed down by the unfortunate demons of bipolar and mental sppression.
clouding the scircumstances that most asume led to her initial vanishing and tragic death.
amateur sleuths
and perofessional investigators alike have spent the better part of almost nine years digging theoretical tunnels and holding magnifying glasses up to anything and everything that might shed that one decisive clue in the ultimate reason
behind elisa lam’s demise.
these probes and pursuals, combined with assorted observable evidence have only created headaches more than they’ve solved questions.
leaving the uncracked mystery up for graps by anyone willing to rise to the challenge. as i hope to provide a more substantial reasoning
built upon observarble evidence and situational analysis. this is an examination of the bizzare circumstances surrounding elisa lam’s confusing death.
this is a cold case.
elisa lam was born on april 30th, 1991.
in Vancouver,british colombia.
to two immigrants from hong kong.david an yinna lam.
her parents opened up a resturant in burnaby canada and the family helped operate the popular dining spot called paul’s resturant for years.
in 2010 elisa started her first blog on the internet titled ethier fields.throughout the next couple of years she used the platform to showcase her lover of fashion and clothings often posting magazine articles and fashion related photography
she would also openly speak about her struggles with mental illness.constantly fearing her transcript would show her frequently dropped classes and sporadic college attendance .
however she also wrote honestly about her thoughts and ideas on psychology , emotion and the human spirit. throughout these blogs she kept sharing stories that reflected a bright mind and intelligent thinker.
written in her final blog on ether fields ,elisa announced she would transfering her energy and social media presence to tumblr,
starting a page called nouvelle nouveau.translated as news, new.on her page, elisa shared thousands of imagesand pieces of writing ,both her own and of various authors.
it was apparent of timblr.that she held deep rooted interests in classical books and films. experimental art and design and fashion and culture.
sprinkled amongst these fascinations were bits of dark and brooding images. hinting a more personal sadness
and perhaps conflicted minds full of monsters,melancholy and misery .
in fact elisa did have a history with a couple of psychological disorders .
this narrative kept under wraps by her family for months after her disappearance and death.
specifically she was diagnosed for bipolar disorder and depression. bipolar disorder isa mental illness that causes depressionitself in a addition to instances of abnormal and elevated mood called mania or hypermania.
to treat these dosorderselisa took multiple medications such as dexadrin, welbertrin and mood stabilizers.for most of her life,elisa functioned without major ramifications as a result of these struggles
and until the fateful trip to los angeles in 2013.
she had shown zero signs of breakdown or danger to either herself or to others.
with these characteristic in mind it’s important to remember elisa lam as a human being not a diagnosis. she was a promising student at the university of british columbia and obviously had a plethora of ideas about the world. she had a family ,hobbies and most importantly a future.
unfortunately it was cut short of its potential as the mystery ofher fate began to unravel in december of 2012.lets explore the imeline of events leading to elisas’s death.
elisa gives the first recorded mention of her desire to travel to the west coast and visit a school in santa clara for potential transfer. a week later on december 28th, elisa mentions on tumblr that he cell phone has been misplaced, after the new year on january 5th 2013 ,elisa mentions planning for her west coast tour.
and for the first time suggests meeting up with people via the internet. a couple of days later on january 7th, elisa books her flight for the west coast tour and tacks on a very eerie message regarding the future on tumblr.
then on january 9th, elisa posts on tumblr that due to paranoia she has made a new facebook account for the fifth time and reports a blurbe she had written earlier that day. before the blurb is an introduction,in which she claims this is the very start of my pdepression and today i’ am feeling very low.
fast forward to january 18th, when elisa supposedly arrives in vancouver on her tour. four days later on january 22nd, she supposedly traveled to san diego for the next journey.
after misssing her nitial flight,while getting lost in the airport on january 24th elisa posts on tumblr that her trip so far has consisted mostly of activities and actions she participates in back at home on a normal schedule.
with this post she hints at her later actions in los angeles when when she sais every now and then i do something entirely impulsive and reckless.
a few days later on january 27th she post again on tumblr that she was out with friends and had in fact lost another phone. allthough this time it did not belong to her instead she borrowed her friend’s old blackberry for her trip .
the next day , january 28th elisa arrives in LA .
and checks into the cecil hotel. near skid row , a budget motel for tourists in the city .
on january 30th elisas ‘ anonymous roommates complain of her odd behaviour and she has moved to a private room on the fifth floor.so that she isnt a disturbance to o ther guests
on january 31st the last day of her planned in LA. elisa is seen for the last time by a coupke of anonymous hotel workers.
and then finally by a clerk . at the local bookstore.
because elisa was supposed to check out of the cecil hotel that day and travelled to santa cruz for the last day on her tour. both her parents were waiting for a phone call.
in fact elisa had called her parents every night during her trip despite losing her temporary cellphone after they heard nothing from their daughter .
mr and mrs lam flew to L.A to file a missing person’s report and assist the los angeles police departement in their search throughout the first week of february
both the lam couple and the LAPD scoured the cecil hotel and the surounding areas for ant trace of elisa .
police dogs were unable to pick up on he scent and for the first few no clues were uncovered.
elisas room that she stayed in prior to her disappearance vas void of any suspicious items or signs of disturbance and unsettling occrurence. for such a strange vanishing.
on february the 6th the LAPD released an official statement online regarding elisa lam’s disappearance and details surrounding the case .
urging citizens to keep an eye out for her profile.
a day later they hold a press conference. on february 7th .but again receive no leads or calls from the general public.
then on february 14th LAPD t releases the biggest bombshell in the entire case. an elevator surveiilance clip from february 1st, showing elisa lam walking in the elevator, press a series og buttons and proceed to act in a bizzare manner.
the clip was unsettling to say the least.but gave investigators one more glimps int lam’s final sighting
and brought the case to worldwide attention, the missing person search would soon come to an end
however when on february 19th a cecil hotel worker responded to multiple guest complaints.
about funny smelling water and low faucet pressure
the employee went up to the rooftop water system , peered into the open tank and discovered lisa lam’s naked body floating face up.
LAPD was immediately notified and the water tanks soon became a crime scene.
a couple of ay thereafter on february 21st.the los angeles coroner’s office issuded a label of elisa lam’s as accidental,due to the consequence of drowning, with bipolar disorder as a finding other conditions contributing but but not related to the imediate cause of death .
on june, 2013, the full coroners reports along with the toxicology results were released to the public as well. while not revealing any massive twists to the mystery. it did note that elisa lam’s body was indeed found naked with her clothes also found in the water tank.
covered in a sandy particulate along along with her keys and watch
from here on out , thousands of theories . hypotheticals,conspiracies
and simple casual conversations have been discussed through the following months and years.
nobody seemed to want to stick by the L.A coroner’s office and their findings . many Question the police investigation and even more saw possible holes in the final report
regardless the timeline of elisa lam’s death and it’s direct series of events blossomed into the most talked about case of the 21 first st century.
the major case point
without a doubt.the most controversal and and scrutinized piece of the the elisa lam case
the most controversal and and scrutinized piece of the the elisa lam case is the four – minut cctv footage.
that the LAPD pulled from the cecil hotel surveillancetapes. situated in the upper corner of a main elevator carriage in the northern corridor.
the video a bit grainy and segments of it are hard to clearly make out but one thing is for certain elisa lam is the subject of the footage.
and is clearly reacting to something now what that something is will likely never be accounted for with 100 certainly but it does make the clip much stranger.
it makes one wonder if elisa is peering out of the elevator with the sense that she’s being followed.
one could argue , she talking out loud at certain points.possibly just to herself between the random buttons pressed on her entrance, to the emptiness of the hallways to the undistinguished hand gestures she makes.
the ryhme and reason of the video is inpossible to explain on a first watch .
there have also been some controversy surronding the tape’s origins.
some people across the internet claim the footage skips one minute of the time code .but because of its low quality. it ‘s not easy to point out .
others say the footage itself has been tampered with.
purposefully pixelating lisa’s mouth at various points .but these reports have either been denied or flat out ignored bu professionals
one thing is for sure ,the elevator footage from february 1st 2o13. depicting the last the last known images of elisa la have conjured both worthyconcern and far- fetched conspiracies and remains the single most intriguin piece of evidence linked to the case.
the theories
let’s examine the theories surrounding the mystery of elisa lam’s death. since the day elisa lam went missing the CCTV tapes were released
and her body was discovered on the rooptop of the cecil hotel.countless theories have been proposed across the internet and publications all over the world. trying to unlock the secrets of the unexplainable mystery.
many of these assumptions are base purely in conspiracy, some circles have drawn up wild fantasies
that explain elisa was playing and elevator game, attempting to cross over into alternative universes. others believe elisa was possessed by spiritual forces, encountered paranomal subjects or was contacted by oter worldly beings. this are farcial attempts to glamorize elisa’s death as science fiction or occultist and are based upon zero observable evidence co nected by complex coincidental claimes. and hyperbole
for example,the location of the cecil hotel is in skid row of downtown of los angeles
the area is infamous for its high crime rates and suspicious activity,drug peddling and violent crime are common both outside
and inside of the hotel which as its own history of murder and suicide.
1985 serial killer richard ramirez dubbed as the night stalker stayed in one of the 600 rooms of the cecil in the midst of a killing spree that ended in the deaths of 13 women.
another homicide suspect,jack unterweger. stayed in the hotel in 1991.
it was a frewquent spot for those with suicidal tendencies.,seeing a fewv people jump from the rooftop in the 1950s and 60s
even housed another cold case that of pigeon goldie osgood.a former telephone operator whos mutilated body was discovered in her room in 1964.however despite the criminalogy of the cecil,non of it can be directly attributed to the death of elisa a much more plausible explanation
is that lisa lam was followed during her time in LA.chased in the hallways of the cecil hotel and subsequently murdered and placed in the water tank by a second party.
initially this theory made sense.if you go back to multiple tumblr posts that elisa made throughout the end of 2012 and beginning of 2013. she was conscious about her outspoken nature,and feared that one day her mouth would get her into trouble at various points she wrote about unsettling anxieties
one post read
elisa was convinced trouble was lurking around the corner at the fault of her tongue.
saying quote: ” i really need to be removed from society before my big mouth gets me in trouble and i get beaten up” as well as ” my mouth is my downfall and it will get me in trouble”.
taking this into consideration her own admission that she frequently sparked arguments with strangers around her, it is plausible she came into a confrontation at the wrong place and at the wrong time. hat winter .
in additional to elise’s worries is the manner in how she acts. during the elevator footage after she enters for the first time and presses the floor buttons. she waits a few moments before slowly approaching the elevator’s door frame , then quickly sticks her head out in the hallway and glances from side to side in a hurried manner. then pulling back into the elevator. she pins herself against the wall and then into the corner.
acting as if she was avoiding the vision of someone from outside.she goes back to the door frame once more and again cautiously sticks her head into the open
from here she makes a series of random movements before pressing more buttons. when she returns outside for the final time .
it appears as if she’s communicating eather orally or with her hands,regardless , no one is seen and elisa disappears from view.
the first part of her movements could indicate she was hiding from another person.
but her random footwork
and dazed demeanor in the second part of the footage dont seem to make sense, if she truly was on the run the turmblr post concerns combined with the suspicious video truly makes one wonder if there was someone involved with elisa’s death.
but there are too many rebuttals to the arguments. that her cause of death was homicide.
for instance there were zero bruises or signs of bodlily harm on elisa’s figure ,ruling out an assualt.
all her belongings were accounted for besides the long-lost cell phone.ruling out robbery or attempted robbery.
the eyewitness testimonies by hotel employees and the bookstore clerk. claimed she was completely alone and showed no signs of struggle or distress regarding another person.
cameras captured no other suspects around the time of elisa’s recording and her lack of relationships in a new territory helped rule out a planned or gestated murder as she had very little firends back at home, let alone los angeles.in the end there was zero evidence confirming these theories about murder or foul play .
leading us just as the LAPD did ,to rule murder out.
all that being said the official opinion of the LA chief coroner and assigned medical examiners presents a catch -22. they preface their final hypothesis with the varning that the interpretation of the evidence is limited.because the sample size is small .particularly the lack of blood samples tested due to low levels
howeve,they then cotnradict themselves when they say that the police investigation ruled out foul play but also stated quote:
so, if there was no harmful intention either by lam herself or a second suspect.
then how exactly did elisa accidentally climb up a a massive cylinder discover it was a water tank, lift up an incredibly heavy lid and jump into the dark water.
and if the lid was already opened, why did she choose to climb in as a response murder and suicide are polar opposite explanations. that have both been deemed inapplicable.
believers that alisa was killed by somebody else linger over the fact that the rooftop acess was protected by alarms on the doors and the fact that her accessing the water tanks required agility and strenght.
however it has been repeatedly explained that the hotel has four different acess points to the rooof.
three by fire escape that have no alarms.
and that the wter tank lids were either opened or lighter than originally assumed easily operated by a women of elisa’s size.
so now we must find the middle ground between the two explanations and justifiably theorize how such a specific unarguable set of circumstances could be regarded as an accident.
the most plausible and evidential theory is that , lisa lam suffered a manic episode due to her struggles with bioplar disorder , both leading up to and on the day of february 1st.to start we must consider the toxicology reports.
two different antidepressant medicines prescribed to elisa were either traced directly or metabolites were traced to her heart blood and liver enymes.
one of these drugs BUPROPION.known to sometimes cause mania in biolar disorder
anothe mood stabilizing medicine had metabolites traced to her enzymes, but elisas anti-psychotic medicine was not found in her system.
so in review elisa had only taken one of her prescribed drugs the day she passed and had only taken the others recently ,if not at all in the days leading up to her death.
toxicology report also confirms that elisa had no alcohol in her system or other recreational drugs
this rules out the possibility that she had been under the influence of substances while on camera in the elevator.
or that something such as marijuana,pills or drunkenness,inspired her to climb into the tank. her liver was not tested ror rohypnol ,better known as roofies.
there was no urine in the system,meaning that she excreted any and all liquid waste urin that would contain traces of roofies ,ketamine or other date rape paraphernalia before entering the tank.
so reflecting on the information, regarding her history with mental disorders and the calculated prescription use and lack thereof.
we must next understand what exactly an episode of mania is. several mania can include psychotic features. such as hallucinations, delusions , paranoia, catatonia and lack of insight
one mental health professional uses the phrase disorganization yet appearing singularly forcused.
highlighting its occurence when elisa presses the buttons in the elevator at random appearing intense on some kind of agenda or direction.
symptoms of mania also include psychomotor agitation, which involves repetitive , purposeless or unintentional movements and behaviors.
Dr daniel morrell reviews ain a medical journal, that these actions can result in the ringing of the hands pacing and taking off clothes repeatedly all three behaviors were exhibited by elisa both in the elvator footage and in or around the water tanks.
the fact that elisa lam attempted to go to the roof at all could be a response to hallucinations or delusions what these might have been are unknown and it would be unfair to elisa’s memory to assume and fictionalize, her mental illness.
it is important to note that manic hallucinations are not just visual but can be manifestations of sound , smell, taste and touch .
another possible explanation to her removing of clothing in combination with the inconsistent prescription upkeep the pure fact that lisa was in a foreign location with a lack of communication back home could have set off a manic episode.
the people elisa had been staying with since she booked a shared room with a fellow guests stated that elisa was acting strangely, to the point where she was bothering the others and had to be moved to another room by herself.
the last piece of promising evidence supporting this theory came in a testimony from a confidential residence to be referenced as resident a.from los angeles california.
after hearing about our investigation into the case of elisa lam and having little to no prior knowledge of this scenario
resident a told that a few years ago they had a family member in mexico commit suicide as result of manic depression or bipolar disorder,resident a stated that this family member died from drowning after plunging into the depths of a similar industrial water tank. she also stated that this was a common occurrence for the family member who as a result of their bipolar disorder seeked out bodies of water whenever suffering from a bout of mania
resident a confirmed that this family member was about 35 years old when they passed away but had been suffering from mental illness for over a decade. and had an inclination to runaway and find attraction through waterthroughout the years.
while this case has no direct to elisa lam, its peculiar that both instances involve a confirmed bipolar subect who, as result of their condition ,drowned because of an unconscious gtavitation to water.
there is hardly any research done in the medical or psychological field regarding this phenomena
elisa’s reason for selecting the the cecil hotel’s water tank may not be a mystery but a tragic symptom of he psychological illness.
in the end . taking all evidence ,scientific research and social patterns into accounts, we’ve determined that the initial report from the chief coroner is accurate in that lisa lam died accidentally due to drowning as an indirect result of bipolar disorder.
while other theories were briefly discussed their complete lack in observable evidence and origins from make- believe ,prevented them from serious consideration.
the reason this case fascinated followers all over the world and produced incessant gossip and conspiracies is the fact
that it’s hard for people to accept simple innocent explanations for complex and unsettling situations.
psychological disorders are heavily stigmatized even today,but also very misunderstood. people don’t want to accept that elisa lam was suffering from hallucinations due to bipolar disorder,because that’s only in her mind.and they struggle accepting such indistinction. instead it´s far easier to tell our own versions of what we want to have happens something more fantastical or intriguing, than mental illness.
for example some people believe another party was involved.because lam’s cell phone was missing and her tumblr remained active for months following her death. yet the simple answe is her original phone was lost weeks before her trip and tumblr will populate active accoutns with posts in the likeness of their previous content for a brief time after they go dark.
people also couldn’t wrap their brains around the fact that elisa made it to the rooftop and into the water tanks undetected.
however it is quite simply laid out in the undisputed material facts and supporting evidence section of the motion for summary judgement documents after the cecil hotel was sued for its role in elisa’s death.
this means that elisa used one of the three fire escapes to reach the rooftop.
which was proven possible by an international guiest at the cecil hotel via a youtube demonstration.
in addition the motion for summary judgements reports
this photo depicts the elevator utility room in questions
which allows easy access from a red set of stairs and a joined ladder
the leap from that structure to the water tanks is also quite negligible as seen put to scale with the size of a human portrayed here.
in terms of the elevator video our story -centric minds wants to fill in the hallways on either side of the elevators with monsters and perpetrators and supernatural phenomena.
but in reality there was nothing out of sort.on the night of febrary 1st,2013.
only elisa lam truly knew what she saw and what she felt the day she disappeared
and it’s up to us to trust that it was the unfortunate unpredictability of mental illnewss that caused these emotions and the actions that resulted as such.
after all , elisa was a young women who had recently gone through intense emotional rollercoasters, with an identity crisis and building anxieties revolving around her purpose in life. she was somewhat aware of impending depression and admitted online that she could tell she was leaning towards more impulsive and reckless tendencies after the fact a glaring sign of potential mania.
she was about the aage that many young people start to experience what are called breakthrough symptoms of both bipolar spectrum and schizophrenia spectrum tendencies.
the unfamiliar surroundings of skid row .LA. potential insomnia
mixed with an absence of proper medicine compounded her donfusion and eventual mania.
there is no one ruling factor that led to elisa lam’s harrowing death,instead it wasa combination of nature andcircumstance, heightened by coincidental video redordings, the cultivated a gross amount of inconsiderate internet consiracy.
let this eamination of the bizzar circumstances surrounding elsa’s lam’s death be a step in the process of ending the stigmatization around her struggles with disorder and mental illness in general.
elisa was a wonderful humanbeing with infinite potential.
this is a picture of actual tank elisa’s body was removed from . the tank was drained prior to removal of body.
