Death of Elisa Lam
Elisa Lam | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1990 |
| Disappeared | January 31, 2013 Los Angeles |
| Died | c. February 1, 2013 Los Angeles |
| Cause of death | Accidental drowning |
| Body discovered | February 19, 2013 |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Occupation | Student |
| Known for | Mysterious circumstances of death |
The body of Elisa Lam, a 21-year-old Chinese Canadian student at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, was recovered from a water tank atop the Cecil Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, California, on February 19, 2013.[1] She had been reported missing at the beginning of the month. Maintenance workers at the hotel discovered the body when investigating guest complaints of low water pressure.
Her disappearance had been widely reported; interest had increased five days prior to her body's discovery when the Los Angeles Police Department released video of the last time she was known to have been seen, on the day of her disappearance, by an elevator security camera. In the footage, Lam is seen behaving strangely, exiting and re-entering the elevator, talking and gesturing (sometimes oddly) in the hallway outside to what may be another person unseen by the camera, and sometimes seeming to hide within the elevator, which itself appears to be malfunctioning. The video went viral on the Internet, with many viewers reporting that they found it unsettling. Explanations ranged from claims of paranormal involvement to the bipolar disorder Lam suffered from; one viewer has argued that the video has itself been tampered with.
The circumstances of Lam's death, when she was found, also raised questions, especially in light of the Cecil's history in relation to other notable deaths and murders. Access to the water tank was limited to hotel employees with passwords and keys to several locks; it would also have been physically difficult for Lam to raise the tank door by herself, much less close it. Her body was naked and most of her clothes were missing, although men's clothing in sizes far larger than she would have worn was also present in the water. It took the Los Angeles County Coroner's office four months, after repeated delays, to release the autopsy report, which reports no evidence of physical trauma but shows possible ambivalence about its ultimate finding that the cause of death was accidental drowning. Guests at the Cecil, now rebranded as Stay on Main, sued the hotel over the incident, and Lam's parents filed a separate suit later that year.
Some of the early Internet interest noted unusual similarities between Lam's death and plot elements in the 2005 horror film Dark Water. There have been efforts to fictionalize the case since then as well. An episode of Castle was inspired by it, and a film that uses the case as a backstory, The Bringing, is currently in development.
See also
References
- ^ Nickels, Jesse (May 28, 2014). "Elisa Lam: The College Girl Whose Hotel Death is So Mysterious It Inspired a Horror Movie". College Times. Retrieved January 27, 2014.