Overview

Death of Elisa Lam refers to a mysterious case of a woman who was discovered dead in a water tank atop the Cecil Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles. Interest in the case was stoked when footage of Lam the day she went missing was released. In the video, Lam appears distressed as she enters and reenters an elevator, speaks and gestures to an unseen person or thing outside the elevator, and appears to hide while the elevator appears to malfunction. The unsettling video has led to much debate around its contents, as well as the curious the circumstances surrounding her body's discovery. Her death has officially been ruled accidental but has nevertheless has captured the imagination of many.

Background

On January 26th, 2013, Elisa Lam arrived in Los Angeles, and on the 28th, checked into the Cecil Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles.^[1] On January 31st, after not receiving contact from Lam, her parents reported her missing. After police put up flyers looking for information on Lam's disappearance to no avail, police released CCTV footage of Lam behaving strangely in the Hotel's elevator. It is the last known footage of Lam before her death. The video has been viewed on YouTube over 23 million times.

On February 19th, 2013, Elisa Lam was found dead in a water tank atop the hotel after guests had complained about low water pressure, discoloration, and funny taste in the hotel's water. She was naked, with the clothes she was wearing in the elevator video floating next to her. The Los Angeles Coroner's office ruled that there was no evidence of physical trauma on the body of Lam, nor signs of suicide or sexual assault. The death was ruled an accident.

Developments

There are several theories as to what may have caused Lam's disappearance and death. Two days after the body was discovered, the coroner's office ruled that Lam's bipolar disorder played a "significant factor" in her death.^[2] She had been prescribed several anti-depressants, and the toxicology report showed traces of these drugs in her system, as well as trace amounts of alcohol and ibuprofen. This appears to rule out another theory which argues Lam appeared so strange in the video because she was under the influence of party drugs,^[3] though its possible she had taken a cocktail of party drugs which left her system by the time her body was discovered. Another theory was that she was being chased by an unseen and unknown pursuer in the elevator video.^[4] Furthermore, the location of her body proved a confounding detail. The building's fire escape was the only way to access the roof without triggering the building's alarm system,^[5] and the water tanks were propped up on cylinder blocks with no direct access to the top--hotel staff would have had to supply their own ladder to look into the tanks. The tanks also had heavy lids.

Guests of the Cecil Hotel, now rebranded as Stay on Main, filed a lawsuit against the hotel. Lam's parents also filed an accidental death lawsuit against the hotel, but the suit was dismissed.^[6]

Online Presence

The case has fascinated internet users and amateur sleuths. The Buzzfeed Unsolved episode on the case is the most viewed episode in the series, gaining over 20 million views on YouTube (shown below, left). A documentary on the case made by YouTube channel The Paranormal Scholar has gained over 996,000 views (shown below, right).

Redditor hammmy_sammmy^[7] has published a long post in /r/UnresolvedMysteries which argues that the death was due to a psychotic break influenced by the multiple anti-depressants Lam was taking, gaining over 1,100 points. A subreddit^[8] devoted to the case has over 1,200 subscribers. The case has been covered by Snopes.^[9]

References In Popular Culture

It has been noted that the case shares similarities to the American horror film Dark Water, in which a mother and daughter discover a missing girl in the water tank of their new apartment building.^[13] The case has become a significant source of inspiration for popular culture. Mystery television shows Castle,^[10] How To Get Away With Murder,^[11] and possibly American Horror Story^[12] have had episodes inspired by the case. There have been several films and in-production films that are rumored to be inspired by aspects of the Lam case, including The Hungry Ghost Ritual, a Chinese film which features a woman being attacked by a ghost in an elevator, shot from the perspective of CCTV footage.^[14] The video game YIIK appears to clearly draw inspiration from the case, for which the game has been criticized.

Search Interest

External References